Doctoral SymposiumREFSQ 2027

REFSQ 2027 will host its renowned Doctoral Symposium (DS), a dedicated forum for PhD students conducting research in Requirements Engineering (RE).

The Doctoral Symposium aims to support and inspire doctoral researchers at different stages of their PhD journey. It offers a welcoming and constructive environment where participants can present their research ideas, plans, and results and receive valuable feedback from experienced researchers in the RE community.

Following the tradition of REFSQ, the DS will revolve around structured presentations and discussions, with ample time devoted to interactions and exchange of ideas.

We aim to provide a forum of valuable exchange and discussions among young researchers in the role of “PhD Students” who already started their research and PhD work, but also “Prospective PhD Students”, and “Academia-Curious Students”.

In addition, participating students will receive in-depth feedback from well-known researchers from the RE community that will attend the event.

[NEW] New this year: we also open submissions to “Prospective PhD students” and “Academia-Curious Students”.

Prospective PhD students are BSc or MSc students who are about to start or plan to start a PhD position and are in need of support and feedback to help draft their research agenda.

Academia-curious students are students who have limited prior exposure to research, but are interested in getting insight into an academic career and experience first “conference feeling”.

Submission Instructions

We welcome submissions from PhD Students who have started their PhD but have not submitted their thesis yet.

Accepted submissions from PhD Students will be submitted to CEUR-WS proceedings for publication, and will be presented in dedicated slots at the event.

Also, PhD Students with accepted contributions will also get the chance to present their work as part of the “Posters & Tools” pitches during the conference Main Track.

Accepted submissions of “Prospective PhD Students” and “Academia-Curious Students” will be presented as Poster at the Doctoral Symposium. Furthermore, the submissions from these participants will be published on the REFSQ website.

How to apply

To apply to the REFSQ 2027 Doctoral Symposium, you will need to submit an application consisting of the following:

For PhD Students: A Doctoral Symposium Full Paper (max 6 pages + 1 for references, CEUR format, see below) that consists of an abstract and of the following sections:

• The problem you are addressing: Include a problem statement that defines the following aspects: what motivates your research, what constitutes the underlying problem of your thesis, why is this problem relevant.
• A discussion of related work: what are the related works and why previous contributions are insufficient to address the problem.
• Your proposed solution: what solution ideas do you envision that are able to tackle your identified problem, what have you achieved so far with your research, what is its contribution to the existing literature, and what is the novelty.
• The research method you are applying or you plan to apply: what are the research questions, which method(s) are you following to develop the solution, and how do you plan to evaluate the solution.
• An overview of the research plan: what are the next steps toward completing your PhD, and what are the challenges ahead.

[NEW] For “Prospective PhD Students”: A Doctoral Symposium Short Paper (max 3 pages + 1 for references, CEUR format, see below) that consists of:

• The Problem you are addressing (e.g., based on your Master’s thesis)
• The Initial Idea / Vision of your proposed solution
• Expected Benefits you aim to provide with your PhD work
• Initial Research Plan (optional)
• Open Issues / Challenges you are facing

[NEW] For “Academia-Curious Students”: An Extended Abstract summarising their finished – or even ongoing – BSc or MSc thesis (max 2 pages + 1 for references, CEUR format, see below), that consists of:

• The Problem addressed
• The Method used
• Preliminary Results (if any)
• Main Future Works that could serve as a starting point for a future research agenda

For all types of submissions: A Declaration from the Supervisor that confirms that they agree with the submission and that the student will be allowed to attend the event, should the contribution be accepted. Furthermore, the declaration needs to state at which stage of their PhD the student is, including the number of years completed and how many years are left in their PhD.

The papers should be formatted using the CEURART one-columns style. There is an Overleaf template as well as a downloadable offline template.

Both the paper and supervisor’s declaration should be submitted via EasyChair (choose the REFSQ 2027 Doctoral Symposium option) by February 4th, 2027.

Submissions will be evaluated based on the quality of the DS paper and on the interest of the research described therein.

[NEW] To support the review process, PhD students will also be invited by the chairs to be part of a shadow review committee. They will provide senior-moderated feedback, but their reviews will not impact acceptance of the contributions.

If you have any inquiries, please contact: refsq27_ds@easychair.org. We look forward to your submissions!