About us
Love talking about papers? So do we!
Do you have a paper within the realm of computing that excites you — recent or classic — and want to share it with others? Or would you enjoy hearing accessible, enthusiastic explanations of important research?
Whether you have implemented the ideas, used them in a project, or simply want to learn and discuss, this is a welcoming, inclusive space for presenters and listeners alike: we celebrate diverse perspectives, encourage practical demos and honest struggles. Everyone — students, researchers, engineers and curious minds — is invited.
Logistics — we meet monthly in Zürich, usually on a Thursday, 18:15–20:00; RSVP on Meetup.
Subjects — papers live within the broad realms of computing and computer science, kept intentionally open-ended.
Audience — ideal for anyone who wants accessible explanations of complex computer-science papers, where the maths is typically simplified.
Culture — inclusive, respectful and welcoming to diverse perspectives.
Presentation format — talks are typically 45–60 minutes, followed by discussion, Q&A and networking.
We are curating this repository for papers presented at PWL Zürich. You can contribute by adding Pull Requests for papers, code, and/or links to our repository here. We keep a list of papers that we would like to talk about.
We follow the Papers We Love Code of Conduct.
More details can be found on the event page.
Upcoming events
1
Ownership Types in Rust
ETH Zurich / Zentrum / CAB G 52, Universitätstrasse 6, Zürich, CHWelcome back to Papers We Love, Zurich!
In this session, Daniel, a PhD student in the Information Security group at ETH Zürich, will present "A Gentle Introduction to Ownership Types in Rust". Ownership types are what give Rust its memory safety guarantees: the compiler statically rules out entire classes of bugs (use-after-free, data races, dangling pointers) with no garbage collector and no runtime cost. Through worked examples, the talk builds a working understanding of ownership in practice, drawing on the conceptual model of "A Grounded Conceptual Model for Ownership Types in Rust" and its accompanying Aquascope tool.
Why care?
- For systems programmers: ownership types are a general approach to resource management that shows up across many languages, with Rust being the most prominent industrial example. The intuition you build means finally making sense of borrow checker errors when they matter most, both in Rust and beyond it.
- For PL and type-theory enthusiasts: ownership types have deep connections to linear and affine type theory. Seeing them in an industrial language reveals how theory meets real-world complexity.
The talk will be 45-60 minutes, followed by discussion, Q&A and snacks.
No prior background in type systems or Rust is required. However, basic systems programming background will be beneficial.17 attendees
Past events
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