NII Shonan Meeting No. 228 — Envisioning the Future of XR Software Engineering

October 5–8, 2026 — Shonan, Japan NII Shonan XR Software Engineering Invited

Prof. Merino participated in NII Shonan Meeting No. 228 — "Envisioning the Future of (eXtended Reality) Software Engineering" — held at the Shonan Village Center, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan, from October 5 to 8, 2026. The meeting was organized by Michele Lanza (Software Institute, USI Lugano), Raula Gaikovina Kula (University of Osaka), Jesús González-Barahona (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), and Nicole Novielli (University of Bari), and hosted by the National Institute of Informatics (NII) as part of the renowned NII Shonan Seminar series.

The Shonan format — modeled after the celebrated Dagstuhl seminars — brings together a curated group of researchers for a week of focused discussion, free from the typical pressures of a conventional conference. The seminar explored how eXtended Reality (XR), encompassing Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), is poised to transform all areas of software engineering: from program comprehension and software maintenance to mining software repositories and data science. Participants worked in vision keynotes, hands-on demos with XR devices, and breakout groups aimed at identifying grand challenges and formulating roadmaps for the emerging field of XR Software Engineering (XRSE).

Participants attending a presentation at the NII Shonan Meeting No. 228, Shonan Village Center — A seminar session at the Shonan Village Center — participants engaged in one of the vision presentations that opened the meeting's thematic discussions.

Workshop session with whiteboards and XR headsets at NII Shonan Meeting 228 — Hands-on workshop session: participants exploring XR demonstrations with VR headsets and engaging in structured breakout discussions at the whiteboards.

Presentation: XR Stimuli for Collaboration Studies

Prof. Merino presented recent advances from his research group on the use of extended reality techniques to construct stimuli for studying software engineering collaboration. The work explores how immersive XR environments can serve as controlled, reproducible experimental settings for empirical research, enabling studies of how developers collaborate on complex tasks in shared virtual spaces.

This research is supported by ANID Exploracion 13250116 (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Chile), which funds the development of XR-based experimental infrastructure for studying collaboration in software engineering contexts.

The Setting: Shonan Village and Excursions

The Shonan Village Center sits on a scenic hilltop in Hayama, Kanagawa, with spectacular views of Mount Fuji and the Shonan coast. The venue's combination of excellent research facilities and natural beauty creates an ideal atmosphere for deep intellectual exchange. Participants enjoyed a memorable excursion to the local coastline, where the silhouette of Mount Fuji could be seen rising above the Pacific on a clear October day.

Group photo of NII Shonan Meeting 228 participants on the outdoor stairs of Shonan Village Center — Participants gathered on the garden stairs of the Shonan Village Center.

Group photo of participants at the hilltop of the Shonan Village Center, with blue skies — Group photo at the hilltop of the Shonan Village Center under a clear autumn sky.

Group photo of participants by the Shonan seaside, with Mount Fuji visible across the bay — By the Shonan coast, with Mount Fuji rising across the bay — an excursion highlight.

It was a privilege to reconnect with so many colleagues doing excellent research across such varied topics, and to share what we are doing at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. The Shonan format never fails to spark ideas that transcend what any single community could reach on its own — and this edition was no exception.