Prof. Roger Wattenhofer is a Full Professor at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Deputy head of the Computer Engineering and Networks Lab. He holds a doctorate in Computer Science from ETH Zurich (1998) and has held positions at Brown University and Microsoft Research before returning to ETH. His research focuses on distributed computing, wireless networks, and algorithmic systems design, with contributions to Byzantine agreement protocols, blockchain technologies, and neural network architectures. He teaches courses such as Distributed Systems and Computational Thinking. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science (ETH Zurich, 1998). Research interests include distributed systems, network algorithms, and the intersection of machine learning with distributed computing. His work spans both theoretical foundations and practical implementations, addressing challenges in fault tolerance, consensus mechanisms, and algorithmic efficiency. Recent publications explore topics like adversarial robustness in voting systems, privacy in reinforcement learning, and generative music models. He actively contributes to open-source frameworks and benchmarks for neural algorithmic reasoning.
Peter A. Flach is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Intelligent Systems Laboratory, School of Computer Science, University of Bristol, where he has been faculty since 1997 and was promoted to Professor in 2003. He currently directs the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Practice-Oriented Artificial Intelligence and serves as Vice-President of the European Association for Data Science (EuADS), having previously served as its President. His research centers on rigorous evaluation and improvement of machine learning systems, with seminal contributions to classifier calibration (including Beta Calibration and Precision-Recall-Gain curves), explainable AI frameworks, and data science methodology. He pioneered the extension of CRISP-DM to data science trajectories and developed Explainability Fact Sheets for systematic assessment of XAI approaches. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical deployment in real-world systems. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a dominant focus on interpretable and reliable machine learning, with strong emphasis on performance evaluation metrics, model calibration techniques, and human-centered explainability. His research increasingly addresses healthcare applications through projects like SPHERE and clinical decision support systems, while maintaining core contributions to fundamental ML theory. His scientific recognition includes prestigious fellowships: Fellow of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) Fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI) Professor Flach has secured major research funding including UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training grants and EU network funding (TAILOR). He leads extensive collaborations across Engineering, Population Health Science, and international institutions (Monash University, Polytechnic University of Valencia), plus over 20 industry partners in the Practice-Oriented AI CDT including LV= and QinetiQ. His work with the SPHERE project demonstrates successful translation of AI research into residential healthcare settings. He leads the Intelligent Systems Laboratory at Bristol, which develops influential open-source tools including the FAT Forensics Python toolbox for algorithmic fairness and the Explainability Fact Sheets framework. His lab maintains strong connections with the European AI community through ELLIS and EurAI, positioning Bristol as a hub for human-centered and methodologically rigorous AI research.
Prof. Dr. Mike Martin is a leading researcher at the University of Zurich's Center for Gerontology . His work spans cognitive aging, social development in old age, and life-span developmental psychology, with a focus on ecological validity in aging research. Professor, University of Zurich Director, Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Ageing Co-editor, Journals of Gerontology series Key research areas include: Healthy aging and quality of life Cognitive-emotional interactions in aging Dyadic adaptation in dementia caregiving Mobile sensing of aging-related behaviors Participatory research methodologies Language use as a biomarker of aging His recent publications analyze: GPS mobility and cognitive function Machine learning in reminiscence detection Prospective memory trajectories Emotion regulation in couples Digital interventions for cognitive health Neuroimaging correlates of aging
Joseph Francois is a Professor of Economics and Director at the World Trade Institute (WTI) , affiliated with the Economic Institute at the University of Bern. He previously served as Deputy Director of the NCCR Trade Regulation (2015–2017) and held professorships at Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and other institutions. His research spans international economics, trade policy, globalization, environmental economics, and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. Key focus areas include cross-border production chains, trade in services, open economy competition policy, financial market integration, and the interplay between trade agreements and sustainability goals. Scientific distinctions include a Fellowship at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London). His methodological expertise includes CGE modeling, econometric estimation of large nonlinear systems, and policy analysis of trade disputes, carbon border adjustments, and non-tariff measures. Education: Ph.D. in Economics, University of Maryland BA in Economics and History, University of Virginia He has contributed extensively to policy briefs and technical reports, particularly in analyzing trade impacts on employment, economic development, and environmental outcomes.
Sarah Ebling is a Full Professor of Language, Technology and Accessibility at the University of Zurich's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She leads the Language, Technology and Accessibility research group within the Institute for Computational Linguistics. Her work focuses on computational linguistics applications for assistive technologies targeting disabilities such as hearing impairments, visual impairments, and cognitive disorders. Key areas include sign language technologies, automatic text simplification, and audio description systems. She directs the large-scale Swiss innovation project 'Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies' (2022-2026, CHF12 million budget) and collaborates on EU H2020 and SNSF Sinergia projects. Education: Holds a doctoral degree (summa cum laude, 2016) from the University of Zurich with research on automatic translation to Swiss German Sign Language. Completed studies in German Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, and English Linguistics at Universities of Zurich and Heidelberg, with research stays in Dublin, Chicago, and Rochester. Research emphasizes multimodal accessibility solutions, including sign language fluency assessment, gesture-based interaction, and AI-driven text adaptation. Current projects explore audio description translation systems (SwissADT), sign language corpus development (SwissSLi), and digital tools for comprehensibility assessment in simplified texts. Her work bridges computational linguistics with ethical considerations in assistive technology deployment. Grants and Leadership: Principal Investigator on major accessibility-focused grants, including the CHF12M Swiss innovation project. Supervises PhD candidates in areas like sign language assessment tools and text simplification algorithms. Active in international collaborations, publishing extensively in computational linguistics and accessibility journals/conferences. Technology Development: Created the 'DigiSpon' benchmark for language sample analysis and developed open-source tools for sign language translation baselines. Her team's innovations include the SignCLIP model connecting text and sign language via contrastive learning, and pose estimation frameworks for sign language recognition.
Prof. Dr. Eva Weber-Guskar is a faculty member at the Ruhr-University Bochum , holding the chair in Ethics and Philosophy of Emotions within the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Science. Her research focuses on the ethical implications of digitalization, particularly human dignity, affective computing, and emotionalized AI systems. Research Interests : Ethics of digital technologies Philosophy of emotions in computational contexts Human dignity in AI development Emotion recognition systems Interdisciplinary approaches to ethics and AI Scientific Awards : DSI Fellowship (University of Zurich, 2019) Contact : eva.weber-guskar@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Dr. Eva Cetinic is a DSI Bridge Postdoc Fellow at the University of Zurich, conducting research at the intersection of deep learning, explainable AI, and digital art and humanities. Previously, she held postdoctoral positions at Durham University and the Center for Digital Visual Studies at the University of Zurich, and worked as a Professional Associate and Postdoc at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Croatia from 2015 to 2021. Her educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science, University of Zagreb (2019) Dr. Cetinic's research focuses on computational image understanding and multimodal learning for visual art and culture, investigating how text-image models encode socio-cultural patterns and impact artistic creation. Her work critically examines ethical and societal implications of AI while bridging computer science, digital humanities, and art history through interdisciplinary methodologies. Her publication trends (2019-2025) reveal concentrated analysis of generative AI's cultural impact, particularly text-to-image systems. She systematically investigates bias propagation (gender, cultural), user interaction dynamics, and creative processes while developing technical frameworks for art analysis - moving beyond technical capabilities to address real-world implications in artistic and cultural contexts. She currently leads the UZH-funded project 'From Hype to Reality: Artificial Intelligence in the Study of Art and Culture' in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, establishing cross-institutional frameworks for responsible AI adoption. Her research methodology emphasizes practical implementation within humanities workflows through international networks like DARIAH. As a DSI Bridge Postdoc Fellow, Dr. Cetinic operates within the University of Zurich's Digital Society Initiative ecosystem, connecting computational research with the Center for Digital Visual Studies and global digital humanities infrastructures to examine AI's transformative role in cultural production and interpretation.
Emily Cross is a Full Professor at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences at ETH Zurich, leading the Social Brain Sciences Professorship since spring 2023. She previously held professorships at Bangor University (Wales), University of Glasgow (Scotland), Macquarie University (Australia), and Western Sydney University's MARCS Institute (Australia). Her research centers on how embodied experience shapes social learning and perception across diverse contexts. Key contributions include identifying neural signatures of embodied expertise using dancers, developing embodied neuroaesthetics theory, uncovering neurocognitive foundations of visual learning across lifespans, and pioneering paradigms for human-robot social engagement. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges technology, performing/visual arts, and social sciences to explore experience-dependent plasticity at brain and behavioral levels. Recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate intense focus on human-robot interaction dynamics, aesthetic movement perception, and context-dependent social cognition. Work increasingly examines self-disclosure mechanisms to robots, cultural influences on robot acceptance, and neural correlates of movement synchrony, reflecting her expanding influence at the neuroscience-robotics intersection. Scientific awards include: Philip Leverhulme Prize for Psychology Jacob Bronowski Award from British Science Foundation Young Talent Award from Dutch Neuroscience Society RoboHub and Insight Analytics top women in robotics listings Australia’s Superstars of STEM (2022) Cross passionately trains next-generation scientists with emphasis on research ethics. Her work attracts major funding from ERC, NIH, Fulbright Commission, ESRC, EPSRC, and UK Ministry of Defence. She serves on UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (co-rapporteur for neurotechnology ethics report) and as Associate Editor for International Journal of Social Robotics. She leads ETH Zurich's dynamic Social Brain Sciences group, which embraces interdisciplinarity through research paradigms bridging technology, performing/visual arts, and biological/social sciences, while maintaining active roles in editorial boards and conference committees including Intelligent Virtual Agents and Affective Computing meetings.
Professor Matthias Kliegel is affiliated with the LIVES Centre at the University of Geneva, where he conducts research on aging and cognitive processes. His work spans multiple interdisciplinary collaborations across Switzerland and internationally, focusing on memory, cognitive aging, and health outcomes in older populations. As a prominent researcher in gerontology, he contributes significantly to understanding age-related cognitive changes and their implications for healthy aging. Professor Kliegel's research interests center on cognitive aging, with particular emphasis on prospective memory, cognitive complaints, and the interplay between physical activity, health literacy, and cognitive function in older adults. His work examines how individual differences affect cognitive trajectories across the lifespan and investigates factors that contribute to successful cognitive aging. Recent research has expanded into technology applications, including AI and consumer-grade devices for cognitive health monitoring and early detection of cognitive decline. Analysis of Professor Kliegel's recent publications reveals a strong focus on longitudinal approaches to studying cognitive aging, with an increasing integration of technology in aging research. His work spans traditional psychological methodologies while incorporating contemporary approaches like AI analysis of aging research priorities and digital screening tools for preclinical Alzheimer's disease. The research consistently addresses practical applications for improving cognitive health outcomes in aging populations, with several studies focusing on modifiable factors like physical activity that could inform public health interventions. Professor Kliegel maintains active collaborations with numerous researchers across Swiss institutions including the LIVES Centre network, with co-authors spanning psychology, public health, and geriatric medicine. His work appears in high-impact journals across gerontology, psychology, and public health disciplines, demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of his research program. The consistent funding evident from his publication record suggests successful grant acquisition supporting his longitudinal research initiatives. As a faculty member at the University of Geneva's LIVES Centre, Professor Kliegel contributes to a major interdisciplinary research platform focused on vulnerability throughout the life course. His work aligns with the Centre's mission to investigate social, economic, and health-related vulnerabilities across different life stages, with particular emphasis on aging populations in Switzerland and beyond.
Prof. Sophie Schwartz is a leading neuroscientist at the University of Geneva , where she heads the Sleep & Cognition Lab within the Faculty of Medicine . Her research integrates neuroimaging (fMRI, hd-EEG, MEG) , behavioral testing , and computational modeling to unravel the neural mechanisms underlying memory consolidation , emotion processing , and dreaming during sleep, while also developing clinical interventions to enhance sleep in neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Martin Rajman is a Senior Scientist at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) with multiple affiliations across the institution. He holds positions in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (SIN - Teaching, SCI IC MR Group, SSC - Teaching) as well as in the Vice Presidency for Strategic Development (VPS Artificial Intelligence) and the Vice Presidency for Academic Affairs (SNAI Administration). He serves as the Executive Director of Nano-tera.ch, a large Swiss Research Program funding collaborative multi-disciplinary projects in Health and the Environment. Rajman's research spans the intersection of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and information retrieval. His work demonstrates a consistent focus on developing practical applications of computational linguistics and machine learning techniques. Early in his career, he contributed significantly to syntactic parsing, stochastic language models, and vector space representations for text. More recently, his research has expanded into deep learning applications for 3D reconstruction, empathetic conversational agents, and distributed analytics systems. His publications reveal a trajectory from foundational NLP research toward increasingly applied and interdisciplinary work connecting AI with healthcare, environmental monitoring, and human-computer interaction. Analysis of his recent publications (2015-2024) shows a clear evolution toward more applied AI research with strong interdisciplinary connections. While maintaining his core expertise in natural language processing and information retrieval, his work has expanded into computer vision, healthcare applications, and sustainable computing. The publications demonstrate increasing collaboration across disciplines, with applications in medical imaging, mental health support systems, environmental monitoring, and human-centered AI. His leadership role in the Nano-tera.ch program reflects this interdisciplinary approach, connecting computing research with real-world challenges in health and environmental contexts. Rajman has mentored several PhD students including Ailomaa Marita, Eckard Emmanuel, Melichar Miroslav, and Veselý Martin. His research has been supported through the Nano-tera.ch program, which has funded more than 100 research projects with over 95 million CHF in public funding. He has also managed more than 20 European projects during his tenure as Director of the EPFL Global Computing Center. As Executive Director of Nano-tera.ch, Rajman leads a significant research initiative connecting EPFL with national and international partners. His work bridges academic research with industry applications, notably through collaborations with eBay on product ranking technology and with Elsevier on article recommendation systems. His leadership extends to managing large-scale research programs while maintaining an active research agenda and mentoring the next generation of computer scientists.
Prof. Dr. Jochen Menges is a Professor at the University of Zurich , holding the Chair of Human Resource Management and Leadership within the Department of Business Administration under the Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics . He serves as Director of the Center for Leadership in the Future of Work and contributes to the DSI Community Work. Research Interests: His work bridges leadership studies , emotional intelligence , mindfulness practices , and digital transformation in work environments. Key areas include charismatic leadership attribution , AI-human collaboration , emotion regulation , and future of work dynamics . Recent Publications: Menges explores how anthropomorphic AI affects workplace emotions, develops VR-based organizational simulations , and investigates the role of awe in leadership perception . His 2024 guest editorial on human-centered future of work emphasizes balancing technological and human needs. Emerging Insights: Studies on emotional responses to AI , mindfulness interventions , and gender dynamics in emotional intelligence demonstrate his focus on emotional and psychological dimensions of modern work. His populist support research connects negative affect with global political trends.
Prof. Dr. Volker Dellwo is an Associate Professor of Phonetics and head of the Department of Computational Linguistics. His research focuses on phonetics, speech recognition, computational linguistics, and dialectology, with applications in forensic analysis, voice biometrics, and multimodal emotion recognition. Academic Rank: Associate Professor Department: Computational Linguistics His work explores phonetic convergence , speaker discrimination, and the role of prosodic features in voice recognition. Recent studies analyze whispered speech processing, cross-dialect accommodation, and neural mechanisms of speaker identity encoding. Key article trends include self-supervised learning for speech recognition , multimodal emotion detection , and forensic voice analysis . Subfields span acoustic variability, temporal envelope dynamics, and voice quality metrics. Publications emphasize computational phonetics , cross-linguistic studies , and neural network applications in speaker identification. Research also addresses challenges in forensic audio analysis and synthetic speech dataset generation.
Jürgen Sauer is a Full Professor at the University of Fribourg , affiliated with the Department of Psychology under the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences . With over 120 publications, his research focuses on Human-Machine Interaction , Usability Testing , User Experience (UX) , and Automation Design , particularly in high-stakes environments like X-ray baggage screening and spaceflight simulations . Email: juergen.sauer@unifr.ch Phone: +41 26 300 7622 Address: RM 01 bu. C-1.117, Rue PA de Faucigny 2, 1700 Fribourg Orcid: 0000-0003-2105-1694 His research projects, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (FNS), include: Improving work design for airport security officers (2019-2024): Developed pictorial scales for measuring psychological constructs in security environments. Social stress and support in hybrid teams (2018-2023): Investigated machine-induced social stressors and mitigation through social support. Automation in visual inspection tasks (2014-2018): Examined adaptable automation for baggage screening and system reliability effects. Usability testing effectiveness (2012-2016): Analyzed cultural background impacts and non-usability product features influencing test outcomes. Key contributions include the Luggage Inspection Simulation (LIS) environment for modeling work environments and the development of pictorial usability scales for multilingual applicability. His work bridges ergonomics , human factors , and applied psychology , with notable collaborations with researchers like Adrian Schwaninger and Andreas Sonderegger . His recent publications (2025-2014) analyze: Human-machine performance under false alarms and miscues Social stressor dynamics in hybrid teams Usability scale animation effects Phubbing behavior in professional contexts Accessible website design for non-disabled users
Dr. Christina Haag is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Implementation Science in Health Care , affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zurich . She leads interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of mental health, digital health, and computational linguistics, focusing on chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis (MS). Her work leverages free text, sensor data, and advanced analysis techniques such as hierarchical modeling and natural language processing (NLP). Doctorate from the Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich Research experience at the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge Her research explores: Daily-life mental and physical health indicators in MS Development of NLP methods for text classification and topic modeling Digital biomarker creation using wearable sensor data Mindfulness interventions for affective executive control Implementation of remote monitoring tools in healthcare Her recent publications highlight trends in applying NLP and machine learning to unstructured health data, analyzing MS activity patterns, and refining interdisciplinary research methodologies. She contributes to DSI communities including AI & Law , Health , and Ethics , and collaborates on projects like BarKA-MS and DSI-Approach . She is a core member of the UZH Digital & Mobile Health Group , working under Prof. Viktor von Wyl.
