PhD Working Groups - Call for Participation

PWG working pages can be accesssed at http://pwg.sed.hu/.

Goals and format

Apart from the traditional Doctoral Symposium (which has a separate call and will take place on Monday, Sept. 5), a more complex program for PhD students (not limited to Doctoral Symposium participants) and other young (pre-doc) researchers will be organized at ESEC/FSE’11 under the name PhD Working Groups (PWG). The PWG forum will provide an affordable opportunity for young researchers to participate in this world-class conference and with their active role contribute to a richer conference program.

The main aim of PWG is to provide a forum for young researchers who are willing to actively participate in shaping the conference program, and to offer them the possibility to meet prominent senior researchers in certain SE fields and work with them throughout the conference week. Working groups will be formed from the participants of this program with the aim to perform a small survey of a given Software Engineering topic by interviewing conference participants and researching the field. The groups will be led by fellow young researchers with PhD degree knowledgeable in the selected fields, and supervised by senior researchers selected from the Doctoral Symposium Panel, who will suggest the topics of the working groups.

The outcome of the joint work will be presented to the participants of the conference on the last day before closing. It is expected that the presented results give an overview of the given topic with an emphasis on open research questions.

Special keynote talks or briefings are planned on different topics related to performing successful research and writing high quality papers as well. This will take place in the scope of the Technical Briefings track on Tuesday, Sept. 6. As part of the Students package, PWG participants will have free tickets to the Technical Briefings track.

PWG will hopefully provide a basis for further cooperation between young researchers seeking timely and relevant research topics with senior collaborators seeking talented and motivated young colleagues. The common work during the conference could be followed by, for example, a joint publication after the conference.

A particular motivation for organizing PWG this year is to take advantage of the location of the conference and help young researchers from the surrounding countries establish relationship with major research groups in the world (though registration is not limited to researchers coming from these countries). For this, many such students have very little opportunities otherwise, since it is hard to “break out” from their often isolated research places (partly due to financial reasons). The organizers will provide significant discounts from conference fees to most young researchers who are willing to participate in this program. Additionally, guidance will be provided to find possible additional grants and stipends. Participants will be offered very cost effective accommodation in dormitories as well.

Additionally, we will offer special social and sport programs to the participants of PWG, and hence expect a lively and youthful complement to the traditional conference program.

Work Plan

Preparation

The proposed topics and the working groups will be formed by the organizers before the conference based on the registration information and following the suggestions of the Doctoral Symposium Panel members.

Monday

The participants signed up for PWG will need to arrive for the informal gathering on Monday afternoon. The official program will start after the Doctoral Symposium is finished, e.g. around 16 or 17 hours. Here, the program will be opened by a few words of the organizers, and the research agenda and the work plan will be presented to the working groups. After the formal kick-off meeting, the day will be closed with a social and/or sport event.

Tuesday

This day is dedicated to Technical Briefings. Participants of PWG have free ticket to the Technical Briefings track all day. This is a special session, similar to Tutorials, but here the participants may choose on-site which briefings they attend. Social and/or sport event is planned for this day as well.

Wednesday-Thursday

The working groups will be performing individual research on their topics with the help of their group leaders. The conference participants will be interviewed about the selected topics in an informal way, e.g. during the coffee breaks (supervisors can help finding the relevant researchers). The working groups will have the possibility to work on their own and perform additional research (separate room and computer infrastructure will be provided). On each day, a short informal meeting of the group leaders is planned to discuss the experiences about the work with their groups. Individual wiki-pages will be provided to the working groups that they can use to exchange information, if they wish.

Friday

The working groups will present their findings on the last day of the conference before the closing session. Each group will get a separate time slot to present the results, and a wrap-up session will be organized for each group as well to discuss any possible further cooperation.

How to apply

Applying to the PhD Working Groups program is irrespective of the application to the Doctoral Symposium.

Registration to PWG will be possible through the conference registration page as part of the Students Package over the whole conference registration period (to be opened soon). However, in order to be considered for a reduced registration fee, the applicants in addition must submit an application form for University of Szeged Special Support Grant (see below).

The University of Szeged offers a Special Support Grant possibility in addition to other grants overviewed on the Students page. University of Szeged Special Support Grant will be awarded to selected applicants based on the applicant's background provided in the application form. Although not exclusively, the available budget will be primarily reserved for applicants from Hungary and the neighbouring countries. Applicants will be notified about the amount of their eligible registration discount before the early registration deadline.

Application forms must be submitted electronically through the PWG submission site. The application form can be downloaded from this page (see below). All fields are mandatory. Submissions must be in PDF format. Please use 'PWG Application' for Title and Abstract in the online submission form. Please note: no technical paper is needed for applying to the PhD Working Groups!

Important dates

Deadline for submitting the application for University of Szeged Special Support Grant: June 20, 2011 (extended!)
Notification of eligible grant: June 24, 2011
General registration: throughout the main conference registration period