Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that describes variation in brain function among individuals, including conditions such as Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or dyslexia. Neurodivergent individuals (NDI) can face substantial barriers in society due to their conditions, e.g., due to difficulties or differences in communication, reading or writing difficulties, or reduced attention span. While conditions included in the neurodiversity term have traditionally been considered as disabilities in medical terms, NDI often exhibit strengths in comparison to neurotypical individuals, for instance high attention to detail or higher creativity.

As a line of research, we are trying to better understand how NDI perform in Software Engineering (both industry and education), and how to support them in a better way.

We are actively working on this topic, and are looking for students, companies, and individuals in society who want to work with us! Specifically, ideas are:
– To study what aspects of typical Software Engineering tasks NDI struggle with or excel at, e.g., programming, testing, debugging, modelling.
– To propose and/or implement support systems that help NDI to improve their performance, e.g., at specific tasks in industry, or in university courses and exams.
– To evaluate practices and tools with NDI.
If you are interested, talk to/email Grischa Liebel (grischal@ru.is). Several of the topics can be worked on in collaboration with different people in CRESS.