[Om-announce] ECSS 2012 - Last week to submit your contribution!

[Cristina Pereira]

*/8th European Computer Science Summit - ECSS 2012/* 
<http://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/ecss-2012.html>*//*

*/What makes a good PhD in Informatics?/*

20-21 November 2012, Barcelona, Spain

With Pre-Summit Workshops on 19 November 2012 (see below)

Deadline for Submissions: *August 15, 2012*

Deadline for Early Registration: *September 20, 2012* - *Register Now! 
<http://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/ecss-2012/registration-2012.html>*


The program of the 8th European Computer Science Summit, ECSS 2012, with 
the theme "What makes a good PhD in Informatics?" is now online.

As for the previous Summits, the program consists of special invited 
talks, workshops, panels and other interactive sessions devoted to 
common issues, problems and proposals in the area of Informatics 
(Computer Science/Computing/ICT). Special features of the 2012 Summit 
are as follows:

  * Special focus on "What makes a good PhD in Informatics?"
  * Pre-summit Workshop for Deans, Department Chairs and Research
    Directors on November 19, 2012 (see details below)
  * Pre-summit Workshop on Experimentation in Computer Science: Scope,
    Method and Relevance on November 19, 2012 (see details below)
  * Invited talks from key players in the field (see details below)
  * Submitted talks by colleagues from all over Europe and beyond

The Summit is devoted to important and timely strategic issues and 
trends regarding all aspects of informatics: education, research, 
funding, entrepreneurship, management, career development, and policies. 
The speakers are an impressive group of world-class computer scientists 
who will present their latest advances and debate the future of the field.

*Manfred Nagl*'s talk "*Doctoral Dissertations in Informatics in Europe 
- Some Facts and Figures*" and *K.M. (Kees) van Hee*'s talk 
"*Engineering Doctorates: the Bridge between Science an Industry*" open 
the conference in the special session addressing the main conference 
theme. The session includes also the panel "*What Makes a Good PhD in 
Informatics?*" joining in the table key players from academy and 
industry to discuss current aspects and issues regarding PhD thesis in 
Informatics.

Research funding is the focus of another important session of the 
conference. The talks of *Danny Dolev*, European Research Council, "*The 
Promise in Computer Science Research Activities*" and *Farnam Jahanian*, 
US National Science Foundation, "*Pillars of Societal Innovation: 
Research and Education in Computer Science and Informatics*" bring the 
perspectives of both Europe and USA on a topic of key relevance to all 
researcher in the field.

*Diomidis Spinellis*, Athens University of Economics and Business, with 
his talk "T*heory Meets Reality: Managing IT Systems at the Greek 
Ministry of Finance*" bring his unique insider's perspective of the 
information technology systems at the Greek Ministry of Finance and its 
role in one of the gravest crisis Europe ever faced.

*Walter Gander* addresses in his talk "*Informatics in Schools? - 
Urgently Needed!*" one of the currently most important and worldwide 
debated topic of Informatics education. The talk will discuss the 
preliminary results and future plans of the working group established in 
the topic by a joint action of Informatics Europe and ACM Europe.

*Natalia Juristo*'s keynote "*Applying the Experimental Paradigm to 
Software Engineering*" opens a special session of the conference on the 
topic "Experiments in Computer Science". Her talk will be followed by 
the discussion panel "Experiments in Computer Science: Are Traditional 
Experimental Principles Enough?". The topic is also the central focus of 
a Pre-Summit workshop on November 19 (see details below).

Beyond this exciting group of speakers and discussions, the conference 
includes also a session with presentations selected from contributed 
papers (to submit your contribution see the call for submissions bellow) 
and the Award Ceremony of the 2012 Informatics Europe Curriculum Award.

Informatics Europe Members are specially invited to participate in the 
Informatics Europe General Assembly and Informatics Europe Initiatives 
Session (on November 20, afternoon) where important aspects of the 
association activities and administration will be presented and 
discussed, as well as plans for future activities and development.

*Call for Participation/Submissions*

ECSS 2012 is soliciting contributions on topics of interest to the ECSS 
audience throughout Europe: heads (or deans, chairs, etc.) of 
informatics/computer science/IT departments (schools, faculties); 
research directors and managers of research centers and laboratories in 
industry or in public institutions; as well as senior faculty and senior 
researchers from both academia and industry.

Like its predecessors, the 8th European Computer Science Summit, is a 
unique opportunity to meet some of the leading decision makers in 
informatics research and education, and discuss the critical issues of 
the discipline. The conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain, one of 
the most exciting cities in the world, filled with culture, art, and 
innovation.

In addition to the general topics of interest, every Summit has a 
particular theme, and the particular theme of ECSS 2012 is "What makes a 
good PhD in Informatics?" Thus, ECSS 2012 will enable educators, 
researchers, managers and other experts in the field to assess and 
discuss issues such as the best ways of designing and running PhD 
programs in our field, what the focus of such programs should be, what 
both academia and industry expect nowadays from a recent PhD graduate, 
career paths, PhD program evaluation, and any other related issues with 
a focus on how PhD education in Europe can help informatics make its 
best possible contribution to the progress of society.

*Topics for Contributions*

ECSS 2012 is soliciting contributions on all topics of interest to its 
intended audience, including (but not limited to) the following:

  * Major trends in informatics research and education.
  * Relationship of informatics researchers and educators with governments.
  * Research funding: issues, experience reports, policy.
  * Image of the discipline, student enrolment.
  * Infrastructure to support informatics research and education.
  * Issues in research and education policy.
  * Experience reports on educational techniques for informatics.
  * Role and relevance of experimentation in informatics.
  * Research organization for informatics.
  * Research careers in informatics, researcher evaluation.
  * Issues in informatics-related publishing practices.

Contributions are encouraged in the focus theme of ECSS 2012: "What 
makes a good PhD in Informatics?." In particular, submissions related to 
proposals, experiences, best practices, etc. related to the 
organization, focus, objectives, etc. of PhD programs in the field of 
informatics.

*Submitting Contributions*

To contribute to the Informatics Europe 2012 Summit program, please 
submit an extended abstract of your position paper by *August 15, 2012*. 
Submissions will be evaluated and selected by the ECSS 2012 program 
committee on the basis of relevance to (and capacity of) the program. 
Proposals may aim at a 20 minutes presentation or demonstration, and 
should consist of an abstract containing:

  * A header with the title of your contribution, your name, position,
    and affiliation.
  * A clear description of your contribution.

The abstract should contain at least, but is not restricted to, one A4 page.

*Format guidelines: A4 format, 11-pt Arial font type, single-space, 
one-column and 2 cm margins. Pages should not be numbered.*

Authors of accepted abstracts will be given the opportunity to submit 
longer position papers.

All contributions should be submitted in PDF format at the Easy Chair 
ECSS 2012 conference submission site:

*https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=ecss2012*

  * *Deadline for submissions: August 15, 2012.*
  * *Author Notification: September 15, 2012.*

All accepted abstracts and position papers will be made available to the 
conference attendees and on the Informatics Europe site 
(http://www.informatics-europe.org).**

*Registrations*

Registration to the conference is now open. Register early to benefit 
from the discounted fees. The deadline for early registration is 20 
September 2012.

To register follow the instructions in the conference registration page 
<https://intranet.pacifico-meetings.com/GesCoForm/inicio.jsf?cfg=148>.

For details on the fees and current offers visit the conference website:

http://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/ecss-2012/registration-2012.html*

*

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* Workshop for Deans, Department Chairs and Research Directors*

*/Faculty Promotion Policies and Procedure: tenure, tenure track, or?/*

Workshop chair: Prof. Mehdi Jazayeri, Faculty of Informatics, University 
of Lugano

Technical and societal changes are all around us and universities in 
Europe are undergoing fundamental changes. Department chairs at 
informatics groups face ever-increasing challenges. The goal of the 
workshop is to provide a networking opportunity for department chairs, 
old and new, to share experiences, common challenges, and best 
practices. It provides a forum for strengthening your leadership and 
management competencies by exchanging best practices and by building 
relationships among department heads at European Informatics research 
institutions. This year's meeting focuses on an issue that is changing 
across Europe: faculty promotions. The US tenure-track system is 
well-known and almost treated as a standard. But there are many systems 
used across Europe and they are undergoing major changes.

The workshop will be a mixture of discussions/knowledge sharing in 
smaller groups. Please bring the issues you are facing and approaches 
you have found to work. The workshop focuses on current procedures and 
practices for faculty promotion. Both new and experienced department 
heads are invited for an exchange of best practices, new ideas and 
common challenges. Benefits for participants include:

  * Learning best practices from heads of European Informatics
    departments and research labs
  * Offering a networking platform for heads of European Informatics
    departments and research labs
  * Inspiration for improving department processes


*Speakers:*

  * Anthony Finkelstein, University College London, UK
  * Mehdi Jazayeri, University of Lugano, Switzerland
  * Axel van Lamsweerde, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
  * Leszek Pacholski, Wroclaw University, Poland


To see the detailed program and register, please visit the workshop page 
at the ECSS 2012 website 
<http://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/ecss-2012/pre-summit-workshops-2012/workshop-for-deans,-department-chairs-and-research-directors.html>.


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* Workshop on Experimentation in Computer Science: Scope, Method and 
Relevance*

*Workshop coordinator: Viola Schiaffonati, Politecnico di Milano*

*Workshop Chairs: Jan Van Leeuwen (University of Utrecht) and Fabio A. 
Schreiber, Francesco Bruschi, Letizia Tanca (Politecnico di Milano)*

*A trend has recently emerged toward making the experimental scientific 
method take center stage in computer science and engineering. 
Unfortunately, computer scientists do not seem to agree on how 
experimental methods are supposed to impact their theory and practice. 
This workshop is intended to give a home to interests in, and concerns 
about, the role and relevance of experimentation in informatics.*

*Among the questions that will be discussed are the following:*

*- Does it make sense to 'import' traditional experimental principles 
(such ad comparison, reproducibility, repeatability, justification, 
explanation) from traditional scientific disciplines into computer 
science and engineering? On the one side, the application of these 
principles allows for a more rigorous approach to experiments within 
computer science and engineering; on the other side, these principles 
are valid for disciplines (such as physics and biology) that aim at 
understanding and explaining natural phenomena, whereas computer science 
and engineering realize artifacts.*

*- Computer science and engineering are composed of very heterogeneous 
subfields: is it possible to single out some common features 
characterizing "good experiments" across these subfields?*

*- What does it mean to make experiments in computer science and 
engineering? Is it possible to ask this question in general terms or 
does it need to be specifically declined for each subfield?*

*- Stimulating a deeper discussion on experiments in computer science 
and engineering can help promote a more scientific approach to the 
discipline: is this a possible way to look at the current debate on the 
relationship between computing and science?*

*Speakers (partial list):*

  * ***K.M. (Kees) van Hee, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) -
    The Netherlands*
  * ***Viola Schiaffonati, Politecnico di Milano - Italy*
  * ***Matti Tedre, University of Eastern Finland - Finland*

*Contributions on the theme of the workshop are encouraged. They will be 
evaluated and selected by the ECSS 2012 program committee on the basis 
of relevance to (and capacity of) the program. Selected papers will be 
scheduled for presentation as part of the workshop, or in the main 
conference on November 21.*

To see the detailed program and register, please visit the workshop page 
at the ECSS 2012 website 
<http://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/ecss-2012/pre-summit-workshops-2012/workshop-experimentation-in-informatics.html>.


**

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