Software engineering research benefited for decades from openly available tools, accessible systems, and problems that could be studied at modest scale. Today, many of the most relevant software systems are large, proprietary, and embedded in industrial contexts that are difficult to access or replicate in academia. We review how the field reached this point, identify structural challenges facing contemporary research, and argue that incremental methodological refinement is insufficient. We discuss practical directions forward, including industrial PhDs, long-term industry-academia collaborations, larger research teams, moonshot projects, and changes to funding and evaluation practices.

@inproceedings{abs-2603-21403,
  title = {Awakening: Modern Challenges and Opportunities of Software Engineering Research},
  author = {Diomidis Spinellis and Zoe Kotti},
  booktitle = {ICSE},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1145/3793657.3793901}
}