Harry Scells

Harry Scells is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tübingen specializing in information retrieval. His research spans retrieval models, query processing, evaluation methodologies, and applications to health and medicine. Previously, he was an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow at Leipzig University and a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Queensland where he completed his PhD.

Dr. Scells holds a PhD from The University of Queensland (2021), a Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) from Queensland University of Technology (2016), and a Bachelor of Information Technology from the same institution (2015).

His research interests focus on advancing information retrieval systems with particular emphasis on retrieval models, query processing, evaluation methodologies, and applications to health and medicine. Dr. Scells has made significant contributions to the field of systematic review automation, large language models for information retrieval, and green information retrieval. His work bridges theoretical advancements with practical applications, particularly in medical and health-related domains where efficient and accurate information retrieval is critical.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on improving retrieval effectiveness through innovative architectures (like Set-Encoder and Rank-DistiLLM), addressing evaluation challenges in modern retrieval systems, and developing practical tools for systematic review automation. His work increasingly explores the intersection of traditional information retrieval with large language models, examining both opportunities and limitations in this evolving space.

• Best Short Paper award at ECIR 2025 for 'Rank-DistiLLM'
• Best Paper Honorable Mention at ECIR 2025 for 'Set-Encoder'
• Best Paper Honourable Mention at SIGIR 2025 for 'The Viability of Crowdsourcing for RAG Evaluation'

Dr. Scells is actively involved in the information retrieval community, serving as a program committee member for major conferences including SIGIR (2021-2024), ECIR (2022-2024), and CIKM (2020-2021). He has also been an invited reviewer for journals such as Transactions on Information Systems and Information Retrieval Journal. His leadership in the MANILA workshop series demonstrates his commitment to addressing information retrieval challenges related to climate change impacts. He maintains strong collaborative ties with the Webis research group and contributes to advancing information retrieval methodologies and tools across European institutions.