Doctoral Symposium European Systems & Software Process Improvement and Innovation 3-5 September 2008, Dublin City University, Ireland

EuroSPI 2008 Doctoral Symposium

The EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium will take place in conjunction with the 15th European Systems & Software Process Improvement and Innovation Conference (EuroSPI 2008), to be held in Dublin, Ireland from September 3 to 5, 2008. The EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium will provide an opportunity for graduate students to present and explore their research interests under the guidance of a panel of distinguished experts in the field. The EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium is intended to bring together Ph.D. students within the Systems & Software Process Improvement and Innovation field to discuss their research in an international forum. The EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium will provide students with an opportunity to:

• Present their research work in a relaxed and supportive environment
• Receive constructive feedback and suggestions from peers and experienced researchers
• Gain an overview of the breadth and depth of research in the field
• Obtain insight into directions for research taken by other doctoral candidates
• Discuss concerns about research, supervision, the job market, and other issues
• Network with peers and future colleagues and build bridges for potential research collaboration
• Interact with other researchers at the main EuroSPI conference sessions

This is a full-day event of interactive presentations, provisionally scheduled for Wednesday 3rd September 2008. Students will give a presentation following which the advisors panel will discuss the students' research project with the student in a supportive manner. Discussions will include research question, methods and results-to-date, and should provide students with guidance towards completion of a research thesis. The academic panel will also give short talks about a variety of research-related topics. Besides the formal presentations, there should be plenty of opportunities for informal interactions during coffee breaks, lunch and dinner.

The submission outlining the candidate's research should be in the form of a paper summarizing the student's thesis proposal and or research findings to date. This paper should provide the research question, a justification of why and to whom the research is important, a brief literature review, a presentation of the theoretical basis for the work, a research model and hypotheses (if applicable), a description of the research design and the results of any data collection carried out thus far. The submission process is as follows:

• Papers should not exceed 12 pages (completed paper with references section and appendix)
• The paper must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (97 or higher), formatted according to the guidelines (please see the guidelines document) or use the Word document template (please see Template File)
• Papers are to be submitted to the EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium co-chair’s Dr. Rory O’Connor by email to roconnor@computing.dcu.ie and Dr Fergal McCaffery fergal.mccaffery@dkit.ie
• The email accompanying the submission should also include the type of doctoral study being carried out, mode of study (full-time, part-time) and an indication of the breakdown between coursework and dissertation (eg 50% coursework 50% dissertation; full research dissertation). Students should also indicate how far through their dissertation they have progressed
• The submission should include a letter (email will suffice) of recommendation, sent by the students doctoral advisor and should include; the student's name, an assessment of the current status of the research and an expected date for thesis submission. The Doctoral Symposium co-chairs may contact the advisor directly.

Doctoral students are encouraged to informally contact one of the EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium co-chair’s (Dr. Rory O’Connor, roconnor@computing.dcu.ie and Dr Fergal McCaffery, fergal.mccaffery@dkit.ie) with any questions regarding the suitability or their potential submission or any other questions.

• Doctoral Symposium Submission: Monday 28 April, 2008   New Deadline
• Authors Notification: 12 May, 2008
• Final camera-ready submission: 26 May, 2008
• Registration: 9 June, 2008. Authors need to register by the early date, otherwise the contribution will be de-selected.

Review Process Submissions will be reviewed by the Doctoral Symposium panel, and selected for inclusion in the symposium on the basis of originality, technical merit, presentation quality, and relevance to the conference topics. During the review process, we might contact the author to clarify some aspects of the paper. Each participant will receive valuable feedback for their paper from experienced researchers.

Subject to pending grant funding, it is anticipated that there is no fee for attendance at the EuroSPI Doctoral Symposium and there will be student support for attendance at the main EuroSPI 2008 conference sessions. In addition, it is anticipated that support for on-campus accommodation will be available. It is not envisaged that travel costs will be covered.

The EuroSPI 2008 conference will be held in Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland from September 3 to 5, 2008. Full detail of the conference and local information are available on the conference website http://2008.eurospi.net/