Menu

Hello, I'm Jan-Philipp.

Researcher,
Educator, Consultant.
Based in Augsburg, Germany.

About Me

I am a Senior Researcher at XITASO GmbH, a medium-sized software development company in Augsburg, Germany. Our core business is building high-quality, custom software for our clients, including software that will end up in medical devices and manufacturing systems. But we also have a research division which drives publicly-funded research projects together with our industrial and academic partners. Our researchers usually pursue their Ph.D.s in the context of these projects and we are working with many students writing their thesis projects. My research here is focused on cybersecurity, on AI in healthcare, and on the impact of generative AI on development organisations. I also work with our development teams as a cybersecurity expert, a software architect, and a consultant and I support sales, marketing, and our software engineering and security communities of practice.

Before that, I was an associate professor in the joint Software Engineering Division of Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. My research there was focused on the three areas: making software development more transparent by using traceability techniques, making computer systems more flexible and robust by using techniques of self-adaption and self-organisation, and making software engineering education more effective and enjoyable by using elements of serious games and evidence-guided reflection.

I have been publishing at a steady pace since my dissertation, with papers in top-ranked conferences and journals. My international visibility and impact is reflected in the awards that recent publications have won, the collaborations I have established, and the fact that I publish in the most competitive and selective conferences and journals.

I actively contribute to educational research by using empirical methods to systematically identify areas for improvement and evaluate novel teaching approaches based on qualitative and quantitative evidence. Project-based learning and blended learning are part of my regular teaching toolbox. I run project courses that involve external, industrial stakeholders and in which students create value for these external stakeholders. My aim is to devise teaching methods that let students experience software engineering issues themselves in practical and engaging settings. Serious games, katas, and the flipped classroom methods are some of the tools I use for this. One crucial aspect of this research is the active exchange with peers and exploring the generalisability of these methdos to different courses. This area of my research is also showing promising results with papers receiving international recognition (Best Paper Award at ICSE 2016 SEET).

I am proud that I am often called upon by the community to serve in organising functions for the conferences and workshops that take our field forward and that I am esteemed as a reviewer for conferences and journals.

Work & Education

Winter term 2024/2025

Visiting Lecturer

Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg

I teach a course on software engineering in data-intensive systems aimed at students in the data science and computer science programs.

September 2022 — present

Senior Researcher

XITASO GmbH

Research on cybersecurity, AI in healthcare, generative AI, agile methods, and model-driven engineering. Support of researchers in their Ph.D. journey, supervision of bachelor's and master's theses. Work with delivery teams as a cybersecurity specialist and a software architect.

March 2018 — August 2022

Associate Professor

Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg

Research and teaching in the joint Software Engineering Division of the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Research interests include software and systems traceability, agile software development of safety-critical systems, self-organising and self-adaptive systems, and software engineering education. Teaching covers software processes, software quality, and entrepreneurship.

September 2014 — March 2018

Assistant Professor

Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg

Research and teaching in the joint Software Engineering Division of the University of Gothen- burg and Chalmers University of Technology.

October 2008 — September 2014

Research Assistant

University of Augsburg

Doctoral thesis defended February 2014. Project coordinator for the research unit OC-Trust (FOR 1085) sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Research interests include Complex Adaptive Systems, Agent-oriented Software Engineering, and Self-Organisation.

2008 — 2014

Dr. rer. nat.

University of Augsburg

Equivalent to a Ph.D. degree.
Dissertation "Large-scale Open Self-organising Systems – Managing Complexity with Hierarchies, Monitoring, Adaptation, and Principled Design".

2003 — 2008

Diplom-Informatiker

University of Augsburg

Equivalent to a Master’s degree in Computer Science.

Research Highlights

See the whole list of my publications on Google Scholar and DBLP.

State of the Art in Model-based Engineering

Jörg Holtmann, Grischa Liebel, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer: Processes, methods, and tools in model-based engineering — A qualitative multiple-case study. J. Syst. Softw. 210: 111943 (2024)

Introducing Traceability in an Organisation

Salome Maro, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Paolo Bozzelli, Henry Muccini: TracIMo: a traceability introduction methodology and its evaluation in an Agile development team. Requir. Eng. 27(1): 53-81 (2022)

Security Assurance Cases

Mazen Mohamad, Rodi Jolak, Örjan Askerdal, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Riccardo Scandariato: CASCADE: An Asset-driven Approach to Build Security Assurance Cases for Automotive Systems. ACM Trans. Cyber Phys. Syst. 7(1): 3:1-3:26 (2023)

External Stakeholders

Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Håkan Burden, Regina Hebig, Gul Calikli, Robert Feldt, Imed Hammouda, Jennifer Horkoff, Eric Knauss, Grischa Liebel: Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses. TOCE 18(2): 8:1-8:32 (2018)

Teaching Agile

Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Eric Knauss, Emil Alégroth, Imed Hammouda, Håkan Burden, Morgan Ericsson: Teaching Agile: addressing the conflict between project delivery and application of Agile methods. ICSE (SEET) 2016: 303-312 (Best Paper Award)

Teaching Entrepreneurship

Håkan Burden, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Oskar Hagvall Svensson: Facilitating entrepreneurial experiences through a software engineering project course. ICSE (SEET) 2019: 28-37

Chalmers Pedagogical Prize

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers Technical University "Jan-Philipp Steghöfer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has worked to develop project-based learning, where project management techniques are practiced with playful methods, which have been very well received by students. In addition, Jan-Philipp has exemplary communicated about course development and pedagogical results in several pedagogical publications."

Best Reviewer Award

30th IEEE International Requirements Engineering 2022 Conference 30th IEEE International Requirements Engineering 2022 Conference

Challenges of Scaled Agile for Safety-Critical Systems

Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Eric Knauss, Jennifer Horkoff, Rebekka Wohlrab

20th International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2019 Best Paper Award 20th International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2019

Challenges of Establishing Traceability in the Automotive Domain

Salome Maro, Miroslaw Staron, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer

Software Quality Days 2017 Best Paper Award International Conference on Software Quality 2017

Teaching Agile: addressing the conflict between project delivery and application of Agile methods

Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, Eric Knauss, Emil Alégroth, Imed Hammouda, Håkan Burden, Morgan Ericsson

ICSE 2016 Best Paper Award International Conference on Software Engineering 2016, Software Engineering Education Track

University of Augsburg Outstanding Dissertation Award Gesellschaft der Freunde der Universität Augsburg

Selected Projects

Here are selected projects I have been involved in lately. Feel free to check them out.

AMiQuaSy

KMU Innovativ

In AMiQuaSy, the consortium addresses how to quantum-proof the software supply chain and how to migrate towards quantum-resistant solutions in an agile, i.e. iterative-incremental way.

KISPP — Intellingent Planning of Nursing Staff

Bayerisches Verbundforschungsprogramm (BayVFP) – Förderlinie Lifescience

The aim of the KISPP project funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy is to support the planning of nursing staff with innovative AI techniques to improve the lives of nurses, patients, and hospital administrators.

BUMBLE

ITEA 3 Call 5

The ITEA3 project BUMBLE aims for a significant improvement of the current state-of-the-art modeling tools. The ability to freely mix notations is a core ingredient to build suitable DSMLs that support their users for the task at hand.

PANORAMA

ITEA 3 Call 4

Model-based methods and tools to master development of heterogeneous embedded hardware/software systems in collaboration with diverse and heterogeneous parties by providing best practice, novel analysis approaches, and guidance for development.

Eclipse Capra

Traceability Management

Eclipse Capra is a traceability management tool. It allows the creation of trace links between arbitrary artefacts, provides features to edit them and keep them consistent, and visualise the relationships between them. This includes traceability matrices and graph visualisations that are helpful for reporting and change impact analysis.

REVaMP²

ITEA 3 Call 2

REVaMP² aims to conceive, develop and evaluate the first comprehensive automation tool-chain and associated executable process to support round-trip engineering of SIS Product Lines (PL).

Teaching

Interacting over lecturing,
guiding over telling,
experiencing over hearing about.

Thesis Projects

We usually have a number of thesis topics available, both for Bachelor and Master students. Please check XITASO's jobs page (filter for "Intern / Student") for details.

Software Engineering for Data-intensive Systems

Bachelor Program Data Science and others, Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg

Provides an introduction to basic software engineering and agile project management techniques in the construction of an application around an existing machine learning model. Students engage with topics ranging from requirements engineering, software architecture, containerisation, to software quality.

Agile Project Management

DAT257, Bachelor Program Software Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology

Teaches foundational software engineering knowledge with a focus on agile software processes and customer value. Includes external stakeholders that provide industrial cases that students work on.

Software Development Methodologies

DIT347, Bachelor Program Software Engineering and Management, University of Gothenburg

Addresses the building blocks of software processes, their tailoring and application, as well as structured software process improvement. Uses a highly interactive teaching environment based on flipped classroom, workshops, and peer learning.

Software Process Improvement

DIT548, Bachelor Program Software Engineering and Management, University of Gothenburg (course discontinued)

Covered a variety of topics in SPI, including different maturity models, continuous improvement, and industrial adaptation of SPI initiatives. Used Flipped Classroom since spring 2016.

Software Processes

DIT545, Bachelor Program Software Engineering and Management, University of Gothenburg (course discontinued)

Addressed foundational knowledge of software processes, including different method lifecycles, process modelling, and agile principles.

Project: Changing Software Development Process

DIT037, Bachelor Program Software Engineering and Management, University of Gothenburg (course discontinued)

Offered an introduction to research methods that students applied in a study conducted with a company on how a change in the way software is developed impacts the organisational environment.

Self-organising adaptive systems

Master Program in Informatics, Faculty of Applied Computer Science, University of Augsburg

Covered a range of topics relevant to the engineering of self-organising adaptive systems such as principles of systems, adaptivity, and emergence, feedback loops, bio-inspired algorithms, autonomic computing, and software engineering for self-organising systems. Frequently rated one of the top courses of the faculty. Responsible for design and implementation of the course.

Service

I am a regular reviewer and organiser of scientific community events.

Membership on Editorial and Review Boards

2020 — 2022
Member of the Review Board, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
since 2018
Associate Editor, ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems

Reviewer for Funding Agencies

2017
Reviewer for the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Committee Duties and Event Organisation

2024
Research & Innovation Track Chair, International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE'24)
Co-Chair, Agile Requirements Engineering Workshop at the International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
Poster Co-Chair, 3rd International Conference on AI Engineering — Software Engineering for AI (CAIN 2024)
2023
Co-Chair, Software and Systems Traceability (SST’23), Workshop at the International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE'23)
2022
Posters & Tools Co-Chair, International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
2021
Co-Chair of the RE@Next! Track, International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE)
2020
General Co-Chair, International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS)
2016 — 2019
Steering Committee Chair, International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO)
2019
Chair, Software and Systems Traceability (SST’19), Workshop at ICSE’19
2018
Workshop Chair, Software Engineering 2018 (SE’18)
2017
Program Co-Chair, 11th IFIP WG11.11 International Conference on Trust Mana- gement (IFIPTM 2017)
2016
Publicity Chair, 10th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2016)
Workshop Co-Chair, 10th IFIP WG 11.11 International Conference on Trust Management (IFIPTM 2016)
2015
Program Co-Chair, 9th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self- Organizing Systems (SASO 2015)
Co-Organiser, Dagstuhl-Seminar 15482 - Social Concepts in Self-organising Systems.
Workshop Co-Chair, 9th IFIP WG 11.11 International Conference on Trust Management (IFIPTM 2015)

Program Committees and Reviewer Duties

2025
International Conference on AI Engineering — Software Engineering for AI (CAIN 2025)
International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
2024
International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)
Journal of Software and Systems (JSS)
ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM) — Industry, Government and Community Track
International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
2023
ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)
IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE) — RE@Next! Track
International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
Journal of Software and Systems (JSS)
2022
30th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE'22)
International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ)
Journal of Software and Systems (JSS)
2021
IEEE Software
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
Information and Software Technology
International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS)
2020
42nd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)
28th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE'20)
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems
Journal of Software: Evolution and Process (JSME)
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)
Science of Computing Programming
Sage Open
2019
Journal of Software and Systems (JSS)
Journal of Software: Evolution and Process (JSME)
ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems
14th International Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self- Managing Systems (SEAMS 2019)
Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality 2019 (REFSQ 2019) – Posters and Tools Program Committee
Software Engineering 2019 (SE’19) – Workshop Selection Committee
17th Annual Int. Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST 2019)
13th IFIP WG 11.11 International Conference on Trust Management, IFIPTM 2019
2018
2018 Journal of Software and Systems (JSS)
Journal of Software Architecture (JSA)
13th International Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self- Managing Systems (SEAMS 2018)
16th Annual Int. Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST 2018)
12th IEEE Int. Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2018)
Journal of Information Security and Applications (JISA)
2017
12th International Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self- Managing Systems (SEAMS 2017)
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
Special Track on Collective Adaptive Systems (CAS) at ACM SAC 2017
20th Int. Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems (PRIMA 2017)
11th IEEE Int. Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2017)

Get In Touch

jan-philipp.steghoefer@xitaso.com

I'm happy to connect, listen and collaborate. Let's work together and discover something awesome. Email Me.

Call Me

+49 171 8163367