Following the tradition of past years, ICSE 2026 will host an ACM Student Research Competition (SRC). The ACM SRC is a forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research, exchange ideas, and improve their communication skills while competing for prizes at ICSE 2026. The Student Research Competition has the following goals (for general information on the ACM SRC, see https://src.acm.org/):

• To give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to share their research ideas and results at ICSE in a special forum that provides visibility for their work.
• To give students the opportunity to meet with and interact with ICSE attendees to share ideas, gain new insights, and understand possible practical applications.
• To give students an opportunity to sharpen their communication skills, including visual, organizational, oral, and aural modalities.
• To provide detailed feedback to students about their research and presentation, from a panel of distinguished judges.
• To recognize and reward outstanding student research.

ACM will provide the medals and monetary awards to the SRC student winners $500, $300, and $200 (USD), respectively for the top three winners in each of the graduate and undergraduate categories. All SRC participants receive a certificate of participation

Additional Information

This is an in-person event only. Students must be physically present to participate in the Student Research Competition. For additional information, see the Call for Contributions, consult the ACM Student Research Competition website, or contact the co-chairs.

Accepted Papers

Call for Contributions

How to Participate: Submit a Research Abstract

To participate in the competition, students should submit an extended abstract electronically through the submission web page: https://icse2026src.hotcrp.com/

• Submissions should be related to the ICSE main topics of interest (see the call for conference papers for a list of the conference topics).
• The submissions should describe: research problem and motivation, background and related work, approach and uniqueness, results, and contributions.
• Abstract should not exceed 800 words and 2 pages, including all figures, tables, appendices, etc. An additional third page is permitted only if it contains references.
• All submissions must be in PDF.
• Submissions must strictly conform to the ACM Proceedings Template page.
• The review process will be single-blind. Thus, the authors must indicate their names and affiliations in their submissions.
• Submissions that do not adhere to these topics, limits, or that violate the formatting guidelines will be desk-rejected without review.

A panel of experts will review the submissions and select the students to participate in the first round of the competition (Poster Round), which will be held at ICSE 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Submissions that are accepted to the competition will be published in the ICSE conference companion proceedings.

1. Participants must be undergraduate or graduate students pursuing an academic degree (i.e., they must be enrolled in a university or college) at the time of initial submission.

2. Participants must register for ICSE’26. Details about the registration required will be provided in due course.

3. Participants must have an active ACM student membership, and must provide their ACM member number.

4. Supervisors of the work may not be listed as co-authors; students must submit a single-authored version of their work for the competition.

5. The contest has two categories, one for undergraduate research and the other for graduate research. Three winners will be selected in each category. Research completed while the student was an undergraduate may be submitted to the undergraduate category even if the student is now a first-year graduate student.

6. Team projects will be accepted from Undergraduate students. One person should be designated by the team to attend the conference and make the oral presentation. Should the designated presenter win first, second or third place in competition only they will receive the medal and monetary award. Only individual research is accepted from Graduate (Master’s or PhD program) students; group research projects will not be considered. If an individual is part of a group research project and wants to participate in an SRC, they can only present their part of the research. Only they will receive the medal and monetary award (should they win).

7. Students may only participate in one SRC per program year (April 1–March 31). Students that have applied to an SRC, but have not been accepted, may respond to other SRC calls for participation during the program year.

The Abstract Submission

The first step in the competition consists of the submission of an abstract describing the research. A committee of experts will review the submitted abstracts and select those that will be invited for the second round of the competition.

First Round of Competition – The Poster Session

If you are selected to participate in the competition, you will be invited to the first round, which will take place at ICSE 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You will present a poster describing your work to conference attendees and leading experts in the Software Engineering field, including the SRC committee. Judges will review the posters and discuss the research with participants. The judges will evaluate the novelty and significance of your research, and the quality of your presentation, including your poster and the surrounding discussion. Following that evaluation, the judges will select students to advance to the second round of the competition.

Second Round of Competition – The Presentation Session

If you are selected for the second round, you will give a short presentation of your research before a panel of judges in a special session at the ICSE 2026 conference. After each presentation, there will be a brief question-and-answer session. Your evaluation will be based on your knowledge of your research area, the contribution of your research, and the quality of your oral and visual presentation. A maximum of three winners will be chosen in each category, undergraduate and graduate (Master’s or PhD program), who will receive prizes.

Judging Criteria

Abstracts will be evaluated by at least three experts. The experts will evaluate the abstract/research based on:

Posters will be evaluated by at least five experts. The experts will evaluate the poster based on:

The top five students in each category (undergraduate and graduate) will advance to the next round (semi-finals). A minimum of five judges will be assigned to the semi-finals. Each judge will evaluate the students’ presentations of the research based on:

Prizes

The top three undergraduate and graduate winners receive prizes of USD 500, USD 300, and USD 200, respectively, and an award medal, all sponsored by the ACM. All participants receive a certificate of participation from the ACM.

ICSE 2026 Awardees Participate in SRC Grand Finals

The top three winners in each category – undergraduate and graduate – will be recognized during the ICSE conference. The winners of the ICSE 2026 SRC will also be invited to participate in the ACM SRC Grand Finals, where they will compete with winners from other conferences held during the calendar year. A separate panel of judges will evaluate all SRC Grand Final participants. Three undergraduate and three graduate students will be chosen as the SRC Grand Finals winners.

Q: I am a PhD student. Am I eligible to participate in the SRC?

Yes. As a PhD student, you will compete in the Graduate category of the competition.

Q: What should be part of the research abstract?

A submission to the competition should describe recently completed or ongoing student research related to the topics covered by ICSE. It is important that your research abstract discusses (1) research problem and motivation, (2) background and related work, (3) approach and uniqueness, and (4) results and contributions. The committee will assess your research abstract along those dimensions.

Q: Based on what criteria will judges evaluate the abstract/research?

The judges will assess research abstracts based on four criteria: Problem and motivation, Background and related work, Approach and uniqueness, and Results and contribution. For the poster presentation, the criteria are Oral presentation, Visual presentation, Research methods, and Significance of contribution. For the conference presentation, the criteria are Knowledge of research area, Contribution of research, and Presentation.

Q: Will the participants qualify for a registration waiver and/or free/discounted travel reimbursement?

There is no registration waiver and no free/discounted travel reimbursement. Students will have to pay for conference registration, travel, and lodging. However, there are additional programs to help students keep the cost down (the programs can be combined with SRC). Consider applying as a student volunteer. Additionally, SIGSOFT has a great travel support program for students: SIGSOFT CAPS.

Q: My research is not related to software engineering or any of the main themes of the ICSE conference. Can I still participate in the Student Research Competition?

Yes, but not at ICSE. Participate in a SRC at a conference that is related to your research. To participate in the competition at ICSE, your research needs to be related to the main themes of the ICSE conference (see the topics for the Technical Research Track. If your research is not among the topics relevant for ICSE, please check http://src.acm.org/ to find a conference that is better related. If you don’t find a conference that cover’s your research, you can participate in the SRC competition at the SIGCSE conference.

Q: I submitted a paper to the Doctoral Symposium. May I also submit a paper on the same topic to the Student Research Competition?

Yes, you may, and we encourage this. However, as with any simultaneous submission about similar research topics, the content must be at least 30% different from any other submission (in substance, not just the words). This includes your submission to the Doctoral Symposium. The overlap between the two papers will be checked upon submission to the SRC submission site. If you have doubts about your submission, please speak with your advisor and discuss how to ensure that the two papers are different enough to avoid being flagged.