Only PhD candidates can register for either the Monday program or the entire ECSS 2024.

ECSS is Informatics Europe's annual three-day event devoted to crucial and timely strategic issues and trends in informatics education and research in Europe. The summit program aims to broaden participants' understanding of the discipline by addressing topics that may not initially appear directly relevant or of interest to them. ECSS participants value this variety of topics and activities over the three days, which enables them to forge new connections and gain fresh insights and ideas for their current and future work.

We strongly encourage everyone for full participation to gain the most from this unique opportunity.

Depending on your nationality, you may need a visa to travel to Malta. It is the sole responsibility of the ECSS 2024 attendee to take care of their visa requirements. Attendees who require an entry visa must allow sufficient time for the application procedure. Attendees should contact the nearest embassy or consulate to determine the appropriate timing of their visa applications.

The ECSS General Organizing Committee can provide a letter of invitation to registered attendees for visa application purposes. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the additional information below:

• Date of birth
• Address of residence
• Telephone number (with country code)
• Nationality

Please allow up to 10 working days for letter processing, with requests handled in the order received. The letter of invitation does not financially obligate Informatics Europe in any way. All expenses incurred in relation to the ECSS 2024 attendance are the sole responsibility of the attendee. The ECSS General Organizing Committee will not directly contact embassies and consulates on behalf of visa applicants.

The paid ECSS registration fee minus an administration fee of EUR 30 will be refunded if cancellations are notified to ECSS 2024 General Organizing Committee before the end of the early bird registration period. The refund will be issued by the original method of payment.

No refund request will be considered after the end of the early bird registration period. However, a request can be made to transfer a registration to another participant, who will take over the booked arrangements in full. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. using the email address provided for your ECSS 2024 registration, including the full name and email address of the nominated substitute. A EUR 30 administration fee may be charged for any change request.

Refunds will not be given for unattended events or early termination of attendance. In case of cancellations due to personal matters after the cancellation deadline, please consult your personal insurance.

A Certificate of Participation will be issued by Informatics Europe to all attendees who participated in ECSS 2024.

Each attendee will receive a soft copy of the Certificate via email around 10 working days after ECSS 2024. Only soft copies will be issued.

We believe in the strength of unity, which is why we have introduced an Informatics Europe Referral Program. Become our ambassador and you could earn a complimentary registration for the next ECSS. Check here for more information.

• Jean-Marc Jézéquel, Informatics Europe / IRISA / University of Rennes (France)
• Enrico Nardelli, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Italy)

Chair: Elisabetta Di Nitto, Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and Kim Mens, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

Session description

11:00-11:15    Opening and introduction [Slides]

11:15-12:30    Session 1 – Multidisciplinarity in research

moderated by Kim Mens (UC Louvain)

• Introductory speech by Sasu Tarkoma, University of Helsinki (Finland), on "Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science: Lessons Learned and Case Studies" [Slides]
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience

12:30-14:00   Networking Lunch, The Tabloid restaurant in AX The Palace

14:00-15:00   Session 2 – Multidisciplinarity in education 

moderated by Elisabetta Di Nitto (Politecnico di Milano)

• Introductory speech by Gert Jervan, Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), on “IT Academy – Estonian way to shape ICT education” [Slides]
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience

15:00-16:00   Session 3 – Sustainability in research and education

moderated by Kim Mens (UC Louvain)

• Introductory speech by Alessandro Bozzon, TU Delft (the Netherlands), on "Leading with Sustainability: Insights from Sustainable Design Engineering"
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience.

16:00-16:30   Coffee break

16:30-17:30   Community corner

moderated by Elisabetta Di Nitto (Politecnico di Milano)

• Introductory speech by Jean-Marc Jézéquel, Informatics Europe / IRISA / University of Rennes (France), on "The Journey of Informatics Europe" [Slides]
• Discussion - floor open to the whole audience to discuss how to move forward, what to do differently, which topics to work on, etc.

17:30-18:00   Closing and future topics

Chairs: Dimka Karastoyanova, University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and Irene Vanderfeesten, KU Leuven (Belgium)

Session description

11:00 - 11:05 Welcome and Introduction

11:05 - 12:30 Session 1: Navigating a Research Career in Academia

• "A PhD is not Enough: How to Prepare for a Career in Academia" by Dimka Karastoyanova, University of Groningen (the Netherlands) [Slides]
• "Eight Reading Suggestions for Young Scientists: A Personal Recommendation" by Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart (Germany) [Slides]
• "On the Importance of Interdisciplinary Research for Informatics Careers" by Gregor Engels, Paderborn University (Germany) [Slides]

12:30 - 14:00 Networking Lunch, The Tabloid restaurant in AX The Palace

14:00 - 16:00 Session 2: What makes a PhD Project a Success?

Featured Talks by 2024 Best Dissertation Award Finalists:

• Tim Quatmann, PhD graduate from RWTH Aachen University (Germany) [Slides]
  Currently: Tenured Lecturer, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
• Tobias Röddiger, PhD graduate from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)
  Currently: Research Group Leader, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)
• Michael Sammler, PhD graduate from Saarland University and Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (Germany) [Slides]
  Currently: Post-Doc, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

16:00 - 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 -18:00 Session 3: ECSS Doctoral Symposium

Venue: TemptAsian Restaurant & Lounge, on the rooftop of AX The Palace

Featured Posters:

• "A Framework for Integrating Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD) with Electronic Health Records (EHR) in a Fast Health Care Interoperability Resource (FHIR) supported EHR System", presented by Abdullahi Abubakar Kawu, TU Dublin (Ireland) [Poster]
• "Context aware analysis and optimization of software energy efficiency at application level", presented by Romain Lefeuvre, Inria (France) 
• "Environmental Sustainability in Business Process Management – Approach and Realisation", presented by Michel Medema, University of Groningen (the Netherlands) [Poster]
• "Fake Papers in Science: Paper Mills, Characteristics and Detection Strategies", presented by Andreas Nürnberger, Otto von Guericke Univerisity Magdeburg (Germany) [Poster]
• "Design Strategies for explainable AI: 12 guiding design principles for human-centered XAI", presented by Helen Sheridan, TU Dublin (Ireland) [Poster]
• "Integrating Large Language Models with Digital Twins: Supporting Modelling and Design of Sustainable Systems", presented by Kunal Suri, Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) (France) [Poster]
• "Enhancing Industry 5.0 Processes: Prioritizing Wellbeing with Smart Task-Worker Assignment", presented by Irene Vanderfeesten, KU Leuven (Belgium) [Poster]

Chairs: Jean-Marc Jézéquel, Informatics Europe / IRISA / University of Rennes (France) and Enrico Nardelli, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Italy)

Session description

08:30 - 08:45 Opening

• Anne-Marie Sassen, Head of Unit "Programme Managers Office" at European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency [Slides]

08:45 - 10:00 Keynote Speakers Session

• Mark Harman, Meta Platforms Inc. and UCL (UK), on "Assured LLM-Based Software Engineering" [Slides]
• Dorothea Wagner, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (Germany), on "Teaching Politics" [Slides]

10:00 - 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 - 12:00 Panellists Session

• Lynda Hardman, CWI (the Netherlands) & Utrecht University (the Netherlands)
• Carlo Ghezzi, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
• Enrico Nardelli, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' (Italy)

Chairs: Dympna O'Sullivan, TU Dublin (Ireland) and Simona Motogna, Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania)
Supported by IE's Ethics and Diversity & Inclusion Working Groups

Session description

13:00-13:05   Introduction

13:05-13:20   Inclusion4EU project presentation by Dympna O’Sullivan, TU Dublin (Ireland) [Slides]

13:20-13:35   EUGAIN project presentation by Simona Motogna, Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania) [Slides]

13:35-13:45   Q&A session

13:45-14:15   Keynote speech "Diversity and inclusion: training activities of SoBigData EU Research Infrastructure" by Antinisca di Marco, University of L'Aquila (Italy) [Slides]

14:20-15:00  Interactive collaborative activity facilitated by Claudia Rivera, Svetlana Hensman and Helen Sheridan (TU Dublin) [Slides]

In a co-design session focused on evaluating assistive technology, participants collaboratively engaged in a dynamic hands-on activity to assess various assistive devices. Through guided discussions and interactive demonstrations, the session aims to identify strengths and areas for improvement in the technology, fostering a user-centered approach to enhance functionality, usability, and accessibility. The session provided workshop participants with hands-on experience of co-design methodologies.

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee break

Chair: Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart (Germany)
Supported by IE's Green ICT Working Group

Session description

13:00 - 14:00 Panellists' sharing

• "On Sustainability Metrics and Indicators" [Slides]
  by Rafael Capilla, Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain)
• "The Green Challenge: Sustainable High-Performance and Quantum Computing" [Slides]
  by Brian Keegan, TU Dublin (Ireland)
•  "Towards Sustainable Software Engineering" [Slides]
  by Mikkel Baun Kjaergaard, University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
• "SADP: Sustainable Application Design for Greener Applications in the Cloud" [Slides]
  by Monica Vitali, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
•  "Evaluating the Energy Efficiency of Cloud-Native Applications and Platforms" [Slides]
  by Sebastian Werner, TU Berlin (Germany)

14:00 - 15:00 Open discussion with panellists, moderated by Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart (Germany)

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee break

• Best Dissertation Award (sponsored by Springer) [Committee Slides] [Winner Slides]
• Minerva Informatics Equality Award (sponsored by Google and co-organized with EUGAIN COST Action) [Committee Slides] [Winner Slides]

Chairs: Jean-Marc Jézéquel and Nuria Anguera, Informatics Europe

Session description

16:30 - 17:30 Informatics Europe General Assembly, incl. Activities and Outcomes

Meeting Point: Entrance at AX Victoria Hotel, Gorg Borg Olivier Street, Sliema SLM 1807.
The tour bus leaves at 18:00 sharp – please be punctual.

Chairs: Pekka Orponen, Aalto University (Finland), Manuel Carro, Technical University of Madrid/IMDEA Software Institute (Spain) and  Heri Ramampiaro, NTNU (Norway)

Session description

09:00 - 10:30 Session 1: AI in Informatics Education and Professional Practice

• Josep Fernandez, CODDII - Conferencia de Directores y Decanos de Ingeniería Informática / Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), on "Shaping the Revolution: The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence Education in Spanish Universities"
• Rosa Meo, GRIN - GRuppo di INformatica / University of Torino (Italy), on "Some experiences of the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education" [Slides]

10:15 - 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 - 12:30 Session 2: AI in Informatics Education and Professional Practice (cont’d)

• Alexiei Dingli, University of Malta (Malta), on "THE SILENT TAKEOVER - AI’s Dramatic Role in Redefining Academic Norms" [Slides]
• Stefano Paraboschi, GII - Gruppo di Ingegneria Informatica / Università degli Studi di Bergamo (Italy), on "AI in Informatics Education and Professional Practice - Status in Italy" [Slides]
• Heri Ramampiaro, NTNU (Norway), on "AI in research and education in the LLM era: The Norwegian perspectives" [Slides]

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch

14:00 - 15:30 Session 3: Recommendations for Informatics Research Evaluation

• Discussion on Informatics Research Evaluation, Revised Report (Draft) [Slides]

15:30 - 16:00 Summary and next steps

Chairs: Michael Kölling, King's College London and Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster
Supported by IE's Education Research Working Group

Theme: "Academia/Industry Collaboration in Higher Education" [Slides]

Session description

14:00 - 16:00 Setting the context

• "Recommendations of the GI for Conducting Student Thesis Papers in Industry" [Slides]
  by Jan Vahrenhold for Jörg Desel, German Informatics Society (Germany)
• "What is an Industrial PhD in Spain? - Rules and Regulations for Doctoral Studies in Spain" [Slides]
  by Ana Belen Gil, University of Salamanca (Spain)
•  "Industrial Guest Lectures - Reflections on Experiences" [Slides]
  by Kim Mens, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
• "Capstone Projects"
  by Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster (Germany)
•  "Advisory Boards - Case Study: King's College London Informatics Department" [Slides]
  by Michael Kölling, King's College London (UK)
•  "Case Study: Software Innovation Campus Paderborn" [Slides]
  by Gregor Engels, Paderborn University (Germany)

14:00 - 15:00 Open discussion and collection of suggestions from workshop participants, moderated by Jan Vahrenhold (University of Münster, Germany) and Michael Kölling (King's College London, UK). 

Read the workshop highlights here.

11:00-11:15    Opening and introduction [Slides]

11:15-12:30    Session 1 – Multidisciplinarity in research

Moderated by Kim Mens (UC Louvain)

Informatics has become one of the core elements in different application areas. How do we organize and manage multidisciplinary research groups? What are the main problems to be faced? How can we find a compromise between multidisciplinarity and the expectations for researchers to acquire an in-depth knowledge and experience in Informatics?

• Introductory speech by Sasu Tarkoma, University of Helsinki (Finland), on "Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science: Lessons Learned and Case Studies" [Slides]
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience

12:30-14:00   Lunch break

14:00-15:00   Session 2 – Multidisciplinarity in education

Moderated by Elisabetta Di Nitto (Politecnico di Milano)

Multidisciplinary study courses are being pushed in many countries by decision-makers but are certainly difficult to implement. Can students with different backgrounds attend the same classes? How should they be guided through a multidisciplinary study program? Are there established and replicable best practices? How do students participating in multidisciplinary programs perform?

• Introductory speech by Gert Jervan, Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), on “IT Academy – Estonian way to shape ICT education” [Slides]
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience

15:00-16:00   Session 3 – Sustainability in research and education

Moderated by Kim Mens (UC Louvain)

Sustainability is, by definition, a multidisciplinary area which is itself organized in important and disjoint focuses: environmental, economical, social, technical. What is the status of research and education in achieving sustainable software? What are the disciplines needed to do a good job in this context?

• Introductory speech by Alessandro Bozzon, TU Delft (the Netherlands), on "Leading with Sustainability: Insights from Sustainable Design Engineering"
• Experience sharing and discussion - floor open to discussion for the whole audience.

16:00-16:30   Coffee break

16:30-17:30   Community corner

Moderated by Elisabetta Di Nitto (Politecnico di Milano)

The purpose of this session is to discuss multidisciplinarity and long-term sustainability by and within Informatics Europe. We aim at an open discussion on the role Informatics Europe can play in this area to better serve the community in the next decades.

• Introductory speech by Jean-Marc Jézéquel, Informatics Europe / IRISA / University of Rennes (France), on "The Journey of Informatics Europe" [Slides]
• Discussion - floor open to the whole audience to discuss how to move forward, what to do differently, which topics to work on, etc.

17:30-18:00   Closing and future topics

A parallel Early Career Researchers Workshop, including a Doctoral Symposium and Poster Session, was held for early career researchers in informatics and related disciplines. We encouraged established leaders to bring along early career researchers (PhD and/or Postdoc) to ECSS to participate in this Workshop, helping to nurture future leaders in Informatics.

Read the workshop highlights here.

14:00 - 16:00 Setting the context

• "Recommendations of the GI for Conducting Student Thesis Papers in Industry" [Slides]
  by Jan Vahrenhold for Jörg Desel, German Informatics Society (Germany)
• "What is an Industrial PhD in Spain? - Rules and Regulations for Doctoral Studies in Spain" [Slides]
  by Ana Belen Gil, University of Salamanca (Spain)
•  "Industrial Guest Lectures - Reflections on Experiences" [Slides]
  by Kim Mens, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
• "Capstone Projects"
  by Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster (Germany)
•  "Advisory Boards - Case Study: King's College London Informatics Department" [Slides]
  by Michael Kölling, King's College London (UK)
•  "Case Study: Software Innovation Campus Paderborn" [Slides]
  by Gregor Engels, Paderborn University (Germany)

14:00 - 15:00 Open discussion and collection of suggestions from workshop participants, moderated by Jan Vahrenhold (University of Münster, Germany) and Michael Kölling (King's College London, UK).