As part of SE2026, the Student Research Competition offers students a unique opportunity to present their work and findings in a scientific setting and to engage with researchers from the software engineering community.

New in SE2026: The  Fachbereich Softwaretechnik der Gesellschaft für Informatik will, as part of the research competition, award the Softwaretechnikpreis for the best Master’s thesis (endowed with 300€) and the Softwaretechnikpreis for the best Bachelor’s thesis (endowed with 200€). In addition, the best seminar paper will also receive an award. Nominations for the  Softwaretechnikpreis für Dissertationen are not made through the Student Research Competition.

Held alongside the  Scientific Main Program and the  Industry Day, the event provides an ideal environment for academic exchange, networking, and establishing contacts with both academia and industry.

The Student Research Competition takes place on Thursday, 26^th February 2026 in the  Wankdorf Stadium.

Important Dates

• Submission deadline for thesis/seminar work summaries: 14^th November 2025 ( AoE), Grace Period until 16^th November 2025 ( AoE)
• Notification of acceptance: 12^th December 2025 (28^th November 2025)
• Final version: 9^th January 2026 (9^th December 2025) ( AoE)
• Poster Pitch & Session: 26^th February 2026
• Award ceremony: 26^th February 2026

Call for Student Research Competition Contributions

We invite students to submit summaries of their Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis/seminar work in the field of Software Engineering for the Student Research Competition. Submissions should briefly present the topic, motivation and objectives, implementation, and results of the thesis/seminar work. Summaries must be written in English and limited to two pages (excluding references).

To be eligible, the work must have been completed between 1^st October 2024 and 30^th September 2025.

For the initial submission, please provide:

• A thesis/seminar work summary in English, including:
  • Student names and universities as authors.
  • Names and universities of the thesis/seminar work supervisors as an acknowledgement footnote.
  • An abstract (max. 150 words).
  • The summary (max. 2 pages, including the abstract).
  • In addition, max. 1 page for references.
• For participation in the Softwaretechnikpreis for Master’s and Bachelor’s theses:
  • The original thesis (in English or German).
  • A letter of recommendation from a professor (in English or German).
• For seminar work (if available):
  • The written paper and/or presentation slides (in English or German).

Submission

Submissions must use the  GI LNI template and be submitted via  EasyChair.

•  EasyChair Student Research Competition SE2026
•  GI LNI template

Selection and Presentation

All submissions will be reviewed for their relevance to software engineering research. Based on these reviews, a pre-selection of contributions will be invited to present at SE2026. The presentation at the conference will consist of a poster and a short motivational pitch. An expert jury will evaluate the written contributions, the poster and the presentation.

All accepted and presented contributions will be published in the companion proceedings of the SE2026 conference, and all participants will receive a certificate of attendance. The best contributions will be honored with prizes and award certificates during the award ceremony at the  Conference Dinner.

Organisation

Student Research Competition:

•  Pooja Rani, University of Zurich (CH) ( rani@ifi.uzh.ch)
•  Manuel Ohrndorf, University of Bern (CH) ( manuel.ohrndorf@unibe.ch)

Softwaretechnikpreis:

•  Thomas Thüm, TU Braunschweig (DE) ( thomas.thuem@tu-braunschweig.de)

Feel free to contact us if you have questions.