ICSOB PhD Retreat 2025 Preface*

Paper in proceeding, 2025

The International Conference on Software Business (ICSOB) is focused on software-intensive businesses from the Software Engineering and Information Systems perspectives. In 2025, ICSOB promoted the 4th PhD Retreat as a half-day event in Haus der Wirtschaft Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany. Three PhD students from Brazil, Italy, and Germany submitted their projects which were evaluated by three to four program committee members. These submissions were accepted for discussion and publication as early and mid-stage projects covering artificial intelligence, user experience, return on investment, IT service management, sustainable transformation, and software development. The PhD students presented their projects in one session after the opening lunch with the program committee chairs and got feedback from six experienced mentors (Dimitri Petrik, Helena Olsson, Jan Bosch, Jürgen Münch, Krzysztof Wnuk, and Thomas Kude). After the coffee-break, students were arranged into three groups to participate in a working session with these experts. Finally, a panel with all mentors concluded the PhD Retreat. We thank to the PhD students and their advisors for their paper submissions, the program committee members for their valuable reviews, the mentors for their priceless discussions, and the ICSOB 2025 organizing committee (Georg Herzwurm, Dimitri Petrik and their team) who assist us in the preparation of the PhD Retreat over the year.