VARIABILITY 2026

The International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and Configuration, VARIABILITY 2026, took place from September 29 to October 2, 2026, in Limassol, Cyprus, bringing together around 70 academics, researchers, students, and practitioners working across Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and Configuration. The conference created space for both established research directions and emerging approaches, including the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence and data-driven methods.

Hosted by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cyprus, the four-day conference provided an international forum for researchers and professionals to exchange ideas, present recent research, and discuss emerging challenges in variability engineering and the broader field of software and systems development.

The conference was held in person at the St Raphael Resort and Marina, a luxury marina resort offering modern facilities for conferences and events.

Prof. George Papadopoulos and Prof. Gilles Perrouin served as General Chairs, overseeing the conference and helping ensure its smooth operation. Reflecting on the importance of the event, the Conference Chairs thanked everyone who contributed to its success.

“We would like to thank all participants, speakers, authors, reviewers, organisers and supporters who helped make VARIABILITY 2026 a successful meeting. Bringing the community together in person is essential for sharing new ideas, strengthening collaborations and advancing research in Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines and Configuration. We are proud to have welcomed such a strong and diverse group of researchers and practitioners to Cyprus”.

The proceedings of VARIABILITY 2026 will be published as a Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) volume, providing a lasting record of the research and contributions presented during the conference.

Academic Programme

The scientific programme of VARIABILITY 2026 covered a broad range of topics through dedicated conference tracks addressing different aspects of software and systems variability. The conference tracks were Requirements & Domain Engineering, Architecture & Design, Implementation & Code Generation, Testing, Verification & Quality Assurance, Evolution, Maintenance & Operation, and AI and Data-Driven Methods.

The academic programme also included two workshops: MODEVAR – International Workshop on Languages for Modelling Variability and GAIV 2026 – Workshop on Generative AI and Variability.

The conference also welcomed two invited keynote speakers who showcased their work to the VARIABILITY 2026 community. Jean-Marc Jézéquel from the University of Rennes presented “The Quest for the GREAL”. Sigrid Eldh presented “Why Variability is needed in AI & Agentic Automated Software”.

The conference also celebrated outstanding contributions through its awards ceremony. The Best Paper Award was presented to José Miguel Horcas, Joaquin Ballesteros, Mónica Pinto and Lidia Fuentes for their paper “Do LLMs Know UVL? Quantifying Factual Knowledge and Generative Capabilities in Variability Engineering”. The Most Influential Paper Award was presented to Paul Temple, José A. Galindo, Mathieu Acher and Jean-Marc Jézéquel for their paper “Using machine learning to infer constraints for product lines”. The SPLC 2025 Most Influential Paper Award was presented to Thomas Thüm, Christian Kästner, Fabian Benduhn, Jens Meinicke, Gunter Saake and Thomas Leich for “FeatureIDE: An extensible framework for feature-oriented software development”. The Best Paper Award was also presented to Sebastian Lubos, Alexander Felfernig, Damian Garber, Adnan Kralji, Tarik Kralji, Viet-Man Le, Thi Ngoc Trang Tran, Gerhard Leitner, Julian Schwazer, Doris Suppan, Reinhard Willfort, Ivan Dukic, Jeremias Fuchs and Manuel Henrich for “Usability Analysis of Configurator User Interfaces with Multimodal Large Language Models”.

Social Programme

VARIABILITY 2026 was not limited to lecture rooms and research discussions. The social programme gave participants the opportunity to meet old friends, create new professional connections and experience some of what makes Cyprus an attractive destination for international conferences.

The welcome reception took place in the garden of the St Raphael Resort and Marina, where participants enjoyed canapés and local drinks while overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

The timing of the conference offered a particularly pleasant introduction to Limassol. At the end of September and beginning of October, the intense summer heat begins to ease, while the Mediterranean remains an important part of everyday life. For international visitors, the combination of warm weather, sea views and the city’s relaxed atmosphere created a natural extension of the conference experience.

The conference dinner provided another opportunity for participants to spend time together away from the formal programme. Held at a local tavern in Armenochori village, the dinner introduced attendees to traditional Cypriot food, local drinks, music and views across the surrounding landscape.

Acknowledgments

The organisers expressed their sincere appreciation to all authors, speakers, reviewers, committee members, participants and supporters who contributed to VARIABILITY 2026.

The conference was supported by a broad Organizing Committee whose members contributed to the preparation and delivery of the event: Mathieu Acher (Jounral First Chair), Shaukat Ali (Industry Chair), Wesley Assunção (Publicity Chair), Martin Becker (HOF & Industry Chair), Thorsten Berger (Program Chair), Goetz Botterweck  (HOF Chair), Loek Cleophas (Tutorials Chair), Sophie Fortz (Proceedings Chair), Lidia Fuentes (Workshops Chair), Sandra Greiner (Demos/Tools Chair), Michalis Ioannides (Web Chair), Malte Lochau, (Workshops Chair) Natsuko Noda (HOF Chair), Rick  Rabiser (Doct. Symposium Chair), Delfina Ramos-Vidal (Social Media Chair), Iris Reinhartz-Berger (Doct. Symposium Chair), Ina Schaefer (Program Chair), Daniel Strüber (Project Showcase Chair), Dalila Tamzalit (Project Showcase Chair), Leopoldo Teixeira (Demo/Tools Chair), Xhevahire Tërnava (Journal First Chair) and Mahsa Varshosaz (Tutorials Chair).

The conference was organised by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Cyprus, which hosted the event and brought its academic expertise and organisational support to the conference.

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Cyprus is a leading academic department dedicated to teaching, research and innovation across a wide range of computer science disciplines. Its research activities cover areas including software engineering, artificial intelligence, algorithms, computer systems, data management, networking and related fields, making it a natural host for an international conference focused on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines and Configuration.

The organisers also thanked the conference sponsors for their support.

Springer is one of the world’s leading academic publishing organisations, supporting researchers and institutions by publishing scientific books, journals and conference proceedings across a broad range of disciplines. Its involvement helped provide an established publication platform for the research presented at VARIABILITY 2026.

There will be two volumes published through the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series, one of Springer’s long-established series for computer science research. One volume is for the research and industry papers, and the other for all other contributions. The LNCS series provides an international platform for disseminating research presented at conferences and workshops, ensuring that the contributions of VARIABILITY 2026 can reach the wider research community.

The organisers also acknowledged the support of EasyConferences, which supported the conference through its Online Registration System and Conference Coordination Services.

Next Location

With VARIABILITY 2026 now concluded in Cyprus, the conference community looks ahead to its next destination: Budapest, Hungary.

The move from Limassol to Budapest will provide another opportunity for researchers, academics, students, and practitioners working in Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines and Configuration to come together and continue the conversations started in Cyprus.