KeynotesRequirements Engineering 2025

Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria

REconnect: How being a requirements engineer made me a better, yet humble, software engineer

Abstract: Software is now deeply embedded in our society, shaping how we live, work, and connect. As a result, understanding users and their interactions with technology is more crucial than ever. User-centered approaches have long been recognized as fundamental to requirements engineering. However, in an increasingly digital world driven by online interactions and AI, how effectively can we engage with users to understand their complex lived experiences and how software we design might affect them? How well are we equipped to grasp users’ values, preferences, and needs, which might be closely tied to or informed by their unique backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences?

In this talk, I highlight the importance of developing the skills, knowledge, and mindset necessary to co-design with, and alongside, the people we build for. Drawing on experiences in several software engineering projects focused on societal impact, I reflect on the challenges that expanded my own understanding and abilities as a requirements engineer. I explore the critical role that complementary skills of relationship-building, authentic empathy, perspective-taking, and cultural sensitivity play, particularly when differing viewpoints emerge. In today's increasingly complex, technology-driven world, these skills are more important than ever. I advocate for a deeper awareness of how we engage empathetically with those we design for and collaborate with. This awareness is not only essential for achieving the desired impact of our work, but also for preventing unintended harm and exclusion.

Bio: Daniela Damian is a Professor of Software Engineering and the ECS-CAPI Chair in Inclusive Science, Technology and Engineering at the University of Victoria. Along the years, together with her students she led empirical research that studied the human and social aspects of requirements engineering and software development, with a special focus on teamwork, remote communication and collaboration. She is the founder of the INSPIRE:STEM for Social Impact Program at the University of Victoria and where diverse teams engage in community-driven, experiential-learning science and engineering projects for societal impact. Daniela served as Program Chair for major Software Engineering conferences and in particular, was the Co-Chair of the inaugural conference on Software Engineering in Society in 2014, RE 2019 and ICSE 2022; she has served on the editorial boards of Transactions on Software Engineering, and is serving on the Advisory Board at the Empirical Software Engineering Journal. Daniela was the recipient of the 2019 Faculty of Engineering Teaching Award and of the 2020 Provost’s REACH Award for Excellence in Teaching for Experiential Learning. In 2019 she received the Royal Society New Zealand Catalyst: International Leader Award, and in 2024, she became a Lero Parnas Fellow. Read more about her projects and research at danieladamian.ca, and listen to her TEDxVictoria talk on her humble take on the power of empathy in tech design for a diverse, kinder world. She can be contacted at danielad@uvic.ca.

Co-founder and director of the ELLIS Alicante Foundation, Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance

Towards a fairer world: Uncovering and addressing human and algorithmic biases

Abstract: In my talk, I will first briefly present ELLIS Alicante, the only ELLIS unit that has been created from scratch as a non-profit research foundation devoted to responsible AI for Social Good. Next, I will provide an overview of AI with a focus on the ethical implications and limitations of today’s AI systems, including algorithmic discrimination and bias. On this topic, I will present a few examples of our work on uncovering and mitigating both human and algorithmic biases with AI. On the human front, I will present the body of work that we have carried out in the context of AI-based beauty filters that are so popular on social media. On the algorithmic front, I will explain the main approaches to address algorithmic discrimination and I will present three novel methods to achieve fairer decisions

Bio: Nuria Oliver is Director of the ELLIS Alicante Foundation, known as The Institute of Humanity-centric AI. She is co-founder and vice-president of ELLIS. Previously, she was Chief Scientific Advisor to the Vodafone Institute, Director of Data Science Research at Vodafone, Scientific Director at Telefónica and researcher at Microsoft Research. She holds a PhD from the Media Lab at MIT and an Honorary Doctorate from the University Miguel Hernández. She is also Chief Data Scientist at DataPop Alliance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she held an honorary position as Commissioner to the President of the Valencian Government on AI and Data Science against COVID-19. She advises several universities, governments and companies. She is the only independent board member of the Spanish Supervisory Agency of AI (AESIA), the Spanish representative in the high-level advisory panel to the International Report on AI Safety and the Chair of the Transparency section in writing the Code of Practice for GPAI models in the AI Act. She is an IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow, EurAI Fellow, ELLIS Fellow and elected permanent member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain. She is also a member of CHI Academy, the Academia Europaea and corresponding member at the Academy of Engineering of Mexico. She is well known for her work in computational models of human behavior, human computer-interaction, mobile computing and big data for social good. Named inventor of 40 patents. She has received many awards, including the MIT TR100 Young Innovator Award (2004), Spanish National Computer Science Award (2016), Engineer of the Year (2018), Valencian Medal to Business and Social Impact (2018), Data Scientist of the Year (2019), Jaume I Award in New Technologies (2021), the Abie Technology Leadership Award by AnitaB.org (2021) and the Hypatia Award (2023). According to Research.com, she is the Spanish female computer scientist with largest scientific impact (2022-2024) . She is passionate about the potential of AI to be a driver for Social Good.

Emeritus Chair of Information Systems at the University of Twente

Value-driven requirements engineering for the 21st century

Abstract: Requirements engineering is the activity of matching product properties with stakeholder expectations. In a world with finite resources, this means that RE is at the core of economics, the science and practice making decisions about finite resources. The requirements of a product must align with the business model of the product. And in the 21st century, it also means that product requirements must be aligned with the value network in which the product is offered on a market. In this talk I discuss the consequences of this view for RE and RE research.

Modern companies are networks of value exchanges, in which a set of economic entities jointly deliver value to customers. And they are embedded in still larger value networks with which they collaborate and compete. If a product is to be successful, it must support the survival and well-being of at least some stakeholders in this larger value network. This implies that RE must be value-based and network-oriented.

I will briefly sketch the ways in which a network of value exchanges can be described. The commercial view of this network focusses on economic transactions in which objects of value are exchanged, as described in the business model of the network. I will indicate how this network business model can be used as a basis for requirements. Zooming out further, a business model cannot be viable without a governance model that enables the creation, delivery and capture of value specified in the business model. Secondly, the commercial value exchanges in the network are based on relational structures in which economic entities enter and maintain long-term relationships that are not described in formal contracts. Both these perspectives, governance and relational, impact requirements engineering for the products traded in the value network. I end the talk with implications of this view for requirements engineering research and technology transfer. I will argue that RE research would do well to spend more time on business modeling for new products, which includes investment analysis. My talk also implies that research in the normative and relational context of products can reveal essential aspects of successful requirements engineering.

Second, I discuss implications for technology transfer, such as our company is attempting. We are transferring the e3value business modeling notation plus supporting tools from academia to practice, And where a research result may take less than 5 years to produce, transfer to practice will take more than five years. One reason is that the technology is embedded in a relational network in which it has a meaning, and in which the company transferring it has a reputation, which determines whether potential customers are willing to do business.

Bio : Roel Wieringa is emeritus Chair of Information Systems at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. His research topics ranged from formal specification, deontic logic, conceptual modeling, requirements engineering, risk analysis and design science methodology for information systems. He authored Requirements Engineering: Frameworks for Understanding (Wiley, 1996), Design Methods for Reactive Systems: Yourdon, Statemate and the UML (Morgan Kaufmann, 2003), Design Science Methodology for Information Systems and Software Engineering (Springer, 2014) and, with Jaap Gordijn, van Digital Business Ecosystems: How to Create, Deliver and Capture Value in Business Networks (TVE Press, 2023). Today, Roel helps companies design their digital ecosystem (www.thevalueengineers.nl ), and he is very busy writing blogs about business models, business ecosystems, and the networked society. Follow him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/roel-wieringa/)