Research Unit Coordinator

Virtual Reality & Simulation for Decentralized Systems

Maria Ilaria Lunesu is a researcher at the University of Cagliari in the academic disciplinary field INFO-01/A. She coordinates the Virtual Reality & Simulation for Decentralized Systems Research Unit within the Agile Group and she is the Scientific Lead of the SETI Research Unit, with a particular focus on the use and optimization of algorithms for the search for technosignatures.

Her research focuses on software engineering and empirical software engineering, with particular attention to the analysis of human factors and Agile team dynamics, including in virtual and immersive environments. Her interests also include psychological safety, interactions between developers and automated systems, software repository mining, and the use of machine learning techniques for the analysis of software and radio-astronomical data.

Research Areas

Virtual Reality and Simulation for Decentralized Systems

This research area investigates the use of virtual and immersive environments to support and simulate distributed forms of collaboration, with a particular focus on Agile teams operating in decentralized contexts.

The research activities include the modeling of collaborative processes, the analysis of group dynamics, and the study of factors affecting communication, coordination, collaboration, and psychological safety within distributed software development teams. These dynamics are also investigated through the simulation of interactions among participants in virtual and immersive environments.

The research also examines the study and application of software engineering principles to the implementation of systems based on decentralized technologies and applications. These activities have also been conducted in collaboration with national and international research groups at the University of Bolzano, LUT University, and the Federal University of São Carlos.

People involved

Azmat Ullah, PhD student, University of Cagliari
Samuele Mannai, student, University of Cagliari
Alice Zonca, student, University of Cagliari
Alba Pellegrini, intern, University of Cagliari
Simone Manunza, intern, University of Cagliari

Empirical Software Engineering and Human Factors

This research area focuses on the empirical analysis of software development processes and teams, with particular attention to communication dynamics, human factors, and the application of Agile and Lean methodologies.

The activities include the analysis of software repositories and discussions in open-source projects. In particular, the research examines the role of bots in the Ethereum ecosystem and their potential impact on participation patterns and the emotional tone of conversations among developers.

This research is conducted in collaboration with software engineering research groups at UCL (University College London).

People involved

Matteo Vaccargiu, PhD, University of Hohenheim, Germany
Riccardo Lai, student, University of Cagliari

SETI Research Unit

Maria Ilaria Lunesu is the Scientific Lead of the SETI Research Unit, which studies and evaluates machine learning models for the detection and classification of technosignatures in radio-astronomical data.

The objective is to distinguish potential signals of extraterrestrial origin from radio-frequency interference (RFI), reducing the need for manual analysis and improving the efficiency of processing the large volumes of data generated by astronomical observations.

This activity is carried out in collaboration with the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico Cagliari as part of the international Breakthrough Listen initiative.

People involved

Filippo Simone Zuddas, intern, University of Cagliari
Davide Deplano, intern, University of Cagliari

Projects and Scientific Responsibilities

Research activities also include:

Coordination and scientific responsibility for WP3, “Prototyping generative text modeling” within the Bandzai+project;
Coordination of OR4, “Study of integration issues with IoT devices and other external platforms,” within the MASSIVE project;
Coordination and scientific responsibility for OR6, “Comparative analysis of blockchain technologies suitable for the system,” within the ABATA project.

Teaching and Academic Activities

Since the 2022–2023 academic year, Maria Ilaria Lunesu has been the course instructor for Software Engineering in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Applied Computer Science and Data Analytics.

Since the 2021–2022 academic year, she has been the course instructor for Programming Languages for Economics in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Business Economics and Management.

Within the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Applied Computer Science and Data Analytics, she also serves as a tutor and as a member of the Orientation Committee and the Student Affairs Committee.

She is the author of more than 50 articles published in international journals and conference proceedings.

Since 2020, she has been a founding member of Agile By Chain, a University of Cagliari spin-off focused on consultancy and projects in the field of blockchain technology.

Supervised Theses

During her years as a researcher, Maria Ilaria Lunesu has supervised the following theses in the degree programmes in Computer Science, Applied Computer Science and Data Analytics, and Business Economics and Management:

2021:

I benefici del machine learning nell’analisi di mercato

2022:

Un’applicazione dei SoulBoundTokens per le certificazioni vaccinali anti-covid
Sistema di Notarizzazione basato su Tecnologia Blockchain per il Sistema Idrico Urbano
Blockchain: Tecnologia e applicazione nelle PMI in Italia

2023:

Un nuovo Mercato Elettrico Decentralizzato: Blockchain ed NFT a supporto dei Prosumer nelle Comunità Energetiche Rinnovabili
Costruire un ambiente di lavoro digitale con il Metaverso

2024:

Applicazione dei Soulbound token per la certificazione della soddisfazione di prodotti di qualità
Metaverso: una nuova frontiera del marketing
Sistema Blockchain per la gestione di team effimeri nell’ambito delle metodologie Agili

2025:

Blockchain nella supply chain alimentare: un paradigma di sicurezza e trasparenza
L’adozione dei chatbot nel contesto aziendale
Innovazione Digitale negli Appalti Pubblici: Il Ruolo dell’IA
Dall’idea al prototipo: Progettazione agile di un LCMS ibrido per un centro di simulazione medica.
Dai computer alla Blockchain: l’evoluzione digitale dell’Economia
A comparison of Ethereum and Sui

2026

Progettazione e sperimentazione di un assistente conversazionale basato su LLM locali per la gestione di progetti Agili in ambienti immersivi
Sviluppo e confronto di pipeline di Deep Learning per il rilevamento di Technosignature in osservazioni SRT nell’ambito del progetto SETI
Database e blockchain: confronto e complementarietà nella gestione dei dati
Adattamento e validazione di una pipeline di rilevamento di anomalie per dati radioastronomici SETI del Sardinia Radio Telescope
Partecipazione dei bot, dinamiche emotive e completamento del lavoro nello sviluppo open-source

Correlatrice delle seguenti tesi magistrali
2020

Competitor Analysis Attraverso Tecniche Di Natural Language Processing: Applicazione del Topic Modeling e Sentiment Analysis ai brand: McDonald’s, Burger King, Pret A Manger, Whole Foods Market
Stato dell’arte e tecniche di Machine Learning applicate all’e-commerce: caso di studio sui sistemi di raccomandazione

Correlatrice di tesi triennale

2025

Un tutor didattico virtuale nei blockchain virtual worlds potenziato da generazione di testo basata su recupero dei dati.

Contacts:

DMI University of Cagliari
via Porcell 4,
09123 Cagliari, Italia.

e-mail: ilaria.lunesu@unica.it