My name is Sophie Fortz and I am a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in software engineering. Currently, I’m deeply involved in quantum programming as part of the VSL-Q project at King’s College London. In this exciting project, we are dedicated to providing verified simulation of large-scale quantum systems. Our focus extends beyond the theoretical to the practical, addressing platform specificities, noise and scalability issues. This endeavour represents a collaborative synergy, bringing together experts from diverse fields such as physics, programming languages, and software engineering. Working alongside Prof. Mohammad Reza Mousavi, I’ll be channeling my previous expertise towards pioneering testing techniques specifically tailored for quantum programs.
Before embarking on this quantum journey, I did a Ph.D. at the University of Namur. Under the guidance of Dr. Gilles Perrouin and Prof. Patrick Heymans, I delved into the intricacies of software engineering. After being funded by the FNRS EoS (Excellence of Science) VeriLearn project for a year, I secured a competitive FRIA (FNRS) Grant. In September 2023, I successfully defended my thesis, entitled “LIFTS: Learning Featured Transition Systems”.
On my spare hours, I like to read, draw and paint. I was also an active member of the Belgian Guide Federation for years, where I have been successively girl guide, group leader and trainer.
PhD in Software Engineering, 2023
University of Namur
MSc in Computer Science, specialised in Software Engineering, 2019
University of Namur
BSc in Computer Science, 2017
University of Namur
INFOM115 - Software Testing:
Organisation: Session labs and lectures for a total of 15h
Public: 1st year Masters students, specialised in Software Engineering, from the computer science faculty of the University of Namur, Belgium
Content: Supervised by Dr. Gilles Perrouin, we teach the fundamentals of software testing and more advanced techniques (mutation testing, metamorphic testing, fuzzy testing, test smells, etc.)
Academic years: 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023
INFOB221 - Mathematics Fundamentals for Computer Science (part 2):
Organisation: 15h of tutoring
Public: 2nd year of Bachelor students from the Economics and Computer Science faculties of the University of Namur, Belgium
Content: Basic concepts of Mathematics for Cryptography mainly (modular arithmetic, discrete log, symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption, elliptic curves)
Academic years: 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022
IHDCB339 - Introduction to the Scientific Approach:
Organisation: One group project supervision
Public: 3d year of Bachelor students from the Computer Science faculty of the University of Namur, Belgium
Content: In this project, I supervised a group of two students, guiding them in developing essential skills such as bibliographic research, critical source appraisal, scientific state-of-the-art writing, and effective scientific result presentation, while also ensuring a deep understanding of research problem definition, context, motivation, and related work within the field of information systems.
Academic years: 2020-2021
I’m taking part in several committees and helping the community in various ways:
Organising workshops and conferences :
Reviewing :
for specialised conferences: ICSR (research track, as a subreviewer), SPLC (research track, demo & tools), ESEC-FSE (artefacts), ECOOP (artefacts, extended review committee), SSBSE (challenge track), ICTAC (Research track), BENEVOL, VaMoS, ICST (Poster track), GI ICSE ;
for journals: EMSE (as a subreviewer), Software Quality Journal, SoSyM, JSS, TSE ;
Acting as a Student Volunteer for OR 2018 and SPLC 2023 ;
Representing scientifics at the Computer Science Faculty Council ;
Representing and promoting the Computer Science Faculty at several Students Fairs ;
Representing scientifics at the Section Groups, the place where students can express themselves to improve the faculty.
Check out my activities and interests, extending beyond research!