Types are pervasive in programming and information technology. A type defines a formal interface between software components, allowing the automatic verification of their connections, and greatly enhancing the robustness and reliability of computations and communications. In rich dependent type theories, the full functional specification of a program can be expressed as a type. Type systems have rapidly evolved over the past years, becoming more sophisticated, capturing new aspects of the behaviour of programs and the dynamics of their execution.
This COST Action will give a strong impetus to research on type theory and its many applications in computer science, by promoting (1) the synergy between theoretical computer scientists, logicians and mathematicians to develop new foundations for type theory, for example as based on the recent development of "homotopy type theory'', (2) the joint development of type theoretic tools as proof assistants and integrated programming environments, (3) the study of dependent types for programming and its deployment in software development, (4) the study of dependent types for verification and its deployment in software analysis and verification. The action will also tie together these different areas and promote cross-fertilisation.
Europe has a strong type theory community, ranging from foundational research to applications in programming languages, verification and theorem proving, which is in urgent need of better networking. A COST Action that crosses the borders will support the collaboration between groups and complementary expertise, and mobilise a critical mass of existing type theory research.

Runtime verification (RV) is a computing analysis paradigm based on observing a system at runtime to check its expected behavior. RV has emerged in recent years as a practical application of formal verification, and a less ad-hoc approach to conventional testing by building monitors from formal specifications.
There is a great potential applicability of RV beyond software reliability, if one allows monitors to interact back with the observed system, and generalizes to new domains beyond computers programs (like hardware, devices, cloud computing and even human centric systems). Given the European leadership in computer based industries, novel applications of RV to these areas can have an enormous impact in terms of the new class of designs enabled and their reliability and cost effectiveness.

The COST 295 is an action of the european COST program (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research) inside of the Telecomunications, Information Science and Technology domain (TIST). The COST295 Action is motivated by the need to supply a convincing theoretical framework for the analysis and control of all modern large networks induced by the interactions between decentralised and evolving computing entities, characterised by their inherently dynamic nature.

Modern society is increasingly dependent on large-scale software systems that are distributed, collaborative and communication-centred. Correctness and reliability of such systems depend on compatibility between components and services that are newly developed or may already exist. The consequences of failure are severe, including security breaches and unavailability of essential services. Current software development technology is not well suited to producing these large-scale systems, because of the lack of high-level structuring abstractions for complex communication behaviour.
This Action will use behavioural type theory as the basis for new foundations, programming languages, and software development methods for communication-intensive distributed systems. Behavioural type theory encompasses concepts such as interfaces, communication protocols, contracts, and choreography. As a unifying structural principle it will transform the theory and practice of distributed software development.
The significance of behavioural types has been recognised world-wide during the last five years. European researchers are internationally leading. There is an urgent need for European co-ordination to avoid duplication of effort, facilitate interactions among research groups, and ensure that the field proceeds efficiently from academic research to industrial practice. This Action will provide the co-ordination layer and leverage the efforts of European researchers, to increase the competitiveness of the European software industry.

A current, well recognised societal problem is the frequent failure of road transportation networks, resulting from traffic incidents, system overloading and lack of optimised support systems. The aim of this Action to unite and align groups across Europe from computer science, engineering and transport studies into a world leading research community that will develop new ways of designing Road Transportation Support (RTS) systems based on the ideas of autonomic systems. If used as a platform on which to implement leading edge RTS technologies, such systems have the potential to deliver savings in the cost of system configuration, maintenance, and infrastructure, while potentially improving network efficiency and reducing the chances of human error. Using an autonomic approach to RTS is a novel and very ambitious idea requiring interdisciplinary community building, hence the need for COST, and a European dimension. This Action will bring together disparate strands of research into an integrated discipline, putting Europe at the leading edge of autonomic transportation system development. Additionally it will have the wider benefit of producing a transformative change within the field of autonomic systems itself that will translate to other application areas such as energy management.

Ageism (i.e., the complex and often negative social construction of old age) is highly prevalent. There is unequivocal evidence concerning the negative consequences associated with ageism at the individual, familial, and societal levels. The long term goal of this Action is to challenge the practice of ageism and allow older people to realize their full potential. This will be achieved by enhancing scientific knowledge and attention to ageism, by bringing together and integrating the different disciplines of research, by developing national, multi-national and international collaborations with public policy officials, non-academic professionals, civil society NGOs and older persons, and by fostering a new generation of researchers. Expected deliverables include: a) the creation of a web-site; b) a depository database of scientific measures and evidence based interventions that target ageism; c) the facilitation of scientific Training Schools, Short Term Scientific Missions and conferences; and d) the dissemination of collaborative working papers, scientific reports, proceedings, academic publications, policy and recommendation papers and an edited book on ageism. In light of the changing demographics, the high prevalence of ageism, its complex social roots, broad consequences, and the limited research on the topic, this Action is timely and has both practical and scientific significance.