Call for Participation to the ERMSEI 2025 Summer School

The ERMSEI Summer School is the place to go if you are a junior researcher and want to start doing empirical work in a Software Engineering or Informatics context but don’t know how or lack a local support system.

GOAL

The goal of this summer school is to get junior researchers started on using empirical research methods on software engineering topics. We emphasize practical, hands-on exercises throughout the course because that is the only way to really get going. We focus on providing overview rather than details: those are better learned by reading specialized books. We will try to work on your research topics as much as possible, delivering real and immediate value to participants.

SPEAKERS

Harald Störrle, QAware, Munich, Germany.

Djamel E. Khelladi, CNRS, Univ. Rennes, France.

TOPICS

We will cover all major research methods, i.e., controlled experiments, a selection of qualitative methods, and the major approaches to secondary research. We will also discuss study design as the most important obstacle to high quality empirical research, but we will not cover statistics or specialized tools such as R. The whole summer school is based on case studies of actual published empirical research, and quite possibly your own research projects.

PREREQUISITE

Participants are expected to be PhD students at an early to medium stage of their work, or MSc students close to completing their degree with a view to continuing towards a PhD. Exceptions will be considered when free seats are available. Previous experience in empirical methods, or a first degree in CS, SE, IS, or a related field are not required. Thinking hard about an ongoing or upcoming personal research project in the area of SE, however, is recommended.

HOW TO APPLY

Attendance is limited to 25-30 participants. Applications are processed first-come-first-serve, but we reserve the right to exclude applicants whose profile is not well-aligned with the course’s prerequisites. In order to support your application, please send an email to Djamel Eddine Khelladi (djamel-eddine.khelladi@irisa.fr) including a PDF document (max 1 page) containing:

• your interest in the school;

• a short tabular CV that allows us to assess your experience in the area; and

• a description of your ongoing or upcoming research project.

• an additional (short) recommendation letter from your PhD supervisor

The early bird registration deadline is June 30th 2025; notifications of acceptance will be given continuously as the applications come in.

VENUE

The summer school will take place at the University of Rennes, France. It will be hosted in the PNRB building. The exact location on campus and some more practical details will be announced to participants together with the notification.

Registration for participation to the school for students is 280 euros on or before June 30th, and 330 euros thereafter. It includes the lectures as such with accompanying material, exercises, refreshments and lunches, and a social gala dinner. Accommodation and travel will have to be covered by the student.

Registration link will be put online soon.

WEB SITE

The course Web Site is found at https://conf.researchr.org/home/ermsei-2025 and will be updated continuously. You might also want to follow the facebook site created by the participants of previous years’ ERMSEI schools at https://conf.researchr.org/series/ermsei. Find the ERMSEI community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1467327066872949/ .

Hope to see you in France soon!