Call for Papers

Scope

Current society heavily relies on software and software systems. Due to its increasing complexity, the design and operation of software systems are becoming challenging. In the last decades, a great deal of effort has been put into addressing software systems design, development, and maintenance challenges. Empirical evidence shows that one of the most critical success factors when developing software systems is their Software Architecture (SA). A SA describes software systems in terms of software components, their interactions, and critical quality attributes. Among other benefits, SAs improve the overall communication among different stakeholders, are the carriers of significant design decisions, promote the use of different abstraction levels, and allow for the early assessment of the software under development.
Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is a paradigm that refers to the systematic use of models as first-class entities throughout the software engineering life cycle. MDE shifts the focus of software development from third-generation programming languages to models. Within MDE, models are manipulated automatically using software programs, also known as model transformations.
In recent years, several studies have been discussing the interplay of SA and MDE, focusing on the benefits of combining these two disciplines. For instance, several works have been proposing the use of metamodels and modeling languages and the formal representation of software (reference) architectures. Other works have focused on using models and metamodels to represent the different structures and quality views. Additional research has been investigating the use of model transformations as automation to enable early analysis and simulation of SAs. Eventually, the interplay between SA and MDE could be beneficial from a tooling perspective, as it would enable the re-use of techniques and technologies used for manipulating (meta)models in the context of SAs.
Despite the advancements, several open challenges still compel the effective interplay between SA and MDE.
MDE4SA 2025 aims to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners where novel and innovative solutions to current and future challenges on the interplay between SAs and MDE can be presented and discussed

Topics of interest

The workshop is a forum where researcher and practitioners can share current problems and innovative solutions including, but not limited to:
- Model-driven techniques and methodologies for designing SA
- Architectural description of SA design, considering logical and physical aspects through MDE
- Model-driven approaches for defining and measuring Quality-of-Service (QoS) in SAs
- Analysis of architectural designs and architectural patterns
- Approaches for migrating legacy architecture towards microservice architectures, serverless by means of MDE techniques
- Industrial practices and tools supporting the adoption of MDE into SA
- Methodologies adopted in industrial contexts
- Model repositories for SA
- Code generation from SA models and transformation approaches
- Change Propagation in SA views and consistency management
- Evolution of SA through modeling
- Empirical studies on SA and MDE areas

Important Dates

Abstract Submission

December 23rd, 2024

Paper Submission

December 20th, 2024
January 4th, 2025

Notification to authors

January 20th, 2025

Camera Ready

January 27th, 2025

Submission

We solicit full papers (no more than 10 pages, including references) and short papers (no more than 6 pages including references) of the following types:
- Technical papers presenting novel contributions relevant to the workshop topics
- Work in progress papers presenting preliminary results in applying MDE to software architecture
- Visionary papers on open problems and future research challenges
- Experience papers describing the use of MDE in software architecture within industrial context
Contributions must be written in English, adhere to the IEEE Computer Science proceedings format, and be submitted through EasyChair
All submissions must be original work and must not have been previously published or being under review elsewhere.
The accepted papers will be published to the ICSA 2025 Companion proceedings, and appear in IEEE Xplore Digital Library.
For each accepted paper, at least one of the authors must register for the workshop, participate fully in the workshop, and present the paper at the workshop.
Selected best papers will be nominated for submitting an extended version of their work to the Journal of Software Engineering for Autonomous Systems .

Program

Tuesday 1th April, 2025
09:00 - 09:05: Opening by Francesco Basciani, Gran Sasso Science Institute
09:05 - 10:00: Keynote by Ass. Prof. Alessio Bucaioni from Mälardalen University
Title: Lessons from Bridging Software Architecture and Model-Driven Engineering for Conformance, Automation, and Architecture as Code
Abstract: Over the years, research and practice have explored the intersection of software architecture and model-driven engineering, leading to both successes and persistent challenges. This keynote reflects on key lessons learned from bridging SA and MDE, focusing on conformance checking, automation, and the emerging paradigm of Architecture as Code. We will discuss what has worked—such as the benefits of model-based architectural analysis, automation of design verification, and tooling advancements—as well as what has not, including challenges in industry adoption, scalability, and integration with agile development practices. Finally, we will explore what’s next: how emerging technologies, such as AI-driven modelling assistance and continuous conformance monitoring, can further strengthen the interplay between software architecture and model-driven engineering.
10:00 - 10:30: Coffee Break
10:30 - 11:30: Session II (Chair Francesco Basciani, Gran Sasso Science Institute)
10:30 - 10:50: Reimplementing the Structurizr Software Architecture Modelling Language as a Hybrid DSL
Authors: Ionut Predoaia, Dimitris Kolovos, and Antonio García-Domínguez
10:50 - 11:10: Detecting Encryption Vulnerabilities By Coupling Architectural Analyses and Source Code Analyses
Authors: Frederik Reiche and Robert Heinrich
11:10 - 11:30: A Model-Driven Platform for Software Applications on Heterogeneous Computing Environments
Authors: Simone Bauco, Guglielmo De Angelis, Romolo Marotta, and Alessandro Pellegrini
11:30 - 12:30: Lunch at Restaurant
12:30 - 13:30: Session III (Chair Francesco Basciani, Gran Sasso Science Institute)
12:30 - 12:50: LLM-Based Recommender Systems for Violation Resolutions in Continuous Architectural Conformance
Authors: Riccardo Rubei, Amleto Di Salle, and Alessio Bucaioni
12:50 - 13:10: Harnessing ChatGPT for Model Transformation in Software Architecture: From UML State Diagrams to Rebeca Models for Formal Verification
Authors: Zahra Moezkarimi, Kevin Eriksson, Albin Alm Johansson, Alessio Bucaioni, and Marjan Sirjani
13:10 - 13:30: Framework for Transforming Compact Surface Languages into Augmented EAST-ADL Models
Authors: Imad Berrouyne, Alessio Bucaioni, Federico Ciccozzi, Henrik Lönn, and Muhammad Waseem Anwar
13:30 - 13:50: DATCloud: A Model-Driven Framework for Multi-Layered Data-Intensive Architectures
Authors: Moamin Abughazala and Henry Muccini
13:50 - 14:00: Wrap-up and closing by Francesco Basciani, Gran Sasso Science Institute

Committees

Organizers


Francesco Basciani

Computer Science Scientific Area, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila (Italy)


Enxhi Ferko

Academy of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Västerås (Sweden)


Malvina Latifaj

Academy of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Västerås (Sweden)



Program Committee


  • - Imad Berrouyne, Mälardalen University (SE)
  • - Romina Eramo, University of Teramo (IT)
  • - Luca Berardinelli, Johannes Kepler University Linz (AT)
  • - Juri Di Rocco, University of L'Aquila (IT)
  • - Juergen Dingel, Queen's University (CA)
  • - Manuel Wimmer, Johannes Kepler University Linz (AT)
  • - Juha-Pekka Tolvanen, MetaCase (FI)
  • - Antonio Cicchetti, Mälardalen University (SE)
  • - Daniele Di Pompeo, University of L'Aquila (IT)
  • - Bran Selic, Malina Software Corp. (CA)
  • - Martina De Sanctis, Gran Sasso Science Institute (IT)
  • - Ilias Gerostathopoulos, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
  • - Jan Carlson, Mälardalen University (SE)
  • - Elena Lisova, Mälardalen University (SE), VCE (SE)
  • - Jakob Pietron, Ulm University (DE)
  • - Loek Cleophas, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Stellenbosch University (SU) (NL/ZA)
  • - Judith Michael, RWTH Aachen University (DE)
  • - Raffaela Groner, Chalmers | University of Gothenburg (SE)


Steering Committee


Alessio Bucaioni

Academy of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Västerås (Sweden)


Amleto Di Salle

Computer Science Scientific Area, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila (Italy)


Ludovico Iovino

Computer Science Scientific Area, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila (Italy)



Web Chair


Amleto Di Salle

Computer Science Scientific Area, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila (Italy)