Abstract: Software Development Diversity and Inclusion (SDDI) initiatives are under fire. AI— a technological innovation that has disrupted many aspects of our lives, including software development— holds immense potential to shape the field in both positive and negative ways. It can foster a more welcoming and inclusive software development environment, or it can contribute to an exclusionary dystopia marked by suffering and discrimination. At the same time, we are witnessing increasing pushback against discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, culminating in recent executive orders from the President of the United States. As researchers in the field of SDDI, we must reflect on our role. How can we contribute to industrial practice and higher education to steer the future toward inclusivity and away from undesirable scenarios? This question becomes even more urgent as public discourse around DEI concerns and interventions is increasingly suppressed.

Alexander Serebrenik is a Full Professor of Social Software Engineering at the Software Engineering and Technology cluster of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Alexander’s research goal is to facilitate evolution of software by taking into account social aspects of software development. His work tends to involve theories and methods both from within computer science (e.g., theory of socio-technical coordination; methods from natural language processing, machine learning) and from outside of computer science (e.g., organisational psychology). The underlying idea of his work is that of empiricism, i.e., that addressing software engineering challenges should be grounded in observation and experimentation, and requires a combination of the social and the technical perspectives. Alexander has co-authored a book “Evolving Software Systems” (Springer Verlag, 2014), and more than 100 scientific papers and articles. He is actively involved in organisation of scientific conferences as member and chair of steering committees, general chair, program committee chair, track chair and program committee member. He has won multiple best paper and distinguished reviewer awards, and is member of the editorial board of several journals. Alexander is a senior member of IEEE and a member of ACM.

Alexander Serebrenik is a full professor of social software engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. His research goal is to facilitate evolution of software by taking into account social aspects of software development. His work tends to involve theories and methods both from within computer science (e.g., theory of socio-technical coordination; methods from natural language processing, machine learning) and from outside of computer science (e.g., organisational psychology). The underlying idea of his work is that of empiricism, i.e., that addressing software engineering challenges should be grounded in observation and experimentation, and requires a combination of the social and the technical perspectives. Alexander has co-authored a book “Evolving Software Systems” (Springer Verlag, 2014), “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Software Engineering: Best Practices and Insights” (APress, 2024) and more than 250 scientific papers and articles. He is actively involved in organisation of scientific conferences and is member of the editorial board of several journals. He has won multiple best paper and distinguished reviewer awards. Alexander is a senior member of IEEE and a member of ACM. Contact him at a.serebrenik@tue.nl.