International Software Architecture PhD School (ISAPS)

The Software Architecture field is supported by an established scientific and industrial
community that regularly meets in the context of three key international software architecture
conferences (ICSA, ECSA, SATURN). Research in Software Architecture is thriving as
witnessed by the increasing number of publications in the field, as well as by the funding
received by national and international programmes. The field also plays a prominent role in
broader Software Engineering conferences (like ICSE) and journals (like IEEE Software and
Elsevier Journal of Systems and Software). Finally, the field has received very high recognition
in the software-intensive systems industry, where often the role of software architect is the
highest technical position. The only element of the discipline that needs further development is
the training of graduate and PhD students as well as practicing architects in state-of-the-art
academic and industrial theories and technologies. This gap is being covered by the
International Software Architecture PhD School (iSAPS). This year the school is already in its
fifth edition, having four well-attended editions in the past years, which have helped improve and
refine its format to better serve the needs of all stakeholders (researchers, architects and
lecturers).

iSAPS provides young researchers and practicing architects from the industry the opportunity to
learn from the leaders in the field. The school will train the participants in the most recent
methods, tools, and theories that are being produced in the top research groups and industrial
environments. The format will combine lectures on cutting-edge topics with hands-on sessions
on industrial cases. The participants will work on the cases from the point of view of their own
research (students) and practice (architects) in break-out groups in order to put the theoretical
knowledge into practice. The output of this hands-on work will consist of innovative solutions to
technical problems and a research agenda to elaborate on complex problems in the long term.
The PhD students will get the opportunity to work on real industrial problems, while practicing
architects will enrich their knowledge with state-of-the-art theories. We also expect new
collaborations between research groups and the corresponding organizations from the private
and public sector. After the school, we plan to publish a technical report including the
summaries of the cases and lessons learned.

Overall the International Software Architecture PhD School serves the following purposes: (1) it
fills the current gap in Software Architecture research training, (2) it combines outstanding
lecturers from both academia and industry; and (3) it brings together academics and practicing
architects to discuss the most challenging and timely Software Architecture topics and establish
future collaborations.

The format of iSAPS 2023 will be in-person-first. That means we expect all participants to join in person, but we will strive to accommodate exceptional situations (i.e., outside one's control) that prevent the person from traveling and attending the conference. Lectures are daily 09:00–12:00 CEST and online participants can engage at realtime (via video call). Hands-on sessions are daily 13:30–17:00 CEST and must be attended by all participants.