Ralf Reussner at ECSA '24

Prof. Dr. Ralf Reussner, leader of the research group Dependability of Software-Intensive Systems at KIT and spokesperson of Convide, was invited as a keynote speaker and panelist to this year’s European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA) in Luxembourg.

In his keynote lecture titled “Software Engineering – Quo Vadis?”, Prof. Reussner undertook a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of software engineering as a field. Introducing the audience to the vision that led to the creation of Convide, he emphasized that software engineering can play a crucial role as an exporter of methods and ideas for advanced systems engineering. At the same time, Prof. Reussner identified the current tendency of the community to focus on optimizing research solely for conference acceptance as a threat. Lamenting this ubiquitous emphasis, Prof. Reussner made the case for a renewed focus on research strategy and vision to secure software engineer’s future as an indispensable discipline.

As a panelist of the doctoral symposium “How to Establish Yourself within the Research Community”, Prof. Reussner repeated his call for more visionary research while also offering important pragmatic advise for junior researchers in the audience. Bringing together experts from the ECSA and SPLC (Systems and Software Product Line Conference) communities, the symposium aimed at providing doctoral researchers with advice crucial for mounting the challenges of establishing oneself in the research community.