Benedict Bunting

I am the the Sultan Qaboos Early Career Research Fellow & College Lecturer in Computer Science at Corpus Christi College, and a Visitor to the department. Prior to joining Corpus Christi, I studied for a DPhil in Computer Science at Keble College, Oxford, where I previously completed an undergraduate Master of Computer Science degree. From 2023-2025, I was a College Lecturer at St John’s College, Oxford.

My research interests lie in programming language theory, with a particular focus on semantics. I have worked on both developing semantic models, using a method called game semantics, and finding fragments of programming languages in which equivalences can be proven automatically. These techniques employ tools from automata theory, and I enjoy working at the intersection of areas of computing theory.

I wrote my thesis on the game semantics of reachability types, a recent approach to tracking and controlling aliasing of mutable state in impure functional programs. The restrictions on aliasing permit more equivalence between programs than simple types, making reasoning about programs more intuitive. My work produced the first fully abstract model of reachability types, accurately capturing the behaviour such types permit. I am interested in exploring further the semantics and derived reasoning techniques of programming languages which provide type level control over the way mutable state is used.