AST 2025
Sat 26 April - Sun 4 May 2025 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
co-located with ICSE 2025

The 6th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Automation of Software Test (AST 2025)

Software pervasiveness in both industry and digital society, as well as the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are continuously leading to emerging needs from both software producers and consumers. Infrastructures, software components, and applications aim to hide their increasing complexity in order to appear more human-centric. However, the potential risk from design errors, poor integrations, and time-consuming engineering phases can result in unreliable solutions that can barely meet their intended objectives. In this context, Software Engineering processes keep demanding for the investigation of novel and further refined approaches to Software Quality Assurance (SQA). Software testing automation is a discipline that has produced noteworthy research in the last decade. The search for solutions to automatically test any concept of software is critical, and it encompasses several areas: from the generation of the test cases, test oracles, test stubs/mocks; through the definition of selection and prioritization criteria; up to the engineering of infrastructures governing the execution of testing sessions locally or remotely in the cloud.

AST continues with a long record of international scientific forums on methods and solutions to automate software testing. This year AST is the 6th edition of a conference that was formerly organized as workshops since 2006. The conference promotes high quality research contributions on methods for software test automation, and original case studies reporting practices in this field. We invite contributions that focus on: i) lessons learned about experiments of automatic testing in practice; ii) experiences of the adoption of testing tools, methods and techniques; iii) best practices to follow in testing and their measurable consequences; and iv) theoretical approaches that are applicable to the industry in the context of AST.

Authors of the best papers presented at AST 2025 will be invited to submit an extension of their work for possible inclusion in a special issue in Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability (STVR) journal

Call for papers.




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Dates
Mon 28 Apr 2025
Tue 29 Apr 2025
Plenary
Hide plenary sessions

This program is tentative and subject to change.

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Mon 28 Apr

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

07:00 - 19:00
Ready Room MondayICSE Social, Networking and Special Rooms at 209

The Ready Room will be available throughout the week. There will be some tables with computers where people can edit presentations (bring on a USB stick) and upload presentations to the presentation rooms through the Contact 1 website. There will also be AV technicians to help if needed.

You do not need to use the Ready Room: You have several choices: You can upload your presentation from your own computer in advance of your session (days in advance even) at the Contact 1 website (you will be sent a link). Or you can plug your computer in using an HDMI cable when you are starting your presentation. This last option is available but not recommended, since it increases the chance of delays.

There will be some tables and couches in the Ready Room where you can get work done, or have small get-togethers with people.

This room will not be ‘quiet’. If you want a quiet place to work or chill out (library quiet, no talking) then Room 209 will be available much of the time.

The Ready Room will also have some poster boards.

09:00 - 10:30
09:00 - 10:30
Conference Opening & KeynoteAST 2025 at 211
09:00
90m
Keynote
Personalized Fuzzing
AST 2025
Andreas Zeller CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
10:30 - 11:00
10:30
30m
Break
Monday Morning Break
ICSE Catering

11:00 - 12:30
11:00 - 12:30
Session 1: LLM for TestingAST 2025 at 211
11:00
30m
Full-paper
Acceptance Test Generation with Large Language Models: An Industrial Case Study
AST 2025
Margarida Ferreira University of Porto and Critical TechWorks, Luís Viegas University of Porto and Critical TechWorks, João Pascoal Faria Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto and INESC TEC, Bruno Lima Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto & LIACC
11:30
30m
Full-paper
AsserT5: Test Assertion Generation Using a Fine-Tuned Code Language Model
AST 2025
Severin Primbs University of Passau, Benedikt Fein University of Passau, Gordon Fraser University of Passau
Pre-print
12:00
30m
Full-paper
Simulink Mutation Testing using CodeBERT
AST 2025
Jingfan Zhang University of Ottawa, Delaram Ghobari University of Ottawa, Mehrdad Sabetzadeh University of Ottawa, Shiva Nejati University of Ottawa
Pre-print
12:30 - 14:00
12:30
90m
Lunch
Monday Lunch
ICSE Catering

14:00 - 15:30
14:00 - 15:30
Session 2: Test GenerationAST 2025 at 211
14:00
30m
Full-paper
Automated Test-Case Generation for REST APIs Using Model Inference Search Heuristic
AST 2025
Clinton Cao Delft University of Technology, Annibale Panichella Delft University of Technology, Sicco Verwer TU Delft
Pre-print
14:30
30m
Full-paper
Automated Test Generation for Integration Testing
AST 2025
Elson Kurian University of Milano Bicocca, Luca Guglielmo Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Pietro Braione University of Milano-Bicocca, Giovanni Denaro University of Milano - Bicocca
15:00
30m
Full-paper
Automated Test Generation from Program Documentation Encoded in Code Comments
AST 2025
Giovanni Denaro University of Milano - Bicocca, Luca Guglielmo Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
15:30 - 16:00
15:30
30m
Break
Monday Afternoon Break
ICSE Catering

16:00 - 17:30
16:00 - 17:30
Session 3: Panel DiscussionAST 2025 at 211
16:00
90m
Panel
Automated Software Testing for Sustainability and Resource Efficiency
AST 2025
Istvan David McMaster University / McMaster Centre for Software Certification (McSCert), Roberto Verdecchia University of Florence, Bimpe Ayoola Dalhousie University, Jari Porras LUT University , Lina Marsso Polytechnique Montreal

Tue 29 Apr

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

07:00 - 19:00
09:00 - 10:30
Conference Opening & Keynote 2AST 2025 at 211
09:00
90m
Keynote
Learning-Based Testing: The Ease, the Impact, the Future
AST 2025
Tiziana Margaria University of Limerick and Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre
10:30 - 11:00
10:30
30m
Break
Tuesday Morning Break
ICSE Catering

11:00 - 12:30
Session 4: When and How to TestAST 2025 at 211
11:00
22m
Full-paper
An Adaptive Testing Approach Based on Field Data
AST 2025
Samira Santos da Silva Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), Ricardo Caldas Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), Patrizio Pelliccione Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila, Italy, Antonia Bertolino National Research Council, Italy
Pre-print
11:22
22m
Full-paper
Exceptional Behaviors: How Frequently Are They Tested?
AST 2025
Andre Hora UFMG, Gordon Fraser University of Passau
Pre-print
11:45
22m
Full-paper
Improving Examples in Web API Specifications using Iterated-Calls In-Context Learning
AST 2025
Kush Jain Carnegie Mellon University, Kiran Kate IBM Research, Jason Tsay IBM Research, Claire Le Goues Carnegie Mellon University, Martin Hirzel IBM Research
12:07
22m
Full-paper
What Types of Automated Tests do Developers Write?
AST 2025
Marko Ivanković University of Passau, Luka Rimanić Google Switzerland GmbH, Ivan Budiselic Google, Goran Petrovic Google; Universität Passau, Gordon Fraser University of Passau, René Just University of Washington
12:30 - 14:00
12:30
90m
Lunch
Tuesday Lunch
ICSE Catering

14:00 - 15:30
Session 5: Testing of LLMsAST 2025 at 211
14:00
30m
Full-paper
Adaptive Probabilistic Operational Testing for Large Language Models Evaluation
AST 2025
Ali Asgari TU Delft, Antonio Guerriero Università di Napoli Federico II, Roberto Pietrantuono Università di Napoli Federico II, Stefano Russo Università di Napoli Federico II
14:30
30m
Full-paper
ASTRAL: Automated Safety Testing of Large Language Models
AST 2025
Miriam Ugarte Mondragon University, Pablo Valle Mondragon University, José Antonio Parejo Maestre University of Seville, Sergio Segura University of Seville, Aitor Arrieta Mondragon University
Pre-print
15:00
30m
Full-paper
A Taxonomy of Failures in Tool-Augmented LLMs
AST 2025
Cailin Winston University of Washington, René Just University of Washington
15:30 - 16:00
15:30
30m
Break
Tuesday Afternoon Break
ICSE Catering

16:00 - 17:30
Session 6: Vulnerability Detection & ClosingAST 2025 at 211
16:00
30m
Full-paper
A New Era in Software Security: Towards Self-Healing Software via Large Language Models and Formal Verification
AST 2025
Norbert Tihanyi Technology Innovation Institute, Yiannis Charalambous The University of Manchester, Ridhi Jain Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi, UAE, Mohamed Amine Ferrag Guelma University, Lucas C. Cordeiro University of Manchester, UK and Federal University of Amazonas, Brazil
16:30
30m
Full-paper
Bringing Light into the Darkness: Leveraging Hidden Markov Models for Blackbox Fuzzing
AST 2025
Anne Borcherding Fraunhofer IOSB, Mark Giraud Fraunhofer IOSB, Johannes Häring Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
17:00
30m
Full-paper
Incorporating Domain Knowledge into GNNs for Advanced Vulnerability Detection in Java
AST 2025
ROSMAEL ZIDANE LEKEUFACK FOULEFACK Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI)/University of Trento (UNITN), Alessandro Marchetto Università di Trento
19:00 - 22:00
Quiet Room Tuesday EveningICSE Social, Networking and Special Rooms at 202

Accepted Papers

Title
Acceptance Test Generation with Large Language Models: An Industrial Case Study
AST 2025
Adaptive Probabilistic Operational Testing for Large Language Models Evaluation
AST 2025
An Adaptive Testing Approach Based on Field Data
AST 2025
Pre-print
A New Era in Software Security: Towards Self-Healing Software via Large Language Models and Formal Verification
AST 2025
AsserT5: Test Assertion Generation Using a Fine-Tuned Code Language Model
AST 2025
Pre-print
ASTRAL: Automated Safety Testing of Large Language Models
AST 2025
Pre-print
A Taxonomy of Failures in Tool-Augmented LLMs
AST 2025
Automated Software Testing for Sustainability and Resource Efficiency
AST 2025
Automated Test-Case Generation for REST APIs Using Model Inference Search Heuristic
AST 2025
Pre-print
Automated Test Generation for Integration Testing
AST 2025
Automated Test Generation from Program Documentation Encoded in Code Comments
AST 2025
Bringing Light into the Darkness: Leveraging Hidden Markov Models for Blackbox Fuzzing
AST 2025
Exceptional Behaviors: How Frequently Are They Tested?
AST 2025
Pre-print
Improving Examples in Web API Specifications using Iterated-Calls In-Context Learning
AST 2025
Incorporating Domain Knowledge into GNNs for Advanced Vulnerability Detection in Java
AST 2025
Simulink Mutation Testing using CodeBERT
AST 2025
Pre-print
What Types of Automated Tests do Developers Write?
AST 2025

Call for Papers

Scope

Software pervasiveness in both industry and digital society, as well as the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are continuously leading to emerging needs from both software producers and consumers. Infrastructures, software components, and applications aim to hide their increasing complexity in order to appear more human-centric. However, the potential risk from design errors, poor integrations, and time-consuming engineering phases can result in unreliable solutions that can barely meet their intended objectives. In this context, Software Engineering processes and methods keep demanding for the investigation of novel and further refined approaches to Software Quality Assurance (SQA).

Software testing automation is a discipline that has produced noteworthy research in the last decades. The search for solutions to automatically test any concept of software is critical, and it encompasses several areas: from the generation of the test cases, test oracles, test stubs/mocks; through the definition of selection and prioritization criteria; up to the engineering of infrastructures governing the execution of testing sessions locally or remotely in the cloud.

The Automation of Software Test (AST) conference continues with a long record of international scientific forums on methods and solutions to automate software testing. In 2025, AST is in its 6th edition of a conference that was formerly organized as workshops since 2006. The conference promotes high-quality research contributions on methods for software test automation, and original case studies reporting practices in this field. We invite contributions that focus on: i) lessons learned about experiments of automatic testing in practice; ii) experiences of the adoption of testing tools, methods and techniques; iii) best practices to follow in testing and their measurable consequences; and iv) theoretical approaches that are applicable to the industry in the context of AST.

Our theme for this year is “Adapting test automation to the AI era including sustainability and emerging challenges” with special sessions on test automation for AI, sustainability, and AI testing education and training.

Topics of Interest

Submissions on the AST 2025 theme are especially encouraged, but papers on other topics relevant to the automation of software tests are also welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

  • AI for Automated Software Testing
  • Testing of AI-based systems
  • Effective testing through explainable AI
  • Education to software testing with the advent of AI-based technology
  • Automated software testing for sustainability, resource efficiency, energy consumption
  • Codeless and low code test automation
  • Test Automation in Software Process and Evolution, DevOps, Agile, CI/CD flows
  • Test-driven development
  • Model-based testing
  • Formal methods, model checking and theories for testing and test automation
  • Test case generation based on formal, semi-formal and AI models
  • Theoretical foundations and methods for test automation
  • Standardization of test languages, processes and tools
  • Security, performance, and robustness testing
  • Functional, interoperability, and conformance testing
  • Usability and user experience testing
  • Software simulation and automated software testing
  • Testing of embedded, reactive and object-oriented systems
  • Test automation of large complex systems
  • Testing cyber physical systems
  • Testing cloud and web systems and services
  • Product line testing
  • Testing anomaly detectors
  • Metrics for testing - test effectiveness, efficiency, test coverage
  • Testing tools
  • Testing in different industry domains including healthcare, energy, finance, etc.

Important Dates

Submission: 9 November 2024

Notification: 12 January 2025 (UPDATED)

Final version: 31 January 2025

Conference: 28-29 April 2025

Organizers

Andy Zaidman, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (General Chair)

Francesca Lonetti, ISTI-CNR, Italy (Program Co-Chair)

Ina Schieferdecker, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany (Program Co-Chair)

Rajesh Subramanyan, Stealth Startup & University of Washington, USA (Program Co-Chair)

Submission Details

Three types of submissions are invited for both research and industry:

  1. Regular Papers (up to 10 pages plus 2 additional pages of references) Research Paper Industrial Case Study
  2. Short Papers (up to 4 pages plus 1 additional page of references) Research Paper Industrial Case Study Doctoral Student Research
  3. Industrial Abstracts (up to 2 pages for all materials)

The submission website is: https://ast2025.hotcrp.com/

All submissions must adhere to the following requirements: The page limit is strict (10 pages plus 2 additional pages of references for full papers; 4 pages plus 1 additional page of references for short papers; 2 pages for all materials in case of industrial abstracts). It will not be possible to purchase additional pages at any point in the process (including after acceptance). Submissions must strictly conform to the IEEE conference proceedings template, specified in the IEEE Conference Proceedings Formatting Guidelines (title in 24pt font and full text in 10pt type, LaTeX users must use \documentclass[10pt,conference]{IEEEtran} without including the compsoc or compsocconf options).

IEEE Conference Proceedings Formatting Guidelines: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html

Submissions must be unpublished original work and should not be under review or submitted elsewhere while being under consideration. AST 2025 will follow the double-blind review process. The accepted regular and short papers, case studies, and industrial abstracts will be published in the ICSE 2025 Co-located Event Proceedings and included in the IEEE and ACM Digital Libraries. The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM or IEEE Digital Libraries. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of ICSE 2025. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work. Purchases of additional pages in the proceedings are not allowed.

Special Issue

Authors of the best papers presented at AST 2025 will be invited to submit an extension of their work for possible inclusion in a special issue.

Keynote: Tiziana Margaria Title: TBD

Keynote: Andreas Zeller Title: TBD

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