Group’s Photo (partial)
From left to right: Alexandra Mendes, Carolina Carreira, João F. Ferreira, Nuno Saavedra, Henrique Guerra, Martim Afonso, Bruno Lourenço. January 2025, Lisbon
The Software Reliability Lab develops new methods and techniques for improving the quality and dependability of software systems, emphasising the construction of practical tools that can have societal impact. Our work spans from empirical software engineering methods that can inform practitioners and direct future research, to formal methods that can verify the absence of certain types of bugs.

Latest News

[Mar 2026] 

Paper update: the Software Reliability Lab has five papers accepted so far in 2026, spanning ICSE, FSE, MSR, EASE, and LAST-X.

 
[Dec 2025] 

Year in Review: As we bid farewell to 2025, it’s time to reflect on the remarkable milestones and achievements that have defined this year.

 
[Oct 2025] 

For our October social, the Software Reliability Lab visited Portugal’s historic S164 NRP Barracuda submarine, now a museum ship.

 
[Sep 2025] 

Alexandra Mendes was invited to participate in the Dagstuhl Seminar 25392 on Specification Engineering: Foundations for the Future of Software Development.

 
[Aug 2025] 

The Software Reliability Lab has three papers accepted at SEFM 2025!

 
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Featured Publications

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Ruben Opdebeeck, Mahmoud Alfadel, Akond Rahman, Yutaro Kashiwa, João F. Ferreira, Raula Gaikovina Kula, Coen De Roover (2026). An Empirical Study of Policy as Code: Adoption, Purpose, and Maintenance. In MSR 2026. CORE A conference.

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Martim Afonso, Nuno Saavedra, Bruno Lourenço, Alexandra Mendes, João F. Ferreira (2026). ProfOlaf: Semi-Automated Tool for Systematic Literature Reviews. In FSE 2026, Tool Demonstrations Track. CORE A* conference.

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Carolina Carreira, Nuno Saavedra, Alexandra Mendes, João F. Ferreira (2026). The Ultimate Configuration Management Tool? Lessons from a Mixed Methods Study of Ansible's Challenges. In EASE 2026. CORE A conference.

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Isabel Amaral, Alexandra Mendes, José Campos (2026). MutDafny: A Mutation-Based Approach to Assess Dafny Specifications. In ICSE 2026. CORE A* conference.

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Francisco Oliveira, Alexandra Mendes, Carolina Carreira (2025). What Challenges do Developer Face when using Verification-Aware Languages?. In ISSRE 2025. CORE A conference.

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Anna Rita Fasolino, Beatriz Marín, Tanja EJ Vos, Alexandra Mendes, Ana CR Paiva, Felix Cammaerts, Monique Snoeck, Mehrdad Saadatmand, Porfirio Tramontana (2025). Teachers’ Perspective on Software Testing Education. In ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2025. Q1 Journal.

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Robert Thompson, Nuno Saavedra, Pedro Carrott, Kevin Fisher, Alex Sanchez-Stern, Yuriy Brun, João F. Ferreira, Sorin Lerner, Emily First (2025). Rango: Adaptive Retrieval-Augmented Proving for Automated Software Verification. In ICSE 2025. CORE A* conference.
🏆 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper award.

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Nuno Saavedra, João F. Ferreira, Alexandra Mendes (2025). InfraFix: Technology-Agnostic Repair of Infrastructure as Code. In ISSTA 2025, Tool Demonstrations Track. CORE A conference.
🏆 Awarded: Artifact Evaluation Award (Reusable).

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Sogol Masoumzadeh, Nuno Saavedra, Rungroj Maipradit, Lili Wei, João F. Ferreira, Dániel Varró, Shane McIntosh (2025). Do Experts Agree About Smelly Infrastructure?. In TSE 2025. Q1 journal.

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David Ferreira, Alexandra Mendes, João F. Ferreira, Carolina Carreira (2025). Contract Usage and Evolution in Android Mobile Applications. In ECOOP 2025. CORE A conference.

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Featured Projects

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SafeIaC: Reliable Analysis and Automated Repair for Infrastructure as Code

SafeIaC: Reliable Analysis and Automated Repair for Infrastructure as Code

SafeIaC is building the first technology-agnostic solution for reliable analysis and automated repair for Infrastructure as Code that provides formal correctness guarantees.

InfraGov: A Public Framework for Reliable and Secure IT Infrastructure

InfraGov: A Public Framework for Reliable and Secure IT Infrastructure

As Public Administration services move to digital platforms, the reliability and security of IT infrastructure become even more critical to ensure seamless service delivery, safeguard citizens’ personal information, and maintain public trust in governmental systems.

VeriFixer: Automated Repair of Verification-Aware Languages

VeriFixer: Automated Repair of Verification-Aware Languages

VeriFixer aims to assist programmers in fixing code issues identified by software verifiers, a task that remains largely manual despite advancements in automatic program repair.