Call for Papers: Doctoral Symposium
Goal and Scope
The ICSME 2016 doctoral symposium features three tracks — early pre-doctoral, late pre-doctoral, and post-doctoral. Our overall goal is to help the next generation of ICSME researchers form connections and gain advice on their proposed areas of research. Each track will work towards this goal as appropriate for its career preparation stage. The three tracks will meet together for the day to enable multi-level peer mentoring as more senior students and junior researchers reflect on their experiences during their PhD studies.
- Early Pre-doctoral Track
- This track is open to PhD students currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the general area of software maintenance and evolution, who have not yet completed the dissertation proposal phase (or equivalent) of their program. Students should have already participated in at least one independent study/research project as part of their research group. This track aims to expose early PhD students to the ICSME research community and research process and to help them progress toward their dissertation proposal.
- Late Pre-doctoral Track
- This track is open to PhD students currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the general area of software maintenance and evolution, who have completed the dissertation proposal phase (or equivalent) of their program. This track aims to bring together students who (a) are pursuing a specific research question, (b) have a concrete research plan for completing their studies, and (c) have obtained some initial results motivating their methodology and plan. Students will gain feedback from a broader community outside their institution and network with peers in the ICSME research community.
- Post-doctoral Track
- This track is dedicated to researchers who have recently completed their PhD dissertations in the general area of software maintenance and evolution (between June 1, 2015 and the submission deadline). This track provides an opportunity for researchers to present their research agenda to a general audience and gain feedback in preparation for job interviews. Students will develop a research vision that builds on the individual research projects of their dissertation, and learn to present it to a general audience who is familiar with the research area, but not their specific project or focus.
Evaluation
All submissions that meet the submission criteria (see below) and fit the scope of the conference will be evaluated by the doctoral symposium chairs on the basis of their relevance to the ICSME community, their originality, and their technical soundness. Submissions that are not in compliance with the required submission format or that are out of the scope of the conference will be rejected without being reviewed. Submitted papers must comply with IEEE plagiarism policy and procedures.
Publication and Presentation
Accepted late-doctoral and post-doctoral track papers will be published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Please review the ICSME 2016 Publication Requirements for more details. Participants from all tracks will present at the symposium, which is closed to the public ICSME community to encourage valuable open discussion and feedback. Presentations will be limited in time to leave sufficient time for feedback. Each participant will also prepare and present a poster during the symposium (for feedback). During the main conference, the author will present the poster again at a public poster session. More presentation details will follow notifications of acceptance.
How to Submit
Submissions must be formatted according to the ICSME 2016 Formatting Instructions. Page limits vary by track, as described below. All submissions must be in PDF and must be submitted online by the deadline via the ICSME 2016 Doctoral Symposium EasyChair conference management system.
Early Pre-doctoral Track
Papers must not exceed 2 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. To encourage students to share their nascent ideas and gain feedback, accepted papers will not be published in the conference proceedings.
The submission should include a description of a research project in which you have already participated. Focus on research questions and on lessons learned so far about the research and the research process. Expound on your own proposal ideas. What is your general research area? What open questions/problems do you find personally meaningful, and why are they interesting to you? It is acceptable for this to be a broad outline of the research area and where you think you might want to contribute.
The author's supervisor should submit a letter of support via email to the chairs (abegel@microsoft.com and pollock@udel.edu) by the paper submission deadline.
Late Pre-doctoral Track
Papers must not exceed 4 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings.
The submission should include a statement of the general technical problem addressed, its importance, and the specific research questions under investigation. Provide an overview of the related research background in the context of the work being conducted, a sketch of the research methodology, the envisioned (algorithmic or software) contribution, a description of the evaluation method, and the results obtained so far.
The author's dissertation supervisor should submit a letter of support via email to the chairs (abegel@microsoft.com and pollock@udel.edu) by the paper submission deadline.
Post-doctoral Track
Papers must not exceed 5 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings.
The submission should be a shortened version of a research proposal for a job and include a synopsis of the PhD dissertation, focusing on the research problem addressed, its contributions, evidence documenting these contributions (in terms of working software systems or case studies), and a statement of their innovation and importance, a description of your research vision going forward for the next few years — not just the next few obvious steps after the dissertation: Think about what your next PhD topic would be. Think big picture! — and two or three "lessons" you learned through the PhD process. Reflect on what worked well and what could have gone better.
The first of the submission's references should be the author's dissertation, including a URL where it is accessible.
Important Dates
- Abstract submission
- June 24, 2016
- Paper submission
- July 1, 2016
- Author notification
- July 29, 2016
Submissions close at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth, UTC-12)