* Dependable Distributed Systems: o Theory of Distributed Computing o Replicated transactional systems (e.g. databases and software transactional memories) o Fault-tolerance in multi-tier systems o Fault-tolerant platforms for RFID data acquisition services o Multi-Path protocols for large scale transactional systems o Formal verification of distributed protocols * Performance Modelling and Evaluation: o QoS in content delivery networks o Modelling of DBMS concurrency control schemes o Approximate solution methods for complex queueing systems o Modelling of standard security mechanisms via Petri-nets * Autonomic Databases: o Automatic workload and data access pattern characterization o Adaptive concurrency control and data replication schemes * Parallel/Distributed Computing: o High Performance Simulation Platforms o Optimistic Simulation Systems