HuFaMo

International Workshop on Human Factors in Modeling / Modeling of Human Factors

HuFaMo 2026

Co-located with MODELS 2026: ACM/IEEE 29th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS). Malaga, Spain, October 4-9, 2026

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HuFaMo 2026 is the 8th edition of this workshop series, all of them co-organized with the MODELS conferences. Information about previous workshops is avaialble here.

Overview

Software end-users are diverse, with differing personalities, technical proficiency, emotional reactions to software use, socio-economic status, gender, age, culture, language, and preferences. Capturing and supporting human factors at requirements or design stages is essential for designing and modelling human-centric software systems that fit the end-users of the systems. Moreover, since modelling is an intrinsically human endeavour, many modelling-related questions can only be answered by empirical studies, as users’ perceptions and feelings are difficult to capture otherwise. The HuFaMo workshop series is a venue for early-stage empirical research involving human factors in the design, construction, and modelling of software systems. Our goal is to improve the state of science and professionalism in empirical research in the model-based engineering community. The MODELS conference as a high-quality venue that does not yet sufficiently reflect both modelling and design of human factors information and the human factors aspects involved in modelling and design activities.

In the eighth edition, we continue our efforts to consolidate and strengthen the research community interested in these topics, which are now extended with DevX.

Typical examples of modelling and design of human factors information include modelling end-users’ emotional states, personal characteristics, tasks and knowledge. Relevant topics to modelling of human factors information include, but are not limited to:

New theories and design principles about human factors information to be be represented in models; – New methods and techniques to incorporate human factors related information into requirements, design models, or model-based tools to improve their usability and the user experience of the engineers; – New tools to assist in capturing, modelling, and organising of human factors information; – Modelling human factors and supporting human-centric development in model-based software engineering; – Modelling the human aspects of stakeholders (including end-users) of the software, such as age, gender, personality, disabilities and preferences; – Experience reports from industry in modelling human factors information throughout software development; – Reviews and surveys of approaches in human factors information modelling.

Examples of human factors involved in modelling and design activities might include the usability of modelling methods, languages and tools, and the user experience of modellers (including emotional states, moods and feelings, happiness, stimulation, meaning and value in work …). Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

Intended Audience

In line with our topic and objectives, we address four audiences: (1) We welcome researchers and practitioners active in the field of modelling of human factors information, and provide them with a venue to disseminate their research results and stay up to date with the latest developments in the field. (2) We propose the same type of venue for researchers and practitioners in the field of studying the impact of human factors in modelling and design activities. (3) We welcome researchers who want to start conducting empirical research in general and, more precisely, for end-users and developers. In the workshop, they will find a constructive environment where they can present their study design or theoretical framework they have used or plan to use for performing empirical research. (4) We address practitioners who develop modelling tools to share their feedback and issues while considering human factors in the design of their tools.

Relevance

Modelling and design of human factors is an essential step toward designing human-centric software systems. Software is designed and built primarily to solve human needs. However, many software systems have issues with cost overruns (badly captured requirements); hard-to-maintain and dangerous solutions (incorrect technology choice, usage or deployment); and hard-to-use software that does not meet users’ needs (poor understanding of user needs and poor design). Many of these problems can be traced to a lack of understanding and incorporation of end-user human factors. This workshop will focus on showcasing emerging approaches to better incorporating the human aspects into modelling and design of software systems. On the other hand, empirical studies are classic milestones of research projects on human factors in modelling. Surveys, case studies or controlled experiments are indeed means to validate steps from the initial idea to the final theory. These studies require substantial amount of time and resources. Careful preparation is therefore essential to avoid mistakes with severe consequences. This workshop is the perfect place to complete such preparation and consequently to make more significant progress in this key area.

How to submit

The official call for paper is here: CFP

Papers should be submitted in PDF format through EasyChair https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=hufamo2026. We follow a double blind review process where authors will not be identified to reviewers and reviewers will not be identified to authors. Authors do not have to suppress references to their previous work, but should refer to it in the third person.

Authors must make it clear in the abstract if the paper contains an empirical study, a proposal or is a position paper, and which of the topics listed above are covered. If a paper represents work that is not yet fully validated, the paper title must have one of the phrases ‘Proposal’, ‘Preliminary results’, ‘Work in progress’ or ‘Position paper’.

The following are some guidelines for particular types of content:

Accepted submissions will be discussed in the workshop. We particularly encourage researchers that need to design a study but lack experience in this field to come forward and present study designs so these may be discussed and improved, leading to better quality research.

Submissions must adhere to the ACM formatting instructions. Full papers must be no more than 10 pages in length, including references, appendices, and figures, while Position papers must have a maximum of 5 pages.

Submissions that do not adhere to these limits or that violate the formatting guidelines will be desk-rejected without review. Accepted papers will be published in the MODELS conference companion proceedings published by ACM. Please contact the workshop organisers if you have any questions.

Evaluation Criteria

Papers will be evaluated mainly from their practical take-away and the potential impact of the findings. Each submission will be reviewed in terms of the following criteria: 1) Innovation: advancing the state-of-practice; 2) Value: whether the problem is worth exploring; 3) Impact: the potential for disruption of current practice; 4) Soundness: the validity of the methodology, evaluations and the rationale; 5) Quality: the overall quality of the paper’s writing.

Important Dates

Publication

Accepted papers will be published in the MODELS conference companion proceedings published by ACM.

Important update on ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences!

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM has fully transitioned to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy of 65% for 2026. The subsidy will offer:

Note for this workshop: extended abstracts will be covered by a specific agreement with MODELS and will be published open-access free of charge.

Supplementary materials

Authors are encouraged to provide supplementary data of their respective research (e.g., raw data, transcripts, video footage of study sessions, R scripts), to be made permanently publicly available in the workshop’s repository, built on ZENODO. Although providing such extra material will not be mandatory, it is strongly encouraged, as a good practice in empirical studies.

Workshop Co-Chairs

Program Committee

To be announced