About

I am a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, and a member of the Theory of Computation research group. In my fellowship project, I am studying concurrency through the lens of computational effects. My main interest is in programming language theory, in particular denotational semantics and semantics of computational effects. For this, I often use tools such as category theory, logic and universal algebra.

Between 2022 and 2026, I was a postdoc in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh working with Sam Lindley on the Effect Handler Oriented Programming project. Between 2018 and 2022 I was a PhD student at the University of Oxford, working with Sam Staton on models of programming languages built using logical relations. Before that, I obtained an MSc in Computer Science from Oxford and a BA from Cambridge.

Publications

• An equational axiomatization of dynamic threads via algebraic effects.
  Ohad Kammar, Jack Liell-Cock, Sam Lindley, Cristina Matache and Sam Staton. POPL 2026 (Distinguished paper). [slides]
  
• Scoped Effects, Scoped Operations, and Parameterized Algebraic Theories.
  Cristina Matache, Sam Lindley, Sean Moss, Sam Staton, Nicolas Wu and Zhixuan Yang. TOPLAS 2025.
  
• Scoped effects as parameterized algebraic theories.
  Sam Lindley, Cristina Matache, Sean Moss, Sam Staton, Nicolas Wu and Zhixuan Yang. ESOP 2024.
  
• Concrete categories and higher-order recursion (With applications including probability, differentiability, and full abstraction).
  Cristina Matache, Sean Moss, Sam Staton. LICS 2022. [slides]
  
• Recursion and sequentiality in categories of sheaves.
  Cristina Matache, Sean Moss, Sam Staton. FSCD 2021.
  
• A sound and complete logic for algebraic effects.
  Cristina Matache, Sam Staton. FoSSaCS 2019.
  
• Programming and proving with classical types.
  Cristina Matache, Victor B. F. Gomes, Dominic P. Mulligan. APLAS 2017. [slides]
  
• The λμ calculus.
  Cristina Matache, Victor B. F. Gomes, Dominic P. Mulligan.
  Archive of Formal Proofs, 2017.

Workshop abstracts

• An algebraic theory of named threads.
  Cristina Matache. GALOP workshop 2024.
  
• Paella: algebraic effects with parameters and their handlers.
  Jesse Sigal, Ohad Kammar, Cristina Matache and Conor McBride. HOPE workshop 2024.
  
• Denotational semantics of languages for inference: semirings, monads, and tensors.
  Cristina Matache, Sean Moss, Sam Staton and Ariadne Si Suo. LAFI workshop 2023.
  
• Formalisation of the λμ^T calculus in Isabelle/HOL.
  Cristina Matache. Poster at ICFP 2017.

Invited talks

• Equational reasoning for scoped effects.   Invited talk at the MSFP 2026 workshop.
• An equational axiomatization of dynamic threads.   Invited talk at the ACV 2026 workshop.
• An equational axiomatization of dynamic threads.   Invited talk at the MFPS 2026 conference in Ljubljana.
• Parameterized algebraic theories and computational effects.   At the Categories Networking Project (CATNIP) triannual meeting, University of Edinburgh, October 2025.
• Parameterized algebraic theories and applications.   Talk at the Theoretical Computer Science Seminar, University of Birmingham, March 2024.
• Parameterized algebraic theories and applications.   Talk at the Huawei-Edinburgh Bayes Coffee House Tech Talk Series, University of Edinburgh, March 2024.
• Parameterized algebraic theories and scoped effects.   Talk at the Directions and Perspectives in the lambda-calculus workshop, University of Bologna, January 2024.
• A unified treatment of concrete sheaf models for higher-order recursion.   Talk at the Chocola meeting, 31 March 2022.
• Recursion and sequentiality in categories of sheaves.   Logic and Semantics seminar at Aarhus University, June 2021.
• A sound and complete logic for algebraic effects.   Seminar talk at Bath, Birmingham and UCL, 2019.

Theses

• Concrete sheaf models of higher-order recursion.   PhD thesis.
  University of Oxford, Department of Computer Science.
• Program equivalence for algebraic effects via modalities.   Master's thesis.
  University of Oxford, Department of Computer Science, September 2018.
  (updated version)
• Formalisation of the λμ^T calculus in Isabelle/HOL.   Bachelor's thesis.
  University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory, June 2017.

Reviewing

• Program committee member for: POPL 2027, ICFP 2026, HOPE workshop 2026, TFP 2026, PPDP 2024, Student Research Competition at ICFP 2024, HOPE workshop 2023.
• Peer-reviewer for: Journal of Functional Programming 2023, LICS 2024, MFPS 2021, FSCD 2021, FOSSACS 2020.
• External reviewer for the Icelandic Research Fund, expert panel on Engineering and Technical Sciences, 2025.

Teaching

• 2020 -- 2021: Stipendiary Lecturer at Jesus College.
• Hilary term 2020: class tutor and marker for Lambda Calculus and Types.
• Michaelmas term 2019: tutoring Discrete Mathematics for first year undergraduates.