The EuroSTAR conference was created by William C. Hetzel. Hetzel is a software testing professional known for his book The Complete Guide to Software Testing. In 1972, he organized the first conference dedicated to software testing, Software Testing, Analysis and Review (STAR), in the USA. Twenty years later, he brought the format to Europe. The EuroSTAR conference is a sister conference of STAREAST and STARWEST, although it’s not financially connected to either of them. The first European software testing conference was held in conjunction with the British Computer Society.
The EuroSTAR conference is a pan-European event, it moves to a different European city each year. Some cities have hosted the conference more than once, but the event has never taken place in the same city two years in a row. Previous hosts cities include London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Munich, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Cologne, Manchester, the Hague, Gothenburg, Dublin, and Maastricht.
In recent years, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Scandinavia have became major activity areas for software testing in Europe, that’s why the organizers see these regions as an obvious choice for hosting the EuroSTAR conference. The host city should be located in the area where many software testing professionals live and work. Besides, there should be an international airport nearby so that as many attendees as possible can get to the conference. The organizers start planning each conference about 18 month in advance. The next location is typically announced at the current conference.
The program of the conference includes keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops, presentations, demos, and other events and activities featuring world renowned software testing professionals. Several awards are conferred at the conference to recognize the commitment and dedication of individuals to developing the craft of software testing. They are the Testing Excellence Award, Best Conference Tutorial Award, and Best Conference Paper Award.
In 2020 and 2021, the event was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com
