Siamak Farshidi
Assistant Professor at the Information Technology Group, Wageningen University & Research, and co-chair of the AI4RSE Lab. My work brings together artificial intelligence, research software engineering, software architecture, decision support systems, and FAIR research infrastructures to support reproducible, trustworthy, and sustainable AI-enabled science.
Profile at a glance
I am an academic, research software engineer, and lecturer working at the intersection of AI and software engineering. My research focuses on integrating advanced AI models and decision-making theories into software engineering practice, especially for automated decision-making in software production, research software ecosystems, and AI-enabled science.
Research vision
Research software is increasingly central to scientific discovery. It captures assumptions, data transformations, workflows, models, decisions, dependencies, and provenance. My research studies how AI can help researchers and research software engineers design, test, document, maintain, evaluate, and reuse software-intensive research systems.
At the same time, I study how software engineering foundations can make AI systems more reproducible, explainable, secure, maintainable, energy-aware, and trustworthy.
Research interests
AI for Research Software Engineering
- AI assistants for coding, testing, refactoring, documentation, and repository review
- Research software quality, maturity, and maintainability assessment
- AI-supported detection of technical debt and reproducibility gaps
Agentic AI and Generative AI
- Agentic AI systems for requirements, architecture, implementation, and testing
- Generative AI for software engineering and scientific workflows
- Human-AI collaboration in software-intensive research
Decision Support Systems
- Multi-criteria decision models for software technology selection
- Evidence-based selection of AI models, tools, packages, and platforms
- Recommender systems for technical and scientific decision-making
Software Architecture
- Pattern-driven software architecture and architecture knowledge
- Requirements-to-architecture and architecture-to-implementation pipelines
- Quality attributes, architectural reasoning, and software production ecosystems
FAIR Research Assets
- Knowledge graphs, semantic linking, and metadata for software and datasets
- Search and discovery of code, notebooks, datasets, workflows, models, and publications
- Research infrastructures and virtual research environments
Trustworthy and Sustainable AI
- Testing, validation, explainability, audit trails, privacy, and security
- Green AI and energy-aware model and infrastructure selection
- Sustainable software stewardship for scientific communities
Academic positions
- Co-chair of the AI4RSE Lab
- Leading research on Generative AI in Software Engineering, automation, reproducibility, and software sustainability
- Worked on LTER-LIFE and ENVRI-HUB Next
- Contributed to digital twin frameworks, model integration, reference architecture design, and federated knowledge management
- Conducted research and teaching in the SecureSECO project
- Led development of CARS, a context-aware recommender system for software package selection
- Secured €125,000 in research funding
- Worked on ENVRI-FAIR and cross-domain knowledge management for environmental research infrastructures
- Supervised MSc and BSc students and collaborated with PhD candidates
- Developed decision models for technology selection in software production ecosystems
- Conducted 120+ expert interviews and 21 industrial case studies
Education and qualifications
PhD in Computer Science
- Utrecht University, The Netherlands
- Dissertation: Multi-Criteria Decision-Making in Software Production
- Defense date: December 2, 2020
MSc in Software Engineering
- Shiraz University, Iran
- Thesis: A hybrid algorithm based on PSO and genetic operators for the MRCPSP
- Defense date: September 15, 2014
Teaching qualifications
- University Teaching Qualification, UTQ/BKO, Wageningen University & Research, 2026
- Supervising PhD Research, Utrecht University, 2023
Teaching and supervision
Courses taught
- Generative AI, Wageningen University & Research
- Software Engineering, Wageningen University & Research
- Python for Data Scientists, Wageningen University & Research
- Responsible ICT and Organizations and ICT, Utrecht University
Student supervision
- Supervised 2 PhD candidates
- Supervised 21 graduate students and 5 undergraduate students
- Topics include decision support, digital twins, knowledge graphs, software quality, AI model selection, and research software
Supervision topics
- AI-assisted research software development
- Generative AI for research and software engineering
- FAIR software, knowledge graphs, and research asset discovery
- Decision support systems and recommender systems
Grants, service, and community
Grants and funding
- Utrecht University SEED Funding: AGRISoft-Dash project, €50K, 2023
- Trublo.eu research grant: TruSoft, €75K, 2022
Academic service
- Program Chair of the 15th International Conference on Software Business, ICSOB 2024
- Track Chair for Software Engineering and Ecosystems at ICT.OPEN 2023
- Track Chair for Software Architecture and Evolution at BENEVOL 2023
Reviewing
- Empirical Software Engineering
- Journal of Systems and Software
- Information and Software Technology
- IEEE Software and other software engineering venues
Selected software and code contributions
ENVRI-KMS
- Cross-domain knowledge management system for environmental research communities
- Developed in the context of the ENVRI-FAIR project
- search.envri.eu
SecureSECO Ledger
- Repository for recording stages in the software development lifecycle
- Developed in the context of the SecureSECO project
- SecureSECO Ledger prototype
SoProDSS
- Decision support system based on multi-criteria decision-making models
- Supports decision-making problems in software production
- dss-mcdm.com
Contact
Siamak Farshidi
Assistant Professor, Information Technology Group
Wageningen University & Research
Co-chair, AI4RSE Lab
Email: siamak.farshidi@wur.nl
Personal website: https://siamakfarshidi.nl/
AI4RSE Lab: https://ai4rse.nl/
WUR profile: https://www.wur.nl/en/persons/s-siamak-farshidi
For student supervision inquiries, please include your CV, research interests, programme level, and links to publications, GitHub, portfolio, or thesis work if available.