https://seg.inf.unibe.ch/news/tags/paper/Recent content in Paper on Software Engineering GroupHugoen-USSoftware Engineering Group (SEG), [Institute of Computer Science](https://www.inf.unibe.ch/), [University of Bern](https://www.unibe.ch/). All rights reserved.Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0200https://seg.inf.unibe.ch/news/2026/07/27/conflict-induced-variability-our-vision-presented-at-icse-2026/Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0200https://seg.inf.unibe.ch/news/2026/07/27/conflict-induced-variability-our-vision-presented-at-icse-2026/<p>At ICSE 2026, we presented our NIER paper <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3786582.3786840" title="Turning Merge Conflicts Into Conflict-Induced Variability" rel="external" target="_blank"><span class="text-with-icon"><svg width="800" height="800" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="feather feather-external-link"><path d="M18 13v6a2 2 0 01-2 2H5a2 2 0 01-2-2V8a2 2 0 012-2h6"/><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"/><line x1="10" y1="14" x2="21" y2="3"/></svg><span>Turning Merge Conflicts Into Conflict-Induced Variability</span></span></a>. The paper explores a new perspective on merge conflicts: instead of resolving them immediately, we propose to treat them as explicit variability that can be analyzed, managed, and resolved more systematically. By turning conflicts into first-class variability, developers can postpone resolution, compare alternatives, and make more informed integration decisions.</p>