Abstract.Life is hard for a PhD student. Busy advisors, endless deadlines, unfair rejections, expensive coffee, how to handle all of it? It's a messy journey, but fear not, because this keynote is here to help you navigate the chaos and come out on top! Join for an experience-based session where we'll uncover some key principles that will inspire you to take charge of your everyday PhD routine: strategic thinking, resilience, curiosity, and adaptability – your weapons to conquer the madness. The talk won't just be throwing theory at you; it will serve up a hearty plate of practical advice and real-life examples to illustrate how to put these principles into action. And… we want to hear from you! Bring your opinions and experiences to the table as we dive deep into these principles. Together, we'll uncover the hacks, share the struggles, and celebrate the victories of the PhD journey. Let’s conquer this crazy little thing called PhD, one principle at a time. You’ll rock your PhD like a boss!
Bio.Xavier Franch is full professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), where he leads the Software and Service Engineering research group (GESSI, https://gessi.upc.edu/en). His research lines include requirements engineering, information systems engineering, software engineering and AI, empirical software engineering and conceptual modeling. He received the Lifetime Service award from the IEEE RE conference (2023), the Most Influential Paper award in IEEE RE (2022) and REFSQ (2024), and several best paper awards, RCIS 2009 among them. Xavier is member of the Academia Europea and the International Software Engineering Research Network (ISERN); Fellow of the Artificial Intelligence Industry Academy within the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIIA); and Full Member and Council Vice-President of the International Requirements Engineering Board (IREB). He is Editorial Board member of IST, JSS, Computing and Requirements Engineering Journal, and Steering Committee chair of CAiSE and ESEM conferences. You may contact him at xavier.franch@upc.edu.