Call for Doctoral Symposium Papers and Participation

The main goal of the ESEC/FSE doctoral symposium is to provide PhD students working in the area of software engineering with useful feedback towards the successful completion of their dissertation research. It will provide participants with an opportunity to present and to discuss their research with senior researchers of the software engineering community in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. Specifically, the symposium aims to:
  • provide a setting whereby students receive feedback on their research and guidance on future directions from the Doctoral Symposium Panel that is composed of senior members of the software engineering research community,
  • foster the creation of a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research, and
  • contribute to the conference goals through interaction with other researchers at the main conference.
The Doctoral Symposium is intended for students who have not yet completed their dissertation research nor written their dissertation before the conference.
This edition of the Doctoral Symposium will be organized around two types of Ph.D. students in different stages of their research:
  • Initial stage (first or second year): Ph.D. students are in the stage of crystallizing their research question and approach. The students will be asked to do exercises that help them think critically about their ideas. The results of the exercises will be discussed with the senior scientists during a working session of the symposium.
  • Mature stage (third or fourth year): Ph.D. students that have decided on a research question and approach, and have (or are about to) publish a first paper on their ideas. These students are asked to present their work for the paper/thesis and will get feedback.

The Symposium will be held on 25th August 2009, the day before the main conference. Participation is limited and selection will be made based on a formal submission. Advisors of the students will not be allowed to attend.

In addition to scientific matters, students will  have  the opportunity  to  seek  advice  on various  aspects  of completing a  PhD and performing  research as a young  professional in software engineering.

The Doctoral Symposium has the same scope as the main ESEC/FSE conference. The list of topics can be found in the ESEC/FSE call for Technical Papers.

Submission Details

To apply for participation at the symposium, students must submit an abstract in the ACM conference proceedings style to Doctoral Symposium via the Cyberchair.

For all students, the dissertation advisor must provide a (short) letter of recommendation by email to the Doctoral Symposium  organizer (see below for contact details).  The letter must state when the student began their Ph.D. studies, include an assessment of the current status of the research, and give an expected date for dissertation submission. The recommendation letter must arrive no later than one (1) week after the submission deadline.

Submissions will be reviewed by the Symposium Panel and selected for inclusion in the symposium on the basis of technical merit, presentation quality, and relevance to the conference topics. Abstracts of students who are invited to present their work at the Symposium will be included in the conference proceedings that will be published by ACM Press.

Initial stage students

The abstract is limited to two (2) pages. It should indicate the broad area of interest, problem and approach.

Mature stage students

The abstract is limited to four (4) pages. It should clearly identify the hypothesis that is being investigated, outline the significant problems in the field and the current solutions, present the preliminary ideas and state the proposed approach, present the applicant's contributions and results achieved so far, and sketch how the contributions will be evaluated.

Financial Support

For Student members of SIGSOFT, travel scholarships are available through the ACM SIGSOFT CAPS programme.

Important Dates

  • Doctoral Symposium abstracts submission: May 11, 2009 (Extended)
  • Doctoral symposium notification: June 8, 2009
  • Doctoral Symposium (presentations): Aug 25, 2009, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Doctoral Symposium Panel Members

  • Vittorio Cortellessa, Universita' de L'Aquila, Italy
  • Michel Chaudron (co-chair), Leiden University, Netherlands
  • Viviane Jonckers, VU Brussels, Belgium
  • John Knight, University of Virginia, U.S.A.
  • Oscar Nierstrasz, University of Bern, Switzerland
  • Richard Taylor, University of California at Irvine, U.S.A.
  • Roel Wieringa, Universiteit Twente, Netherlands
  • Alexander Wolf (co-chair), Imperial College London, U.K.

Contact Address

Questions regarding the Doctoral Symposium should be directed to:

Michel R.V. Chaudron, Leiden University,
Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science
Chaudron@liacs.nl