VARIABILITY 2026
Tue 29 September - Fri 2 October 2026
Dates
Tracks

This program is tentative and subject to change.

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Wed 30 Sep

Displayed time zone: Athens change

10:30 - 11:00
10:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

11:00 - 12:30
11:00
22m
Talk
Enabling SAT-based Analysis of Cardinality-Based Feature Models By Unfolding
Research Papers
Lukas Güthing Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
11:22
22m
Talk
Reconstruction of Cardinality Constraints for Multi-Instance Configuration Spaces
Research Papers
11:45
22m
Talk
Towards Decentralized Feature Models
Research Papers
Mukelabai Mukelabai Ruhr University Bochum, Johan Martinson Ruhr University Bochum, Wardah Mahmood Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Rafael Capilla Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Thorsten Berger Ruhr University Bochum
12:07
15m
Talk
FM-PRO: A Feature Modeling Process
Journal First
Thorsten Berger Ruhr University Bochum, Jude Gyimah , Johan Martinson Ruhr University Bochum, Wardah Mahmood Chalmers | University of Gothenburg
12:30 - 14:00
12:30
90m
Lunch
Lunch
Catering

14:00 - 15:30
14:00
22m
Talk
An Instrument for Measuring Variability Thinking
Research Papers
David Romero Organvídez , Jesus Moreno , Jose Galindo University of Seville, David Benavides Universidad de Sevilla
14:22
22m
Talk
Software Reuse in the Age of AI: A Survey of Practices, Satisfaction, and Barriers
Research Papers
Iris Reinhartz-Berger University of Haifa, Zarima Fram
14:45
22m
Talk
Usability Analysis of Configurator User Interfaces with Multimodal Large Language Models
Research Papers
Sebastian Lubos Graz University of Technology, Alexander Felfernig Graz University of Technology, Damian Garber Graz University of Technology, Adnan Kraljić , Tarik Kraljić , Viet-Man Le Graz University of Technology, Thi Ngoc Trang Tran , Gerhard Leitner , Julian Schwazer , Doris Suppan , Reinhard Willfort , Ivan Dukic , Jeremias Fuchs , Manuel Henrich UNiQUARE Software Development GmbH
Pre-print
15:07
15m
Talk
Community-Driven Variability: Characterizing a new Software Variability Paradigm -- Summary
Journal First
Roman Bögli University of Bern, Alexander Boll University of Bern, Alexander Schultheiß Humboldt University of Berlin, Timo Kehrer University of Bern
15:30 - 16:00
15:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

16:00 - 17:06
Variability in Industrial and Cyber-Physical SystemsJournal First / Project Showcase / Social and Networking Events / Industry Track / Research Papers at Plenary Room
16:00
22m
Talk
Is it Satisfiable? SMT-Based Consistency Checking in Variability-Intensive Cyber-Physical Production Systems
Research Papers
Malte Grave CDL VaSiCS, LIT CPS Lab, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Fabio Baraldi , Lisa Sonnleithner CDL VaSiCS, LIT CPS Lab, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Rick Rabiser LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz
16:22
22m
Talk
Towards Consistent, Variability-Aware Views in Systems Development
Research Papers
Fabian Eger Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Lars König Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Thomas Weber Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Dirk Neumann Karlsruhe KIT, Kevin Feichtinger Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Erik Burger Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Ralf Reussner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and FZI - Research Center for Information Technology (FZI)
16:44
22m
Talk
Understanding Variability Evolution in Automotive Product Lines - Insights from Volkswagen
Industry Track

Thu 1 Oct

Displayed time zone: Athens change

10:30 - 11:00
10:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

11:00 - 12:06
AI for Variability EngineeringResearch Papers at Plenary Room
11:00
22m
Talk
Do LLMs Know UVL? Quantifying Factual Knowledge and Generative Capabilities in Variability Engineering
Research Papers
José Miguel Horcas Aguilera Universidad de Málaga, Joaquin Ballesteros , Mónica Pinto Universidad de Málaga, Lidia Fuentes Universidad de Málaga, Spain
11:22
22m
Talk
Investigating LLMs for Feature Presence Prediction in Software Products
Research Papers
Guillaume Nguyen University of Namur, Paolo Arcaini National Institute of Informatics, Maxime Cordy University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Xavier Devroey University of Namur, Fuyuki Ishikawa National Institute of Informatics
Pre-print
11:44
22m
Talk
LLM-assisted Code Generation and Reuse: An Exploratory Study on Contextual Information
Research Papers
12:30 - 14:00
12:30
90m
Lunch
Lunch
Catering

14:00 - 15:30
Assurance, Testing and OptimizationResearch Papers / Project Showcase at Plenary Room
14:00
22m
Talk
Combining Constraint Programming and Simulated Annealing for Test Configuration Selection
Research Papers
14:22
22m
Talk
Family-Based Vulnerability Discovery for Highly-Configurable Software Systems
Research Papers
Tim Bächle , Erik Hofmayer , Tobias Pett Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), Germany
14:45
22m
Talk
Taming the Trade-off: Efficiency vs. Quality in N-Way Model Matching
Research Papers
Jonas Spieler University of Bern, Roman Bögli University of Bern, Stephan Weiss , Timo Kehrer University of Bern
15:07
15m
Talk
SMAUG: System-Level Modelling and Optimized Use of Disruptive Memory Technologies
Project Showcase
Birte Friesel Osnabrück University, Marcel Lütke Dreimann Osnabrück University, Olaf Spinczyk Universität Osnabrück
15:30 - 16:00
15:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

16:00 - 17:00
Most Influential Paper AwardsMIP Award at Plenary Room
16:00
30m
Awards
Using machine learning to infer constraints for product lines
MIP Award
Paul Temple IRISA, Jose Galindo University of Seville, Mathieu Acher Univ Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA, Jean-Marc Jézéquel Univ Rennes, IUF, INRIA, CNRS, IRISA
Link to publication DOI
16:30
30m
Awards
FeatureIDE: An extensible framework for feature-oriented software development
MIP Award
Thomas Thüm TU Braunschweig, Christian Kästner Carnegie Mellon University, Fabian Benduhn , Jens Meinicke Carnegie Mellon University, USA, Gunter Saake University of Magdeburg, Germany, Thomas Leich Harz University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Link to publication DOI

Fri 2 Oct

Displayed time zone: Athens change

09:00 - 10:30
Variability Evolution and Future DirectionsJournal First / Research Papers at Plenary Room
09:00
22m
Talk
Feature Toggle Dynamics in Large-Scale Systems: Prevalence, Growth, Lifespan, and Benchmarking
Research Papers
Xhevahire Tërnava LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France
09:22
22m
Talk
Where Did the Variability Go? From Vibe Coding to Product Lines by Regeneration
Research Papers
Xhevahire Tërnava LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France
09:45
15m
Talk
Assurance Case Development For Evolving Software Product Lines: A Formal Approach
Journal First
Logan Murphy University of Toronto, Torin Viger , Alessio Di Sandro , Aren Babikian McGill University, Marsha Chechik University of Toronto
10:00
15m
Talk
UVL: Feature Modelling with the Universal Variability Language -- Summary
Journal First
David Benavides Universidad de Sevilla, Chico Sundermann TU Braunschweig, Kevin Feichtinger Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Jose Galindo University of Seville, Rick Rabiser LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Thomas Thüm TU Braunschweig
10:30 - 11:00
10:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

11:00 - 12:30
Analysis, Reasoning and Configuration SpacesResearch Papers at Plenary Room
11:00
22m
Talk
Automated Analysis of UVL using Satisfiability Modulo Theories
Research Papers
José Miguel Horcas Aguilera Universidad de Málaga, Francisco S. Benitez , Jose Galindo University of Seville, David Benavides Universidad de Sevilla
11:22
22m
Talk
MONOPOLY: Product Line Analysis via Monotonicity
Research Papers
Logan Murphy University of Toronto, Marc Carwehl Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Juliane Päßler , Marsha Chechik University of Toronto
11:45
22m
Talk
Reasoning about variability models through network analysis
Research Papers
José Manuel Sánchez Ruiz , Miguel Olivero University of Sevilla, Ruben Heradio UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), Luis Cambelo UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), David Fernandez-Amoros UNED
12:07
22m
Talk
Uniform Retainment Sampling for Evolving Software Configuration Spaces
Research Papers
Nikolai Käfer TU Dresden, Sven Apel Saarland University, Christel Baier TU Dresden, Germany, Clemens Dubslaff Eindhoven University of Technology, Holger Hermanns Saarland University
12:30 - 14:00
12:30
90m
Lunch
Lunch
Catering

14:00 - 15:30
Feature Mining, Identification and TraceabilityResearch Papers / Journal First at Plenary Room
14:00
22m
Talk
Benefits and Drawbacks of Extensive User Involvement in Variability Mining: A User Study in the CPPS Domain
Research Papers
Alexander Stummer , Shubham Sharma , Rick Rabiser LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz
14:22
22m
Talk
Overhead of Recording Feature Locations with Embedded Annotations
Research Papers
Johan Martinson Ruhr University Bochum, Kevin Hermann Ruhr University Bochum, Thorsten Berger Ruhr University Bochum
14:45
22m
Talk
Semantic-Driven Feature Identification In Software Variants Using Transformers
Research Papers
Johannes Stümpfle University of Stuttgart, Sebastian Baum , Jonathan Fuss , Lennard Hettich , Nasser Jazdi University of Stuttgart, Michael Weyrich Universiy of Stuttgart
15:07
22m
Talk
A taxonomy of functional security features and how they can be located
Journal First
Kevin Hermann Ruhr University Bochum, Simon Schneider Hamburg University of Technology, Catherine Tony Hamburg University of Technology, Asli Yardim , Sven Peldszus Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Thorsten Berger Ruhr University Bochum, Riccardo Scandariato Hamburg University of Technology, M. Angela Sasse University College London, Alena Naiakshina Ruhr University Bochum
15:30 - 16:00
15:30
30m
Coffee break
Break
Catering

16:00 - 17:30
16:00
22m
Talk
Controlling Variability in Neuroimaging Analysis Pipelines with Software Product Lines
Research Papers
Gauthier Le Bartz Lyan , Paul Temple IRISA, Boris Clénet , Mathieu Acher Univ Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA
16:22
22m
Talk
Configurable Industrial AI Agent Families: A Case Study of Manufacturing Root Cause Analysis Agents
Industry Track
16:45
15m
Talk
MARGoS: A Configuration-Driven Platform for Reproducible MARL Experiments in ARGoS
Project Showcase
Tom Backert University of Luebeck, Mohammad D. Soorati University of Southampton, Javad Ghofrani Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany
17:00
30m
Day closing
VARIABILITY 2026 Closing
Social and Networking Events

Project Showcase Track

The VARIABILITY conference series brings together the communities previously served by ICSR, SPLC, and VaMoS, forming a unified venue for research on variability, configuration, customization, and related disciplines in software and systems engineering. As part of this mission, VARIABILITY 2026 invites submissions to its Project Showcase Track, a forum dedicated to presenting ongoing or recently completed research projects. The track offers a stage for research teams to share their vision, goals, early outcomes, intermediate results, final achievements, and lessons learned from funded projects of all scales, including collaborative research centers, EU projects, and nationally or regionally funded initiatives. The goal is to encourage interaction, foster collaboration opportunities, and help disseminate project insights to the broader community.

Objectives and Scope

We welcome submissions on research projects that address reuse, product lines, and variable/configurable software systems. A list of research topics that are relevant for this track is available from the call for the papers for the VARIABILITY 2026 Research Track, at: https://conf.researchr.org/track/variability-2026/variability-2026-papers#Call-for-Papers

Submissions are expected to describe ongoing or recently completed research projects within this scope. This track is not intended for publishing mature research results. Instead, it focuses on project summaries and overviews, highlighting goals, structure, challenges, insights, and project level impact.

Examples of suitable submissions include:

  • Ongoing projects focusing on goals, challenges, methodology, or early findings
  • Recently completed projects summarizing outcomes, evidence, and impact
  • Large scale, collaborative, or multi partner efforts, where visibility and networking are beneficial
  • Smaller or emerging projects that would benefit from early feedback and exposure

PhD thesis projects are not in scope for this track. We warmly encourage PhD candidates to submit their work to the VARIABILITY 2026 Doctoral Symposium.

Submission Format

  • Length: 7 to 10 pages, excluding references
  • Format: LNCS (Springer), single blind submissions

Each submission will receive feedback from three reviewers.

All submissions must adhere to the LNCS (Springer) format. Please refer to the official LNCS template at https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines.

Submissions must be in PDF format and submitted via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=variability2026 (Select “Projects Showcase Track”)

Presentation and Publication

Accepted papers will appear in the VARIABILITY 2026 Companion Proceedings published by Springer in the LNCS series. Accepted submissions will receive a presentation slot.

At least one author of each accepted paper must:

  • Register for the full conference, and
  • Present the contribution at the event.

Evaluation Criteria

Submission will be evaluated on:

  • Relevance to the conference scope
  • Clarity of project goals, context, and contributions
  • Potential for impact, collaboration, reuse, or technology transfer
  • Value for discussion and interaction at the conference

The focus is on clarity, relevance, and value to the community rather than scientific novelty.

Important Dates

  • Submission deadline: 1 June 2026
  • Notification: 21 June 2026
  • Camera-ready version: 15 July 2026
  • Author registration: 15 July 2026