Chair of Software Engineering

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Berger

I’m a Professor in Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, and a Guest Professor at the CSE Department at University of Gothenburg / Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. My research focuses on automating software engineering for the next generation of intelligent, autonomous, and variant-rich software systems—exploring new ways of software creation, analysis, and evolution.

Professor / Head of Chair

Chair of Software Engineering
Ruhr University Bochum
Bochum, Germany

Office: MC 4.101, RUB campus
Phone: +49 (0) 234 32 25975
Mobile: +49 (0) 160 926 878 10
E-Mail: thorsten.berger@rub.de
Teams: tberger.work

Awards and Honors

I’ve worked as an Associate Professor at the Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden before, as well as a Postdoc in Canada (University of Waterloo) and Denmark (ITU Copenhagen). I’ve received a fellowship from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Wallenberg Foundation, one of the highest recognitions for researchers in Sweden. Other awards comprise most influential paper awards at ACM SIGPLAN SLE’24, VaMoS’23, and VaMoS’20; best-paper awards at ACM SIGPLAN MODULARITY 2015 and CSMR 2013 (now IEEE SANER); distinguished reviewer awards at ASE 2018, ICSE 2020, and SPLC 2022; and a PhD scholarship by the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung).

  • Professor, affiliated at University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. 2025
  • Most Influential Paper Award at 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE). 2024
  • Most Influential Paper Award at 17th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems (VaMoS) 2023
  • Received Distinguished Reviewer Award, 26th ACM International Systems and Software Product Line Conference
  • Distinguished Reviewer Award, 42nd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, 2020
  • Reached final round with final score ‘A’ (highest): ERC starting Grant 2020, ranking 45-47% close to obtaining funding
  • Wallenberg Academy Fellowship, one of the highest recognitions in Sweden, awarded collaboratively by Wallenberg Foundation, Royal Academy of Sciences and Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences.
  • Most Influential Paper Award at 14th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems (VaMoS) 2020
  • Reached final round with final score ‘A’ (highest): ERC starting Grant 2019 (first proposal), ranking of 52-54% close to obtaining funding
  • Reached final round: SSF Future Research Leader grant
  • Distinguished Reviewer Award, 33rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE), 2018
  • Listed as one of the most impactful software-engineering researchers in a JSS journal article on top scholars
  • VR Starting Grant, awarded by the Swedish Research Council, highly competitive early career award, 2016
  • Best Paper Award, 14th International Conference on Modularity (ACM SIGPLAN MODULARITY), 2015
  • Best Paper Award, 17th European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering (CSMR, now IEEE SANER), 2013
  • Scholarship, German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), competitive scholarship (the foundation funds the top 0.5% of German students), 2009
  • Scholarship, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, at University of Leipzig, Germany, 2008
  • Other recognition:
    • Dagstuhl: Initiator and main organizer of Dagstuhl seminar 19191 (Software Evolution in Time and Space: Unifying Version and Variability Management), Invited to Dagstuhl seminars 25392 (Specification Engineering: Foundations for the Future of Software Development), 23492 (Model Learning for Improved Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems), 23181 (Empirical Evaluation of Secure Development Processes), 11021 (Feature-Oriented Software Development) and 13091 (Analysis, Test and Verification in The Presence of Variability). Invited to Dagstuhl events 14193 (FOSD-Treffen) and 13092 (FOSD-Treffen)

Service

  • Co-Founder of the RSE (robotics software engineering) meeting series: https://rsemeeting.github.io
  • Editorial board memberships: Science of Computer Programming (SCP) journal (2020-2025)
  • Dagstuhl Seminar 19191 ‘Software Evolution in Time and Space: Unifying Version and Variability Management,’ organizer, 2019
  • FOSD Meeting 2018 in Gothenburg, organizer
  • SPLC’18: 22nd International Systems and Software Product Line Conference in Gothenburg, PC Chair and co-organizer
  • Chairing: VARIABILITY’26 Research Track, SPLC’21 Industry Track PC, SPLC’20 Journal First, SPLC’18 Research Track PC, MODELS’18 Workshops, FOSD’18, Euromicro DSD/SEAA’17 SPLSeco research track, SPLC’16 Tools track, FOSD’14 PC
  • PC memberships: ICSE’26, FSE’26, MODELS’26, ICSE’25, FSE/IVR’24, ICSE’23, ASE’23, SPLC’23, ASE’22, FASE’22, VaMoS’22, SPLC’22 Industry, ICSE’21, MODELS’21, VaMoS’21, ICSE’20, FSE’20, ICSE/SEIP’20, VaMoS’20, MODEVAR’20, SPLC’19, SPLC’19 journal first, ICSA/NEMI’19, MISE’19, VaMoS’19, MODEVAR’19, ASE’18, ICSE/NIER’18, VaMoS’18, MORSE’18, MSPLC’17, REFSQ’17, VaMoS’17, WAMA’17, ASE’16, SPLC’16, MODULARITY’16 Visions, FMSPLE’16, Euromicro DSD/SEAA’16 SPLSeco, VaMoS’16, WAMA’16, Euromicro DSD/SEAA’15 SPLSeco, VaMoS’15, VaMoS’14, Euromicro DSD/SEAA’14 SPLSeco
  • Journal reviewing: ASE, TSE, ESE, JSS, JSME, SoSyM, IST, JOT, JWE, CAI

Funded Research Projects

  • PI: Novel Techniques for Data-Driven Root-Cause Analysis and Variability Management, funded by Volkswagen Infotainment (VWIF)
  • PI: Properties, Property Description Languages, and Verification Techniques for Behavior Trees, funded by Phoenix Contact Foundation
  • PI: PrivacyE2E: Privacy-by-Design Framework for Enduser-Oriented AI-enabled Systems, funded by Federal Ministry of Education and Research
  • PI: Modeling and Tracing Security Concerns, funded by German Research Council, Cluster of Excellence CASA
  • PI: Variability Management and Mission Specification Languages, funded via scholarshop by German Academic Exchange Service
  • PI: Safety and Mission Assurance for Mobile Robots, funded by Wallenberg Autonomous Systems Program (WASP)
  • Participant (Co-Supervisor of a PhD student): Collaborative and Autonomous Robots Under Uncertainty, funded by Wallenberg Autonomous Systems Program (WASP)
  • PI: Wallenberg Academy Fellowship, funded by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
  • PI: Virtual Platform – Flexible and Truly Incremental Engineering of Highly Configurable Systems, funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR, Vetenskapsradet)
  • PI and Country Lead, Swedish Consortium of the EU ITEA3 project REVaMP2 – Round-trip Engineering and Variability Management Platform and Process, funded by Vinnova Sweden
  • Co-PI: CO4ROBOTS – Achieving Complex Collaborative Missions via Decentralized Control and Coordination of Interacting Robots, funded by the European Union (H2020)
  • PI: Software Center project 36, goal-driven adoption of model-based systems engineering, funded by Software Center Sweden
  • Participant (Supervisor of a PhD student and a Postdoc): BRIGHT – collaboration project with two universities in Uganda, funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
  • Participant: NECSIS – Managing Variability and Configurability in an MDE Development Process, research network, funded by Automotive Partnership Canada
  • Participant: Model-integrated Software Service Engineering, funded by ORF-RE (Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence)
  • Participant: VARIES – Variability in Safety-critical Embedded Systems, EU Artemis funded
  • Participant: EUMONIS – model-driven development and software product line engineering in the regenerative energy domain, funded by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
  • Participant: iAssess.Sax – Developing the prerequisites for broader adoption of eAssessment at Saxon universities (Schaffung der Voraussetzungen für einen breiteren Einsatz von E-Assessments an den sächsischen Hochschulen)
  • Participant: SoftWiki – Distributed, End-user Centered Requirements Engineering for Evolutionary Software Development, funded by the german Federal Ministry of Education and Research
  • Participant: PreBIS – Pre-Built Information Space, funded by the german Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology

Startups

The following startups were founded from within my Chair, happy to see them grow.

Memberships