VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Ranald Clouston
dblp:27/6932 · also Ranald Alexander Clouston
· DBLP profile ↗
16ranked-venue papers
8as first author
1since 2021 · last 2025
—ORCID · none
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Theory of computation · 14 · 8 first-author · 1 since 2021Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 6 · 4 first-authorArtificial intelligence and machine learning · 1
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Semantical Analysis of Intuitionistic Modal Logics between CK and IKabstractThe intuitionistic modal logics considered between Constructive K (CK) and Intuitionistic K (IK) differ in their treatment of the possibility (diamond) connective. It was recently rediscovered that some logics between CK and IK also disagree on their diamond-free fragments, with only some remaining conservative over the standard axiomatisation of intuitionistic modal logic with necessity (box) alone. We show that relational Kripke semantics for CK can be extended with frame conditions for all axioms in the standard axiomatisation of IK, as well as other axioms previously studied. This allows us to answer open questions about the (non-)conservativity of such logics over intuitionistic modal logic without diamond. Our results are formalised using the Rocq Prover. Jim de Groot, Ian Shillito, Ranald Clouston |
LICS | 3 |
| 2020 | Syntactic Interpolation for Tense Logics and Bi-Intuitionistic Logic via Nested SequentsabstractWe provide a direct method for proving Craig interpolation for a range of modal and intuitionistic logics, including those containing a "converse" modality. We demonstrate this method for classical tense logic, its extensions with path axioms, and for bi-intuitionistic logic. These logics do not have straightforward formalisations in the traditional Gentzen-style sequent calculus, but have all been shown to have cut-free nested sequent calculi. The proof of the interpolation theorem uses these calculi and is purely syntactic, without resorting to embeddings, semantic arguments, or interpreted connectives external to the underlying logical language. A novel feature of our proof includes an orthogonality condition for defining duality between interpolants. Tim S. Lyon, Alwen Tiu, Rajeev Goré, Ranald Clouston |
CSL | 4 |
| 2020 | Modal dependent type theory and dependent right adjointsabstractAbstract In recent years, we have seen several new models of dependent type theory extended with some form of modal necessity operator, including nominal type theory, guarded and clocked type theory and spatial and cohesive type theory. In this paper, we study modal dependent type theory: dependent type theory with an operator satisfying (a dependent version of) the K axiom of modal logic. We investigate both semantics and syntax. For the semantics, we introduce categories with families with a dependent right adjoint (CwDRA) and show that the examples above can be presented as such. Indeed, we show that any category with finite limits and an adjunction of endofunctors give rise to a CwDRA via the local universe construction. For the syntax, we introduce a dependently typed extension of Fitch-style modal λ-calculus, show that it can be interpreted in any CwDRA, and build a term model. We extend the syntax and semantics with universes. Lars Birkedal, Ranald Clouston, Bassel Mannaa, Rasmus Ejlers Møgelberg, Andrew M. Pitts, Bas Spitters |
Math. Struct. Comput. Sci. | 2 |
| 2019 | Guarded Cubical Type TheoryabstractThis paper improves the treatment of equality in guarded dependent type theory ( $$\mathsf {GDTT}$$ ), by combining it with cubical type theory ( $$\mathsf {CTT}$$ ). $$\mathsf {GDTT}$$ is an extensional type theory with guarded recursive types, which are useful for building models of program logics, and for programming and reasoning with coinductive types. We wish to implement $$\mathsf {GDTT}$$ with decidable type checking, while still supporting non-trivial equality proofs that reason about the extensions of guarded recursive constructions. $$\mathsf {CTT}$$ is a variation of Martin–Löf type theory in which the identity type is replaced by abstract paths between terms. $$\mathsf {CTT}$$ provides a computational interpretation of functional extensionality, enjoys canonicity for the natural numbers type, and is conjectured to support decidable type-checking. Our new type theory, guarded cubical type theory ( $$\mathsf {GCTT}$$ ), provides a computational interpretation of extensionality for guarded recursive types. This further expands the foundations of $$\mathsf {CTT}$$ as a basis for formalisation in mathematics and computer science. We present examples to demonstrate the expressivity of our type theory, all of which have been checked using a prototype type-checker implementation. We show that $$\mathsf {CTT}$$ can be given semantics in presheaves on $$\mathcal {C}\times \mathbb {D}$$ , where $$\mathcal {C}$$ is the cube category, and $$\mathbb {D}$$ is any small category with an initial object. We then show that the category of presheaves on $$\mathcal {C}\times \omega $$ provides semantics for $$\mathsf {GCTT}$$ . Lars Birkedal, Ales Bizjak, Ranald Clouston, Hans Bugge Grathwohl, Bas Spitters, Andrea Vezzosi |
J. Autom. Reason. | 3 |
| 2018 | Fitch-Style Modal Lambda CalculiabstractFitch-style modal deduction, in which modalities are eliminated by opening a subordinate proof, and introduced by shutting one, were investigated in the 1990s as a basis for lambda calculi. We show that such calculi have good computational properties for a variety of intuitionistic modal logics. Semantics are given in cartesian closed categories equipped with an adjunction of endofunctors, with the necessity modality interpreted by the right adjoint. Where this functor is an idempotent comonad, a coherence result on the semantics allows us to present a calculus for intuitionistic S4 that is simpler than others in the literature. We show the calculi can be extended à la tense logic with the left adjoint of necessity, and are then complete for the categorical semantics. Ranald Clouston |
FoSSaCS | 1 |
| 2018 | Modular Labelled Sequent Calculi for Abstract Separation LogicsabstractAbstract separation logics are a family of extensions of Hoare logic for reasoning about programs that manipulate resources such as memory locations. These logics are “abstract” because they are independent of any particular concrete resource model. Their assertion languages, called Propositional Abstract Separation Logics (PASLs), extend the logic of (Boolean) Bunched Implications (BBI) in various ways. In particular, these logics contain the connectives * and –*, denoting the composition and extension of resources, respectively. This added expressive power comes at a price, since the resulting logics are all undecidable. Given their wide applicability, even a semi-decision procedure for these logics is desirable. Although several PASLs and their relationships with BBI are discussed in the literature, the proof theory of, and automated reasoning for, these logics were open problems solved by the conference version of this article, which developed a modular proof theory for various PASLs using cut-free labelled sequent calculi. This paper non-trivially improves upon this previous work by giving a general framework of calculi on which any new axiom in the logic satisfying a certain form corresponds to an inference rule in our framework, and the completeness proof is generalised to consider such axioms. Our base calculus handles Calcagno et al.’s original logic of separation algebras by adding sound rules for partial-determinism and cancellativity, while preserving cut-elimination. We then show that many important properties in separation logic, such as indivisible unit, disjointness, splittability, and cross-split, can be expressed in our general axiom form. Thus, our framework offers inference rules and completeness for these properties for free. Finally, we show how our calculi reduce to calculi with global label substitutions, enabling more efficient implementation. Ranald Clouston, Rajeev Goré, Alwen Tiu |
ACM Trans. Comput. Log. | 2 |
| 2016 | Guarded Cubical Type Theory: Path Equality for Guarded RecursionabstractThis paper improves the treatment of equality in guarded dependent type theory (GDTT), by combining it with cubical type theory (CTT). GDTT is an extensional type theory with guarded recursive types, which are useful for building models of program logics, and for programming and reasoning with coinductive types. We wish to implement GDTT with decidable type checking, while still supporting non-trivial equality proofs that reason about the extensions of guarded recursive constructions. CTT is a variation of Martin-Löf type theory in which the identity type is replaced by abstract paths between terms. CTT provides a computational interpretation of functional extensionality, is conjectured to have decidable type checking, and has an implemented type checker. Our new type theory, called guarded cubical type theory, provides a computational interpretation of extensionality for guarded recursive types. This further expands the foundations of CTT as a basis for formalisation in mathematics and computer science. We present examples to demonstrate the expressivity of our type theory, all of which have been checked using a prototype type-checker implementation, and present semantics in a presheaf category. Lars Birkedal, Ales Bizjak, Ranald Clouston, Hans Bugge Grathwohl, Bas Spitters, Andrea Vezzosi |
CSL | 3 |
| 2016 | Guarded Dependent Type Theory with Coinductive TypesabstractWe present guarded dependent type theory, $$\mathsf {gDTT}$$ , an extensional dependent type theory with a ‘later’ modality and clock quantifiers for programming and proving with guarded recursive and coinductive types. The later modality is used to ensure the productivity of recursive definitions in a modular, type based, way. Clock quantifiers are used for controlled elimination of the later modality and for encoding coinductive types using guarded recursive types. Key to the development of $$\mathsf {gDTT}$$ are novel type and term formers involving what we call ‘delayed substitutions’. These generalise the applicative functor rules for the later modality considered in earlier work, and are crucial for programming and proving with dependent types. We show soundness of the type theory with respect to a denotational model. Ales Bizjak, Hans Bugge Grathwohl, Ranald Clouston, Rasmus Ejlers Møgelberg, Lars Birkedal |
FoSSaCS | 3 |
| 2015 | Programming and Reasoning with Guarded Recursion for Coinductive Types
Ranald Clouston, Ales Bizjak, Hans Bugge Grathwohl, Lars Birkedal |
FoSSaCS | 1 |
| 2015 | Sequent Calculus in the Topos of TreesabstractNakano’s “later” modality, inspired by Gödel-Löb provability logic, has been applied in type systems and program logics to capture guarded recursion. Birkedal et al modelled this modality via the internal logic of the topos of trees. We show that the semantics of the propositional fragment of this logic can be given by linear converse-well-founded intuitionistic Kripke frames, so this logic is a marriage of the intuitionistic modal logic KM and the intermediate logic LC. We therefore call this logic KM lin . We give a sound and cut-free complete sequent calculus for KM lin via a strategy that decomposes implication into its static and irreflexive components. Our calculus provides deterministic and terminating backward proof-search, yields decidability of the logic and the coNP-completeness of its validity problem. Our calculus and decision procedure can be restricted to drop linearity and hence capture KM. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. Ranald Clouston, Rajeev Goré |
FoSSaCS | 1 |
| 2014 | Proof search for propositional abstract separation logics via labelled sequentsabstractAbstract separation logics are a family of extensions of Hoare logic for reasoning about programs that mutate memory. These logics are "abstract" because they are independent of any particular concrete memory model. Their assertion languages, called propositional abstract separation logics, extend the logic of (Boolean) Bunched Implications (BBI) in various ways. Ranald Clouston, Rajeev Goré, Alwen Tiu |
POPL | 2 |
| 2014 | Nominal Lawvere Theories: A category theoretic account of equational theories with names
Ranald Clouston |
J. Comput. Syst. Sci. | 1 |
| 2013 | Annotation-Free Sequent Calculi for Full Intuitionistic Linear LogicabstractFull Intuitionistic Linear Logic (FILL) is multiplicative intuitionistic linear logic extended with par. Its proof theory has been notoriously difficult to get right, and existing sequent calculi all involve inference rules with complex annotations to guarantee soundness and cut-elimination. We give a simple and annotation-free display calculus for FILL which satisfies Belnap’s generic cut-elimination theorem. To do so, our display calculus actually handles an extension of FILL, called Bi-Intuitionistic Linear Logic (BiILL), with an ‘exclusion’ connective defined via an adjunction with par. We refine our display calculus for BiILL into a cut-free nested sequent calculus with deep inference in which the explicit structural rules of the display calculus become admissible. A separation property guarantees that proofs of FILL formulae in the deep inference calculus contain no trace of exclusion. Each such rule is sound for the semantics of FILL, thus our deep inference calculus and display calculus are conservative over FILL. The deep inference calculus also enjoys the subformula property and terminating backward proof search, which gives the NP-completeness of BiILL and FILL. Ranald Clouston, Jeremy E. Dawson, Rajeev Goré, Alwen Tiu |
CSL | 1 |
| 2013 | Generalised Name Abstraction for Nominal Sets
Ranald Clouston |
FoSSaCS | 1 |
| 2011 | Nominal Lawvere Theories
Ranald Clouston |
WoLLIC | 1 |
| 2005 | Covarieties of Coalgebras: Comonads and Coequations
Ranald Clouston, Robert Goldblatt |
ICTAC | 1 |