On Monday 20 October 2025, prof. dr. Alexander Serebrenik, professor of Social Software Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology, presented ‘Diversity and inclusion in software engineering - from the classroom to the workplace’. This presentation was part of the Huygens Diversity Lecture series organised by the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Faculty of Science (GenDI).
For people, by people
A full house of students, staff and board members filled the lecture hall during Alexander Serebrenik’s presentation. Alexander Serebrenik showed various research results, indicating that diversity affects and often improves the software engineering process. In particular, as the outcome of software creation is affected by the background and identity of the creators, developers (in the broadest sense) must be taken into account when studying the process of developing software. As software-driven systems affect important aspects of everyday life, there is a growing need to think about what type of software we want: Not just from a technical perspective, but from a moral and social one as well. Some concrete examples by Alexander Serebrenik included:
- Moral responsibility: Scientists have a moral duty to create a welcoming space for everyone.
- Mirroring the users: To design for diverse technology users, development teams themselves must mirror that diversity.
- Productivity: Diverse teams work more productive compared to homogenous ones.
From observing the rain to designing an umbrella
Low diversity is still prevalent in software engineering. Research shows how many environments remain unwelcome to older professionals, people in the LGBTQ+ community and women. Yet, during the lecture Alexander Serebrenik moved from ‘observing the rain’ by establishing that there is limited diversity, to ‘designing an umbrella’ by discussing interventions for change, such as:
- Awareness: Raising awareness on low diversity is important to start making change.
- Role models: Initiatives such as Alice and Eve (https://www.aliceandeve.nl), which celebrate women in computing, help inspire and normalize diverse students and scientists.
- Inclusive education: Through diverse group work and teaching assistants in introductory courses a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment can be created.
Alexander Serebrenik closed with an inspiring statement on how we, as humans, all want to belong but if you have to sacrifice your uniqueness in order to belong, there is no true belonging or inclusion.
For those who would like to read more, we would highly recommend the paper by Sonja Hyrynsalmi, Alexander Serebrenik and colleagues named ‘Making Software Development More Diverse and Inclusive: Key Themes, Challenges, and Future Directions’.