1st International Symposium on Search Based Software Engineering
Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, UK
13 - 15 May, 2009
http://www.ssbse.org

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM
We are pleased to announce SSBSE 2009, the inaugural meeting of an annual symposium dedicated to Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE) held in cooperation with the IEEE. The symposium's objective is to build on the recent flourishing of interest in SBSE by not only creating a welcoming forum for discussion and dissemination, but also by establishing a regular event that will strengthen the rapidly growing international community.

The venue for SSBSE 2009 is Cumberland Lodge, a beautiful and historic royal residence in heart of Windsor Great Park with world-class conference facilities. The Lodge is close to London, and only a short taxi ride from Heathrow Airport, yet is surrounded by some of the finest parkland in the country.

The symposium program includes three keynote speakers who are internationally renowned leaders in their research fields:

Enrique Alba, University of Malaga, Spain
Lionel C. Briand, Simula Research Lab & University of Oslo, Norway
David E. Goldberg, Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

CALL FOR PAPERS
We invite the submission of high quality papers describing original and significant work in all aspects of Search Based Software Engineering, including theoretical work, research on SBSE applications, empirical studies, and reports from industrial experience. Applications may be drawn from throughout the software engineering lifecycle. Search methods may include, but are not limited to, operational research techniques and optimisation methods inspired by nature, such as evolutionary algorithms and simulated annealing. We particularly encourage papers that use novel search techniques and describe software engineering applications to which SBSE has not previously been applied.

We also invite papers for a special PhD student track that will provide a venue for students to showcase their SBSE research and to receive feedback from senior members of the SBSE research community. Papers submitted to this track should be no more than 4 pages using the regular conference format. Each paper will be reviewed by selected members of the program committee. To be eligible a student must be registered on a doctoral programme and must not yet have made their final dissertation defence. It is the expectation that the student will give the presentation at the symposium, though there may be other authors on the paper.

Papers must not have been previously published nor have been submitted to, or be in consideration for, any journal, book, or other conference. Papers will be evaluated by members of the program committee based on their originality, technical soundness and quality of presentation. Papers must conform to the IEEE proceedings paper format guidelines, and must be limited to 10 (ten) pages. In addition to full-length papers, we also welcome shorter (4 pages or less) position papers describing novel ideas not yet fully developed or validated. If the paper is accepted, at least one author is expected to attend the conference and to present the paper. Accepted papers will appear in proceedings published by the IEEE CS Press. Further information on paper formatting and submission is available from the symposium website, http://www.ssbse.org

The authors of selected papers that include significant experimental work will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers for a special issue of Empirical Software Engineering journal (EMSE) edited by Springer.

KEY DATES

Paper submission by: 5 December 2008
Acceptance notification: 27 February 2009
Camera-ready paper submission by: 13 March 2009

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

General Chair
Mark Harman, King's College London, UK

Program Co-Chairs
Massimiliano Di Penta, University of Sannio, Italy
Simon Poulding, University of York, UK

PhD Student Track Chair
Myra B. Cohen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, USA

Publicity Chair
Per Kristian Lehre, University of Birmingham, UK

Website
Paul Emberson, University of York, UK

SPONSORS
Berner & Mattner, Germany
Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), UK
Vizuri, UK

Event organised in cooperation with the IEEE.