The Institute for Computing Systems Architecture (ICSA) was founded in 1998 and is one of six research institutes in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

All computing paradigms, however abstract, rely ultimately upon a real computational system. These have grown dramatically in performance and capacity as the underlying technologies have advanced during the past two decades. These technological advancements have been, and remain, a fundamental enabling force across the entire breadth of Informatics.

We have witnessed increasing sophistication and capacity in software systems and the development of languages that would otherwise be considered impractical. Advancements in technology have fuelled revolutionary concepts from personal computing to massively parallel processors, as well as less visible advancements in micro-architecture and compiler optimisation. At the same time, the complexity of computing systems has grown dramatically, placing severe demands on those attempting to engineer reliable software and hardware systems, emphasising the need for new methods of analysing those systems.