AMPLIFY 2027

Co-create software engineering research directions, then develop them towards IEEE TSE

AMPLIFY is a one-day, fully facilitated workshop co-located with ICSE 2027 in Dublin. It is the reconfigured continuation of the Software Engineering in 2030 (SE2030) workshop series, and the first edition of a recurring annual event.

Participants do not present finished work. Each brings a three-page idea seed: a conversation starter that frames a problem, a paradox, or an opportunity in software engineering. Over the course of the day, a curated sequence of Liberating Structures moves the room from individual seeds to co-authored research blueprints. Author teams then develop those blueprints into full manuscripts and submit them to a dedicated manuscript type at IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE), where they undergo standard, selective, independent peer review. Participation in the workshop does not guarantee acceptance. AMPLIFY is a space for crafting fewer and better ideas together.

What defines the format

Idea seeds, not papers. A seed is three pages of thinking that gives others enough to build upon. It is meant to be transformed, not defended. Seeds are neither miniature papers nor project proposals.

Facilitation instead of presentation. There are no conventional talks. The day runs on a curated string of Liberating Structures, chosen and sequenced to distribute participation, surface productive disagreement, and make synthesis explicit.

A supported route to publication. The blueprints created in the room become manuscripts submitted to the dedicated TSE manuscript type, where review is standard, selective, and independent. Participation in the workshop does not guarantee acceptance.

Creative Directors and Idea Amplifiers

Creative Directors curate the submitted seeds against public criteria and orchestrate the workshop. Curation decides participation in the day, not publication.

Idea Amplifiers give developmental feedback during the workshop and provide continuity of expertise afterwards, as author teams develop their blueprints into manuscripts. Eight to twelve Idea Amplifiers spanning the sub-fields of software engineering support the workshop, and the confirmed list appears on this site ahead of the submission deadline.

Curation and review are not the same thing

Curation happens before the workshop and decides who takes part. It is developmental and forward-looking: every submitted seed receives written developmental feedback from at least two Creative Directors, whether or not it enters the curated portfolio.

Review happens at TSE, months later, and decides publication. It follows the journal’s standard process for the manuscript type, with editorial governance managing conflicts of interest. The two stages are kept separate by design, and the distinction holds throughout the workshop.

Who should submit

Software engineering researchers at any career stage, from doctoral candidates to senior faculty, together with research-minded practitioners. No sub-field is presumed, and recombination across topics is a central aim of the day. Industry researchers and practitioners are particularly welcome.

Attendance is closed: only the authors of curated seeds take part in the working sessions. The workshop is designed for 30 to 40 participants, with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40.

Following ICSE policy, the organisers and their directly supervised students do not submit idea seeds.

How to submit

Idea seeds are submitted through the AMPLIFY submission site at amplify27.hotcrp.com, which is open now. A seed is at most three pages in PDF, inclusive of figures and references, with author names and affiliations visible. The three-page template and the one-page guidance note will be posted on the Call for Idea Seeds page ahead of the deadline.

Dates

• 13 November 2026 (Anywhere on Earth): idea seed submission deadline
• 11 December 2026: curation notification
• 25 to 27 April 2027: workshop, one day, exact date to be confirmed

Archiving and dissemination

AMPLIFY does not publish its own proceedings. The seeds are deliberately preliminary and intended to be transformed during the session. The curated seeds and the anonymised blueprints will be archived openly, subject to author consent, so that they document the community’s emerging research agenda. The substantive scholarly contribution is the set of manuscripts that author teams develop and submit to TSE.

Organisers (Creative Directors)

• Daniel Russo, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark
• André van der Hoek, University of California, Irvine, U.S.A.
• Margaret-Anne Storey, University of Victoria, Canada
• Mauro Pezzè, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

Questions about the workshop may be sent to daniel.russo@cs.aau.dk.

Call for Idea Seeds

AMPLIFY: The SE Idea Amplification Workshop, ICSE 2027, Dublin

Co-create software engineering research directions, then develop them towards IEEE TSE. The reconfigured continuation of the Software Engineering in 2030 (SE2030) series.

AMPLIFY is a deliberate alternative to broadcasting finished work. Instead of presenting completed research, participants transform individual insights into shared research directions through facilitated, Liberating Structures-based sessions. Each session produces co-authored research blueprints. Author teams develop these into full manuscripts and submit them to a dedicated manuscript type at IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE), where they undergo standard, selective, independent peer review. Participation in the workshop does not guarantee acceptance. Submission to the workshop is open, and the curation criteria are public.

What we invite

Three-page idea seeds: conversation starters that identify a promising question, paradox, or challenge in software engineering. A strong seed gives others enough to build upon: a clear point of departure, a reason the idea matters, and room for others to shape it. Seeds are not miniature papers or project proposals.

A successful seed typically:

• articulates a compelling, not-yet-well-understood problem or opportunity;
• offers a conceptual, empirical, or methodological framing that opens new directions;
• poses a “what if” or “how might we” question that others can refine or challenge;
• provides a minimal rationale or evidence base establishing plausibility;
• signals what expertise or perspectives could advance the idea.

What we do not seek

NIER-style papers reporting partial results, Doctoral Symposium contributions centred on a single trajectory, or pitches recruiting collaborators for a predefined project. AMPLIFY is about transforming ideas collectively, not defending them. The manuscripts that emerge need not resemble any single submitted seed.

How it works

1. Submit a three-page idea seed through the AMPLIFY submission site at amplify27.hotcrp.com. Submission is open to anyone.
2. Creative Directors curate the seeds against the public criteria below. Every seed, curated or not, receives written developmental feedback from at least two Creative Directors.
3. At the workshop, facilitated sessions recombine the curated ideas into co-authored blueprints.
4. Author teams develop their blueprints into full manuscripts.
5. Manuscripts are submitted to the dedicated TSE manuscript type and undergo standard, selective, independent TSE review. Participation in the workshop does not guarantee acceptance.

Curation criteria

Creative Directors curate seeds against five published criteria. The process values insight over polish and curiosity over completion.

1. Novelty and generativity. The seed identifies a problem, paradox, or opportunity that the community has not yet resolved, and it opens directions rather than closing them. The question we ask is whether several plausible lines of work suggest themselves after reading it.

2. Clarity and focus. The idea is legible within three pages to a reader outside the author’s sub-field. One idea stated plainly is stronger than three ideas gestured at.

3. Collaborative potential. The seed leaves room for others to shape it and signals what expertise would advance it. The question we ask is whether a small group of people with different backgrounds could do productive work with it in a single session.

4. Relevance and timeliness. The idea matters to software engineering now, and the case for why it matters now is made explicitly rather than assumed.

5. Alignment with the participatory ethos. The seed is offered to be transformed rather than defended. Contributions written as a claim to be evaluated, or as recruitment for a predefined project, sit outside the format.

Seeds are curated for the portfolio they form together, not only for their individual merit. Creative Directors balance the curated set across sub-fields, career stages, geographies, and sectors so that recombination in the room is productive. A strong seed may therefore not be curated because the portfolio already covers its territory. That is a decision about fit, not a judgement of quality, and the accompanying feedback will say so.

Curation decides participation in the workshop. It is not peer review, and it does not decide publication. Publication decisions are made independently at TSE, through the journal’s standard process for the manuscript type.

Idea seed format

Three pages, inclusive of figures and references, in PDF. Author names and affiliations appear on the seed: curation is not anonymous. A three-page idea seed template and a one-page guidance note on what a seed is and is not will be posted on this page ahead of the submission deadline.

Seeds are submitted through the AMPLIFY submission site at amplify27.hotcrp.com, which is open now. The deadline of 13 November 2026 is Anywhere on Earth.

Use of generative AI tools when preparing a seed is permitted, though not encouraged, and any such use must be acknowledged in the seed itself. Our reservation is practical. These tools tend to converge on familiar framings, and AMPLIFY depends on the challenge questions they are least likely to produce. Authors remain fully responsible for everything the seed contains.

Following ICSE policy, the organisers and their directly supervised students do not submit idea seeds.

Attendance

The workshop is closed. Only the authors of curated seeds take part in the working sessions, and the room is capped at 40 participants. At least one author of each curated seed is expected to register for ICSE 2027 and attend the workshop in person.

Archiving

AMPLIFY does not publish its own proceedings. The curated seeds and the anonymised blueprints will be archived openly, subject to author consent, so that they document the community’s emerging research agenda. Consent is requested from authors and is never assumed.

Important dates

• 13 November 2026 (Anywhere on Earth): idea seed submission deadline
• 11 December 2026: curation notification
• 25 to 27 April 2027: workshop, one day, exact date to be confirmed

Idea Amplifiers

Eight to twelve Idea Amplifiers spanning the sub-fields of software engineering give developmental feedback during the workshop and provide continuity of expertise afterwards, as author teams develop their blueprints into manuscripts. The confirmed list appears on this site ahead of the submission deadline.

Organisers (Creative Directors)

Daniel Russo (Aalborg University), André van der Hoek (University of California, Irvine), Margaret-Anne Storey (University of Victoria), Mauro Pezzè (Università della Svizzera italiana).

Questions may be sent to daniel.russo@cs.aau.dk.

Submission site

amplify27.hotcrp.com