Inclusive Design for Neurodivergent Women in Software Engineering
👤 Investigators
- Dr. Isma Farah Siddiqui, Lecturer, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
- Dr. Dulaji Hidellaarachchi, Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University
- Dr. Munazza, Researcher, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
- Wei Wang, Research Fellow, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University
🎓 Project summary
NeurodiversiWMag is a vision-driven, interdisciplinary research initiative focused on advancing inclusion for neurodivergent women in software engineering. Despite growing awareness of neurodiversity in the tech sector, the intersection of gender and cognitive difference remains critically underexplored in software engineering practice and research.
This project blends the InclusiveMag meta-method with the GenderMag walkthrough framework to create an inclusive analytic approach tailored to neurodivergent women. In its initial Scope phase, the team is synthesizing challenges across cognitive, social, organizational, structural, and career progression domains, laying the foundation for actionable redesign of SE practices. Future phases will build validated personas, walkthrough prompts, and lightweight tools to support more inclusive hiring, collaboration, and evaluation in software development teams.