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Rafael Maiani de Mello, DSc.

Software Engineering

Associate Professor, UFRJ

Leader of the Iter Resarch Group

AI for SE - Software Quality - Software Maintenance - Empirical SE - Sociothecnical Aspects of SE

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About

Hi! I’m Professor Rafael de Mello, a Brazilian Software Engineering researcher and practitioner. I have over 20 years of industry experience, mainly in the financial and banking sectors. A skeptical surfer in the sea of empiricism, I’m currently trying to ride the Generative AI wave on a surfboard called evidence. In recent years, my work has focused on bridging the gap between Software Engineering research and practice. My research group (Iter) is a pioneer in applying social psychology theories—such as social representations and social identity—to Software Engineering. My publications include award-winning papers in venues such as ICSE, FSE, and ESEM. I also recognize myself as a recovering “Reviewer 2,” striving to provide constructive and empathetic feedback. :)

News

November 2025

Iter members- Distinguished Paper at SBQS 2025

The paper authored by André Gheventer and Patrícia Gurgel, "Aprendizados do Uso de IA Generativa na Engenharia e Garantia de Qualidade de Sistemas Web para Saúde", received a Distinguished Paper award at SBQS 2025.

October 2025

Paper Accepted at ICSE 2026 Research Track

The paper "A Comparison of Conversational Models and Humans in Answering Technical Questions: the Firefox Case", stemming from João Lucas Corrêa’s doctoral research, has been accepted to the ICSE 2026 Research Track.

Keynote at ISSRE 2025

Honored to serve as Keynote Speaker at the 2nd International Workshop on Human Factors for Software Dependability (ISSRE 2025), presenting the keynote "Hey ChatGPT, are you ready to support qualitative research in software engineering?"

Distinguished Paper at CBSOFT/SAST 2025

The paper presented at CBSOFT/SAST 2025, "A Journey of Functional Test Evolution in the Public Sector", was recognized as a Distinguished Paper.

Recent Publications

Correia, J., Coutinho, D., Castelluccio, M., Barbosa, C., de Mello, R., Sarma, A., ... & Steinmacher, I. (2025). A Comparison of Conversational Models and Humans in Answering Technical Questions: the Firefox Case. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.21933.
Cerqueira, D. A., de Mello, R. M., da Costa, J. S., & Travassos, G. H. (2025). Experimental evaluation of a checklist-based inspection technique to verify the compliance of software systems with the Brazilian General Data Protection Law. Empirical Software Engineering, 30(5), 122. Springer US.
de Souza, B. P., Motta, R. C., da Costa, J. S., Nunes, E., Pinto, G. R. B., & de Mello, R. M. (2025, September). A Journey of Functional Test Evolution in the Public Sector. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Testes de Software Sistemático e Automatizado (SAST) (pp. 147-149). SBC.
de Souza, A. N., dos Santos, F., dos Santos, L., Belém, P. H. A., da Silva, S. T. F., Vivacqua, A. S., & de Mello, R. (2024). Investigating the Perception of Feedback in Software Development Teams: An Initial Study. iSys-Brazilian Journal of Information Systems, 17(1), 10-1.
Lima, R., Souza, J., Fonseca, B., Teixeira, L., Mello, R., Ribeiro, M., Gheyi, R., & Garcia, A. (2024). Investigating the social representations of harmful code. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, 12(1), 4–1.
Uchôa, A., de Mello, R., Souza, J., Teixeira, L., Fonseca, B., & Garcia, A. (2024). Towards effective gamification of existing systems: method and experience report. Software Quality Journal, 32(4), 1683-1716.
Bibiano, A. C., Coutinho, D., Uchôa, A., Assunçao, W. K., Garcia, A., de Mello, R., ... & Ribeiro, M. (2024, October). Enhancing Recommendations of Composite Refactorings based on the Practice. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) (pp. 83-93). IEEE.
Correia, J., Coutinho, D., Garcia, A., de Mello, R., Barbosa, C., Oliveira, A., ... & Arriel, J. (2024, October). On the Investigation of Exception Pull Request Characteristics: Exploring the Apache Ecosystem. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) (pp. 143-153). IEEE.
Esteves, A. C., de Moraes, L. C., & de Mello, R. M. (2024, July). Investigando a Prática de Salas de Guerra na Solução de Problemas Críticos em Sistemas de Software. In Workshop sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos e Econômicos de Software (WASHES) (pp. 35-45). SBC.
Galeno, L., Mota, W., & de Mello, R. (2024, July). Investigating the Participation of Female Software Developers in Retrospective Meetings. In Workshop sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos e Econômicos de Software (WASHES) (pp. 46-57). SBC.
Zandoná, D., Kockelke, F., & de Mello, R. (2024, July). Investigating Computer Science Students’ Identification with the Course and Their Perceptions of the Content Taught. In Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI) (pp. 646-657). SBC.
Barroso, B., da Silva, L., & de Mello, R. (2024, July). Caracterizando Condutores de Carga Cognitiva na Prática de Testes Unitários. In Workshop sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos e Econômicos de Software (WASHES) (pp. 70-81). SBC.
Oliveira, A., Correia, J., Assunção, W. K., Pereira, J. A., de Mello, R., Coutinho, D., ... & Garcia, A. (2024). Understanding developers’ discussions and perceptions on non-functional requirements: The case of the Spring ecosystem. Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering, 1(FSE), 517-538.
de Paiva, B. D., Esteves, A. C., de Mello, R. M., & Travassos, G. H. (2024, May). Resultados Iniciais de uma Rapid Review sobre Tecnologias de Apoio à Engenharia de Sistemas de Software Quântico. In Congresso Ibero-Americano em Engenharia de Software (CIbSE) (pp. 372-379). SBC.
Belém, P. H. A., Glória, J. P. B., de Souza, A. N., Barizon, C., de Mello, R. M., & Vivacqua, A. S. (2024, April). A colaboração em reuniões remotas: uma análise sobre o uso da câmera e a produtividade. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Sistemas Colaborativos (SBSC) (pp. 124-137). SBC.
Lima, R., Souza, J., Fonseca, B., Teixeira, L., Mello, R., Ribeiro, M., ... & Garcia, A. (2024). Investigating the Social Representations of Harmful Code. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, 12(1), 4-1.
Carvalho, L., Colanzi, T. E., Assuncao, W. K., Garcia, A., Pereira, J. A., Kalinowski, M., ... & Lucena, C. (2024). On the Usefulness of Automatically Generated Microservice Architectures. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 50(03), 651-667.
Bastos, J. A. D., de Mello, R. M., & Garcia, A. F. (2024). Colloquy: Evidence-Based Method for Supporting the Design of Conversational APIs. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, 12(1), 18-1.
Santos, L., Santos, F., Parreira, R., & de Mello, R. (2023, December). Investigating the developer’s perceptions of unit testing and its practice. In Escola Regional de Engenharia de Software (ERES) (pp. 238-247). SBC.
Belém, P., De Mello, R., Vivacqua, A. S., & Neves De Souza, A. (2023, September). Investigating the cognitive load drivers of software evolution activities. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering (pp. 342-347).
Bastos, J., Mello, R., & Garcia, A. (2023, September). On the Support for Designing a Conversational Software API: An Action Research Study: An Action Research Study. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Engenharia de Software (SBES) (pp. 57-66). SBC.
de Souza, A., dos Santos, F., dos Santos, L., Belém, P., da Silva, S., Vivacqua, A., & de Mello, R. (2023, August). Investigando a percepção de feedback em times de desenvolvimento de software: Um estudo inicial. In Workshop sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos e Econômicos de Software (WASHES) (pp. 91-100). SBC.
Cerqueira, D. A., de Mello, R. M., & Travassos, G. H. (2023, April). Um checklist para inspeção de privacidade e proteção de dados pessoais em artefatos de software. In Congresso Ibero-Americano em Engenharia de Software (CIbSE) (pp. 206-213). SBC.

PC Member (2025)

ICSE 2026– NIER ESEM 2025 CIBSE 2025 SBES 2025 SBQS 2025 SBSI 2025 WASHES 2025 WEI 2025 EduComp 2025

Current Students

André Gheventer (DSc, 2024), Patrícia Gurgel (DSc, 2024), Lidvaldo Santos (DSc, 2023), Adriano de Souza (DSc, 2022), Patrick Helder Belém (DSc, 2020), Júlio César Guimarães (MSc, 2024), Alexandre Cysne Esteves (MSc, 2024), Wesley Mota Gomes (MSc, 2024), Luis Cláudio Moraes (MSc, 2024), Anna Cristina Alves (Und. Res., 2025)

Former Students

João Lucas Correa (DSc, 2021-2025), Leonardo Chagas da Silva (MSc, 2023-2025), Bruno Lemos Barroso (MSc, 2023-2025), Diego Andé Cerqueira (MSc, 2019-2024), André Moabson (MSc, 2020-2022), João Lucas Correa (MSc, 2019-2021), Matheus Ávila de Lima (Und. Res.), Luiz Felipi Junionello (Und. Res.), Bruna Capistrano (Und. Res.), Pedro Correa da Silva (Und. Res.)

Awards

Links