Heidi Howard

About

I am a Senior Researcher in the Confidential Computing group (opens in new tab) at Microsoft Research Cambridge (opens in new tab). My research sits at the intersection between the theory and practice of distributed computing, with a focus on developing resilient and trustworthy distributed computer systems. Previously, I was a Research Fellow in Computer Science at Cambridge University’s Trinity Hall (opens in new tab), an Affiliated/Visiting Researcher at VMware Research (opens in new tab), and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology (opens in new tab). I received my Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 2019 for my research on Distributed Consensus (opens in new tab). I am probably best known for my work on the Paxos algorithm, and in particular, the invention of Flexible Paxos (opens in new tab).