The IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM) originated from the Workkshop on Software Engineering and Formal Methods held in June 2002 in Adelaide (Australia) as satellite of the 23rd International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets.
Program Co-chairs of the workshop: Charles Lakos and Robert Esser.

At the end of 2002 some of the the PC members of SEFM 2002 held an email discussion about the possibility of turning SEFM into a major international conference. It was decided to hold the first SEFM international conferences in Brisbane, Australia, and to apply for IEEE-CS sponsorship. At the beginning of 2004 IEEE-CS approved the sponsorship. All SEFM international conferences were sponsored by IEEE-CS, through the Technical Committee on Complexity in Computing (TCCX). Many other major supporters contributed through grants to the success of SEFM conferences.

The 1st IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2003) was held in September 2003 in Brisbane (Australia). It attracted 65 submission from 22 coutries. All papers were refereed by at least two PC members and 20 papers were accepted (acceptance rate 31%). The conference programme also included 3 keynote speakers, 7 tutorials and 1 industrial CASE tools demonstration. Additional major supporters for the conference were the Australian Computer Society (ACS), the Embassy of Italy in Canberra and Boeing Australia Limited.
Conference Chair: Peter Lindsay.
Program Chair: Antonio Cerone.

At the end of 2003 the SEFM Steering Committee was established. It consists of the following members: Antonio Cerone (Coordinator), Manfred Broy, Geoff Dromey, Mike Hinchey, Mathai Joseph, Zhiming Liu and Andrea Maggiolo-Schettini.

The 2nd IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2004) was held in September 2004 in Beijing (China). It attracted 144 submission from over 30 coutries and regions. All papers were refereed by at least two PC members and 38 papers were accepted (acceptance rate 26%). The conference programme also included 5 keynote speakers, 4 tutorials and 1 satellite workshop. UNU-IIST supported 3 keynote speakers and provided 10 grants to participants from developing countries.
Conference Co-chairs: Jifeng He and Fuqing Yang
Program Co-chairs: Jorge Cuellar and Zhiming Liu.

Starting from 2005 the SEFM Conferences are endorsed by the European Association of Software Science and Technology (EASST) which provides advertising support.

The 3rd IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2005) was held on 7-9 September 2005 in Koblenz (Germany). It attracted 120 submission. All papers were refereed by at least three PC members and 40 papers were accepted (acceptance rate 33%). The conference programme also included 5 keynote speakers, 4 tutorials and 2 satellite workshops. UNU-IIST provided 4 grants to participants from developing countries.
Conference Chair: Peter Schmitt.
Program Co-chairs: Bernhard Aichernig and Bernhard Beckert.

The 4th IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2006) was held on 11-15 September 2006 in Pune (India).
Conference Chair: Mathai Joseph.
Program Co-chairs: Dang Van Hung and Paritosh Pandya.

The 5th IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2007) was held on 10-14 September 2006 in London (UK).
Conference Chair: Jonathan Bowen.
Program Co-chairs: Mike Hinchey and Tiziana Margaria.

The 6th IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2008) was held on 10-14 November 2008 in Cape Town (South Africa). It attracted 125 submission from over 36 coutries. All papers were refereed by at least two PC members; 33 papers were accepted as regular papers (acceptance rate 29%) and 5 as short papers. The conference programme also included 2 keynote speakers and 1 tutorial. The conference was preceeded by a two weeks' Summer School during 27 October - 7 November 2008.
Conference Chair: Ken MacGregor.
Program Co-chairs: Antonio Cerone and Stefan Gruner.

The 7th IEEE International Conferences on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2009) will be held on 23-27 September 2009 in Hanoi (Vietnam). It will be preceeded by a two-weeks' Summer School.
Conference Chair: Mike Hinchey.
Program Co-chairs: Dang Van Hung and Padmanabhan Krishnan.