SIESTA 2025: success for the fifth edition

The fifth edition of the International Software Engineering Summer School (SIESTA 2025) took place at USI’s East Campus from 27 to 29 August 2025. The event, organised by the Software Institute, aimed to create a meeting point between academic researchers, industry professionals and doctoral students, offering a well-balanced programme of high-level tutorials, student talks, and networking opportunities.

Among the speakers were Sonia Haiduc and Lori Pollock, both professors from the United States (Florida State University and the University of Delaware), Mariano Ceccato from the University of Verona in Italy, Robert Feldt from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Alexander Serebrenik and Egor Bogomolov, both from the Netherlands, the former a professor at TU Eindhoven and the latter an industrial researcher at JetBrains Research. The event brought together 33 participants from nine countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The programme unfolded over three days rich in content and convivial moments. On Wednesday 27 August, following registration and a welcome coffee, Lori Pollock spoke about engaging university students in research, followed by Egor Bogomolov’s tutorial on bridging academic research and industrial practice in the field of machine learning for software engineering. The day continued with lunch and around ten student talks, followed by a standing dinner at the LAC. The following day, Sonia Haiduc shared her story of growth, resilience, support, and the redefinition of success. Robert Feldt delivered a lecture on testing in systems based on large language models (LLMs). In the afternoon, further student talks were held, followed by a gala dinner in a scenic location on Lake Lugano. On the final day, Alexander Serebrenik shared his insights on the design of empirical studies, while Mariano Ceccato presented a framework for the automatic generation of tests. The summer school concluded with a convivial lunch during which the two best student talks were awarded.

Once again, SIESTA fulfilled its objective of connecting academic and industrial research with doctoral students, thanks to a line-up of high-profile speakers, a well-balanced programme combining content and networking, and the participation of an international audience.