During his tenure at Carleton, Dr. Lionel Briand held a Canada Research Chair in Software Quality Engineering with his research focused on increasing the dependability of complex software systems by developing new technologies for (1) designing systems that are easier to change and test, (2) providing support to facilitate change and (3) automating the systematic testing of software systems.
In 2007, he was voted one the best researchers in the world in the area of Software Engineering, specifically fourth in the world and number two in Canada, by the Association for Computing Machinery.
He has since moved to the University of Ottawa.