Rate My Professor Robert Watson

Professor Robert N. M. Watson is Professor of Systems, Security, and Architecture in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge. He holds an undergraduate degree in Logic and Computation with a double major in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge, awarded in 2011 under the supervision of Professor Ross Anderson. Following his doctorate, he conducted two and a half years of post-doctoral research at the Computer Laboratory and held a Research Fellowship at St John's College, Cambridge, from May 2013. Prior to academia, Watson spent six years in industry research laboratories, including SPARTA ISSO, McAfee Research, and NAI Labs (Trusted Information Systems), where he investigated operating systems, networking, and security, contributing to operating-system security extensibility—the topic of his PhD dissertation. He joined the Department as a lecturer in May 2013 and advanced to his current professorial role. Watson supervises PhD students, research assistants, and post-docs; teaches security and operating systems at undergraduate and master's levels; and offers consulting in open-source integration, network stack performance, and operating system audit and access control.

Watson's research spans computer architecture, compilers, program analysis and transformation, operating systems, networking, and security, with a focus on the tension between program representation and security, revising hardware-software interfaces, and whole-system security implementation. He proposed and co-leads the CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) architecture project, developing a processor protection model for fine-grained memory safety and scalable software compartmentalisation, integrated into the Arm Morello prototype processor, SoC, and board, as well as CHERI-extended RISC-V products. Initiated in 2010 with colleagues including Peter G. Neumann, Simon W. Moore, Peter Sewell, and Brooks Davis, CHERI has attracted over $250 million in US and UK government and industry investment. A long-time FreeBSD Project contributor, Watson served on the elected Core Team for 12 years, in security officer and release engineering roles, and is a board director of the FreeBSD Foundation and CHERI Alliance CIC, as well as co-director of spinout Capabilities Limited. Key publications include 'CHERI: A Hybrid Capability-System Architecture for Scalable Software Compartmentalization' (IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, 2015), 'The CHERI Capability Model: Revisiting RISC in an Age of Risk' (ISCA 2014), 'Queues Don't Matter When You Can JUMP Them!' (NSDI 2015, Best Paper Award), and co-authorship of 'The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System,' second edition (Pearson, 2014). He received the EuroSys Jochen Liedtke Young Researcher Award in 2021. Watson's work advances memory safety and compartmentalisation, influencing hardware, software, and open-source ecosystems.