Call for Research Abstracts

FSE Student Research Competition 2024

FSE 2024 will host an ACM Student Research Competition (SRC). SRC is a unique forum reserved for undergraduate and graduate students who want to experience the world of software engineering research and present their results to the community.

The ACM Student Research Competition at FSE 2024 consists of three parts:

1. Research Abstract Submission
2. Poster Presentation during the conference
3. Research Talk during the conference

The first-place winners are invited to participate in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals, which includes all fields of computer science. Here is how you can participate.

Submit a Research Abstract

To participate, submit an extended research abstract of no more than 800 words (within a 2-page limit) related to the main themes of FSE 2024 (see the Research Track for a list of conference topics). The submission should include the following elements: the research problem and motivation, background and related work, approach and novelty, results, and contributions. Your submission must present original research contributions that have not been published elsewhere. Papers will be judged based on how well they cover the above aspects of the work.

All research abstracts must conform to the FSE 2024 Format and Submission Guidelines. Note that the research abstracts will appear in the companion proceedings and thus follow a different format compared with the main track. Please include the following Latex code at the beginning of your Latex document.

\documentclass[sigconf,screen,review,anonymous]{acmart}

Please also include the following Latex code in your document.

\acmBooktitle{Companion Proceedings of the 32nd ACM Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE '24), July 15--19, 2024, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil}

All research abstracts must not exceed 800 words (within 2 pages), including all text, appendices, and figures. However, please note that references do not count against the word and page limit: the list of references may expand into a third page but no content (text, figures) is allowed on the third page (i.e., the third page, if any, should contain nothing else except all or part of your references).

All submissions must be in English. Submissions must be in PDF format. Papers must be submitted electronically through the FSE SRC HotCRP submission site http://fse2024-src.hotcrp.com by March 2, 2024. A panel of experts will review the submissions and select the students to participate in the Student Research Competition, which will be held during FSE 2024. Accepted submissions will be published in the conference electronic proceedings and made available in the ACM Digital Library.

The review process is single-blind. There is no need to anonymize the submission. The submission will be handled using HotCRP.

First Round: Poster Presentation

The first round of the competition will take place during the FSE 2024 conference and will be a poster session. You will get to present your research to the conference attendees and leading experts in software engineering research, including the SRC committee.

The committee members will review the posters and talk to participants about their research. Subsequently, they will evaluate the research (in terms of quality, novelty, and significance) as well as the presentation of the research (poster and discussion), and choose the participants to advance to the second round of the competition.

Second Round: Give a Presentation

Selected participants will be invited to give a short presentation of their research before the SRC committee members in a special session during FSE 2024. Each presentation will be followed by a short Q&A session. Evaluations of presentations will be based on the presenter’s knowledge of their research area, contribution of the research, and the quality of the oral and visual presentation. At most three winners will be chosen in the undergraduate and graduate categories, and receive prizes.

The SRC Grand Finals

The first-place winner in each category (undergraduate and graduate) from the SRC held at FSE 2024 will advance to the ACM SRC Grand Finals. A different panel of judges evaluates the winners of all SRCs held during the calendar year against each other via the web. Three undergraduates and three graduates will be chosen as the SRC Grand Finals winners.

Prizes

The top three winners in each category (undergraduate and graduate) will be recognized during the conference and will receive prizes. The first-place winners of the FSE SRC are also invited to compete with winners from other conferences in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals.

Requirements

Participants must be undergraduate or graduate students pursuing an academic degree at the time of initial submission. Participants must be current student members of ACM, and must provide their ACM member number. Supervisors of the work may not be listed as co-authors; you must submit a single-authored version of your work for the competition.

Important Dates

All dates are 23:59:59 AoE (UTC-12h).

• Paper Submission: March 2, 2024
• Notification: April 19, 2024
• Camera-ready Version: May 14, 2024

NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

For additional information, visit the official ACM Student Research Competition website. For questions, please contact the SRC chairs, Yang Liu and Tianyi Zhang.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to travel to Porto de Galinhas, Brazil if my abstract gets accepted?

Yes, you will need to travel to FSE 2024 to participate in the SRC. We will not offer a virtual/hybrid option for the Poster and Presentation rounds of the competition. Should exceptional circumstances (e.g., visa issues) prevent you from traveling to Porto de Galinhas, Brazil in time, contact the SRC chairs.

Q: Does the SRC offer a travel stipend?

Unfortunately the FSE 2024 SRC is unable to provide a travel stipend to participants. Should your advisor or institution be unable to cover the travel cost, we encourage you to apply SIGSOFT CAPS.

Q: I am a PhD student. Am I eligible to participate in the SRC?

Yes. As a PhD student, you will compete in the Graduate category of the competition.

Q: What should I write in my research abstract?

A submission to the competition should describe recently completed or ongoing student research related to the topics covered by FSE. It is important that your research abstract discusses (1) research problem and motivation, (2) background and related work, (3) approach and uniqueness, and (4) results and contributions. The committee will assess your research abstract along these dimensions.

Q: What criteria will be used to evaluate the poster and conference presentations?

The judges will assess the poster presentations using the following criteria: Oral presentation, Visual presentation, Research methods, and Significance of contribution. For the conference presentation, the evaluation criteria are Knowledge of research area, Contribution of the research, and Presentation.

Q: My research is not related to software engineering or any of the main themes of the FSE conference. Can I still participate in the Student Research Competition?

Yes, but not at FSE. To participate in the competition at FSE, your research needs to be related to the main themes of the FSE conference (see the topics for the main conference track). If your research is not among the topics relevant for FSE, please check the list of current SRC calls to find a conference that is better related.

Q: Can I submit research that is already published elsewhere?

No, the submission needs to be original. In particular, you cannot participate with a short version of a paper that is accepted in the main track. We will ask you to retract work that has already been published elsewhere.

Q: Can I get my paper published if I cannot attend?

No, the student will need to attend/present their poster or your paper will not be published.

Q: Can I participate without an ACM student membership?

No, you need to have an ACM student membership to participate.

Q: Do figures count towards the word limit?

No, they do not.