SEAIS 2026 — Special Symposium on Human-Centred Software Engineering and AI

About

SEAIS brings ~30 leading researchers in software engineering and AI together with ~30 experienced practitioners and ~30 ambitious students to reflect on the state of the art in (human-centered) software engineering and AI, and to co-shape its future.

The symposium is held with the generous support of the Hasso Plattner Institute and its Chair for Software Engineering and AI. Participaction is by invite only.

Program

DAY 1

Tuesday, June 30

10:00 – 12:30

Arrival, welcome and networking sessions at the SE&AI chair House O2

12:30 – 14:00

Registration and lunchEvent Space (House L)

14:00 – 15:10

Opening & keynotes: Snapshot from practice (and beyond)L-E.03

Rebecca Engelhardt (KPMG)
Markus Borg (CodeScene & Lund University)

15:10 – 15:30

Pecha Kucha statementsL-E.03

15:30 – 16:15

Posters, demos, and coffee breakEvent Space (House L)

16:15 – 17:30

Keynotes: Development agents vs. human developersL-E.03

Bogdan Vasilescu (Carnegie Mellon University)
Reem Ayad (University of Toronto)

17:30 – 18:30

Campus tour

18:30 – 21:00

Symposium reception for reflectionsHPI Terrace

DAY 2

Wednesday, July 1

09:30 – 10:30

Keynotes: Trustworthiness and reliabilityL-E.03

Sergio Segura (Universidad de Sevilla)
Foutse Khomh (Polytechnique Montréal)

10:30 – 11:00

Pecha Kucha statementsL-E.03

11:00 – 11:30

Posters, demos, and coffee break

11:30 – 12:15

Keynotes: It's all about the requirementsL-E.03

Anastasia Mavridou (NASA)
Andreas Vogelsang (University of Duisburg-Essen)

12:15 – 13:00

Panel: Industry challenges and needsL-E.03

Ahmed E. Hassan (Queen's University)
Clara Lüders (OPTANO)
Tobias Schimmer (SAP)
Lars Schwabe (LHIND)

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch, posters, and group picture

14:30 – 15:30

Keynotes: Agency and cognitionL-E.03

Simone Kühn (Max-Planck-Institute)
Christian Rahe (University of Hamburg)

16:00

Walk to the quay

16:30 – 18:30

Networking on the boat

Departing 16:30 at Griebnitzsee

18:30 – 21:00

Symposium banquet with a special talk about the "magic" of SE and its communityEl Puerto

Restaurant El Puerto, Lange Brücke 6, 14467 Potsdam
Open in Google Maps

DAY 3

Thursday, July 2

09:30 – 11:00

Keynotes: Knowledge and skills for SE & AIL-E.03

Jin Guo (McGill University)
Prem Devanbu (UC Davis)

11:00 – 12:00

Education panel: The future of SE&AI education for students and universitiesL-E.03

Martin Robillard (McGill University)
Paola Spoletini (Kennesaw State University)
Lina Kaschub (DLR)

12:00 – 13:30

Lunch, last demos, and farewell

from 14:00

Optional: participants' tour at the UNESCO World Heritage palaces of Potsdam

Venue

The symposium takes place at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. Most sessions are held in House L (Campus II), ground floor, across Lecture Hall L-E.03, the Event Space, and the cantine with terrace (see map below).

Note: The opening welcome on day one takes place at House O2

HPI Campus II, House O2 · August-Bebel-Str. 15, 14482 Potsdam
Open in Google Maps

Construction work on campus:

Access to House L is currently only possible via the north side of Campus II. Please follow the path shown below.

Campus map: the entrance to SEAIS is on the north side of HPI Campus II, marked with arrows from Bahnhof Griebnitzsee and from August-Bebel-Straße to House L

Routes to the SEAIS entrance at House L — from Bahnhof Griebnitzsee (purple) and via August-Bebel-Straße (blue).

Open in Google Maps Address: August-Bebel-Str. 88/House L, 14482 Potsdam

Organisers

Special Symposium on Human-CentredSoftware Engineering and AI (SEAIS)