Goals
While the great potential of SBME has been demonstrated by early prototypical research results, there is substantial need for further research in this new area. To date, there exist no general mechanisms for encoding optimization objectives, initial model generation, and for generating new candidate solutions from existing candidate solutions through model mutation or breeding. A particular challenge is providing support for systematic development and testing of executable search specifications.
Moreover, while SBME has primarily been explored in the area of software engineering so far, it will likely be even more beneficial in other disciplines. In bioinformatics and various natural sciences, for instance, computational methods are used to characterise scientific objects -- such as gene sequences or physical materials structures -- using a mixture of software tools. A major problem is to find a suitable combination of (configurations of) these tools to perform computations meeting certain constraints and quality requirements. Another application example is to find stable equilibria in dynamic systems such as are explored in mathematical finance or urban geography.
It is our aim to tackle such open challenges in SBME by joint (interdisciplinary) research efforts. The overall goal of the workshop is to identify and explore the most promising research directions and to establish a joint research programme in SBME.