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Final year School of Computing undergrads have papers accepted to prestigious EuroAsiaSPI² conference

Three groups of final year Computer Applications and Enterprise Computing students (twelve students in all) have had papers accepted into the prestigious EuroAsiaSPI² conference, which begins tomorrow in Edinburgh.  The papers were part of their final year coursework.  

The three papers, Examining Unequal Gender Distribution in Software Engineering, The Changing Role of the Software Engineer and Software Testing: A Changing Career, will be presented at the conference.

The papers were submitted by Dr. Paul Clarke, Assistant Professor in Computing in DCU, who lectures fourth year students in Software Engineering: Principles, Process & Methods.

Dr. Clarke said:

“We’re incredibly proud of the students.  It would be unusual for undergraduates to even submit to a conference like EuroAsiaSPI², let alone have three from the same class accepted.

“In recent years, we have placed an increased emphasis on research-led lecturing, especially to final year undergraduates. This has allowed our undergraduates to gain important insights into academic research, to provide them with the skills to research areas of interest in a robust fashion, and to bring their knowledge right up to date with contemporary best practice. These are all very positive outcomes for our students, especially in the technology sector where techniques and approaches change frequently.” 

The papers

Examining Unequal Gender Distribution in Software Engineering

This paper investigates the biological, psychological and societal reasoning for the disparity of females in the software engineering industry and how a more diverse workforce can have an advantage in this sector. It examines how a lack of women in software engineering causes companies to limit themselves to smaller talent pools and decreases their creative outlook on fresh ideas and for the resolution of problems.

The Changing Role of the Software Engineer

Examining the changing role of software engineers from four standpoints; the software development lifecycle, the influence of open source software, testing and deployment and the emergence of new technologies.  Looking at the limitations associated with software development life cycle models, and software failures that catalysed increased importance for quality assurance, the paper outlines the current role of a software engineer; particularly the impact of agile software development and automation on the software development cycle, the influence of open source software and how new technologies such as function-as-a-service and machine learning have impacted the role.

Software Testing: A Changing Career

Exploring the role of the software tester and how it has transformed over the last half a century. Specifically looking at how software projects have gone from using monolithic architectures and heavyweight methodologies, to service-oriented and lightweight and how testing has transformed from a sequential step performed by dedicated testers to a continuous activity carried out by development professionals.

Students

Examining Unequal Gender Distribution in Software Engineering - Alex Murphy, Ben Kelly, Kai Bergmann, Kyrylo Khaletskyy

The Changing Role of the Software Engineer - Edward Meade, Emma O’Keeffe, Niall Lyons, Dean Lynch

Software Testing: A Changing Career - Sean Cunningham, Jemil Gambo, Aidan Lawless, Declan Moore

About EuroAsiaSPI²

EuroSPI² conferences present and discuss results from systems, software and services process improvement and innovation (SPI) projects in industry and research, focusing on the gained benefits and the criteria for success. This year's event is the 19th of a series of conferences to which international researchers and professionals contribute their lessons learned and share their knowledge as they work towards the next higher level of software management professionalism.

The first EuroSPI² (European Systems Software and Service Process Improvement and Innovation) conference was held in Dublin in 1994.

The conference runs September 18th - 20th in Edinburgh

http://2019.eurospi.net/