PhD in Computer Science
2011 - 2015
June 2015, summa cum laude with the congratulations of the examination board Advisors: Prof. dr. Marc Denecker, Prof. dr. Joost Vennekens and Prof. dr. Jan Van den Bussche
Dr. Bart Bogaerts
Assistant Professor
I'm hiring! There are currently two open PhD positions in my group, one on the topic of Explainable Constraint Solving and Optimization and one one on algebraic foundations of knowledge representation. Apply now!
Personal Profile
I am an assistant professor in the AI lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). My research interests are spread throughout the field of knowledge representation. They range from high-level representation languages to performance optimisations in SAT, from abstract, algebraical frameworks to unify semantics of logics to implementation of knowledge base systems, from applications of KR to integration of declarative problem solving paradigms,... Before joining the VUB, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Declarative Languages and Systems Group of the KU Leuven. There, I was one of the developers of the IDP Framework, a knowledge base system for FO(·).
Education
Master of Science in Mathematics
2009 - 2011
Juli 2011, summa cum laude
Department of Mathematics,
KU Leuven
Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
2006 - 2009
Juli 2009, summa cum laude
Department of Mathematics,
KU Leuven
Mathematics-Science
2000 - 2006
Experience
Assistant professor
October 2018 - ...
AI lab of the VUB
Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
October 2016 - September 2019
Postdoctoral researcher
2015 - 2016
Computational logic group of Aalto university
Postdoctoral researcher
2015
KRR group of the KU Leuven
PhD researcher
2011 - 2015
Advisors: Prof. dr. Marc Denecker, Prof. dr. Joost Vennekens and Prof. dr. Jan Van den Bussche
Collaboration between the
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR) group of the
KU Leuven and the databases & theoretical computer science group of Hasselt University & transnational University of Limburg
Self-employed as secondary activity
2009 - 2011
Tutoring in mathematics, physics and informatics.
Teaching
Discrete Modeling, Optimization, and Search using Answer Set Programming
2019 - now
Lecturer
Algoritmen en Datastructuren 2 (Algorithms and Data Structures 2)
2019 - now
Lecturer
Fundamentals of Computer Science
2019 - now
Lecturer
Automaten en Berekenbaarheid (Automata and Computability)
2018 - now
Lecturer
Gegevensbanken (Databases)
2016 - 2018
Lecturer
Discrete models and search
2015 - 2016
Lecturer
Advanced Programming Languages for Artificial Intelligence
2016 - 2018
Teaching assistant
Modellering van complexe systemen
2011 - 2015; 2016 - 2017
Teaching assistant
Invited Talks
A framework for step-wise explaining how to solve constraint satisfaction problems 
April 24, 2021, Simons Institute, UC Berkeley, California, USA
Step-Wise Explanations for Constraint Satisfaction (and Optimization?)
September 7, 2020, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
Approximation Fixpoint Theory and its Application to Knowledge Representation
Januari 15, 2019, Leipzig, Germany.
Symmetry Exploitation for Combinatorial Problems
November 6, 2017, Stockholm, Sweden.
Propagators and Solvers for the Algebra of Modular Systems
October 17, 2016, New York, USA.
International Workshop on Logic and Search (Lash 2016)
Lazy Model Expansion: Interleaving Grounding with Search
July 18, 2014, Vienna, Austria.
International Workshop on Logic and Search (Lash 2014)
Awards and Prices
2019 Holy Grail Challenge
First place
2016 QBFEval
Prenex CNF: Second place
2016 SAT Competition
No Limits Track: First place
2013 SAT Competition
Core Solvers, Sequential, Hard-combinatorial SAT+UNSAT: First place
Core Solvers, Sequential, Hard-combinatorial SAT: Third place
Thesis Supervision
Wolf De Wulf
2019-2020, Bachelor's Thesis
Translating Answer Set Programs into Pseudo-Boolean Theories
Jens Claes
2016-2017, Master's Thesis
Automatic Translation of Logic Grid Puzzles into a Typed Logic
Neline Van Ginkel
2014-2015, Master's Thesis
Orakels in IDP: Een implementatie voor epistemische logica (Oracles in IDP: An implementation for epistemic logic)
Geert Heyman
2013-2014, Master's Thesis
Event Extraction from Text and Translation to Event Calculus
Pieter Van Hertum
2011-2012, Master's Thesis
Het vereenvoudigen van FOBDD's met behulp van Presburger arithmetiek (Using Presburger Arithmetic to simplify FOBDDs)
Andries Verreydt
2011-2012, Master's Thesis
Dimensies en Eenheden in IDP (Dimensions and Units in IDP)
Software
I have (co)-authored the following software: ZebraTutor, IDP3, MinisatID, BreakID, so2grounder, SmsControl.