EnviroSiSE - Environmental Sustainability in Software Engineering

• Applicant: Dr. Birgit Penzenstadler
• Subject Area: Software Engineering and Programming Languages
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 219736291

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) contributes significantly to the overly usage of our planets resources. However, ICT bears a lot of potential for “greening through IT”. We must improve the environmental sustainability of humankind to protect our living space for future generations. Yet missing is a comprehensive understanding of how software engineering can help in this endeavor.The project “Environmental Sustainability in Software Engineering” (EnviroSiSE) will analyze what and how software engineering (SE) can contribute to the improvement of the environmental sustainability of ICT and the development of ICT systems for environmental sustainability (ICT4ES) in other domains. This interdisciplinary aim links the fields of SE and environmental informatics.To achieve our aim, the research questions are:RQ1: What are the implications for SE of ICT4ES, i.e., when making environmental sustainability a first-class citizen among the objectives for systems development?RQ2: How can the necessities resulting from ICT4ES be implemented in an SE approach? RQ3: How can we assess the impacts of a given software system for environmental sustainability, including both direct and indirect effects, and considering different groups of stakeholders?Our goal is to support the development of ICT4ES with an adequate software engineering approach that integrates the knowledge of environmental informatics. Software systems are among the most powerful tools currently in use by humankind; providing the designers of these systems with conceptual techniques to infuse their process with environmental sustainability promises to improve different facets of human civilizations.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Hosts: Professorin Debra Richardson, Ph.D.; Professor Bill Tomlinson, Ph.D.