Our paper “From Education to Evidence: A Collaborative Practice Research Platform for AI-Integrated Agile Development” has been accepted at XP 2026

TThe paper “From Education to Evidence: A Collaborative Practice Research Platform for AI-Integrated Agile Development” by Tobias Geger, Andreas Rausch, Ina Schiering, Frauke Stenzel and Stefan Wittek has been accepted at XP 2026, the 27^th International Conference on Agile Software Development. 

XP is the premier conference on agile software development, uniquely combining research and practice. It’s where researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers come together to share their latest innovations and insights.

Originally launched 26 years ago with a focus on eXtreme Programming, the XP conference has evolved to embrace all modern agile approaches and the broadening dimensions of agility. XP 2026 will take place in São Paulo, Brazil, from April 8 – 11, 2026.

Agile software development evolves so rapidly that research struggles to remain timely and transferable - an issue heightened by the swift adoption of generative AI and agentic tools. Earlier discussions highlight theory and time gaps, leading to results that often lack clear reuse conditions or arrive too late for practical decisions. This paper introduces a project-based, AI-integrated agile education platform as a collaborative research environment, positioned between controlled studies and real-world industry. The platform enables rapid inquiry through sprint rhythms, quality gates, and genuine stakeholder involvement. We present a framework specifying iteration structures, recurring events, and quality gates for AI-assisted engineering artifacts. Early results from several semesters - covering project pipeline, cohort growth, and stakeholder participation - show the platform's potential to generate practice-relevant evidence efficiently and with reusable context. Finally, we outline future steps to enhance governance and evidence capture.

The full paper can be read at http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10679