Antonio Rago is a Researcher in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London. He specializes in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) with a focus on computational argumentation frameworks and their integration with data-driven AI systems. His work bridges symbolic AI and machine learning to enhance transparency and societal benefit in AI applications. Education: PhD in Computing (2019) from Imperial College London, supervised by Prof. Francesca Toni and Dr. Marco Aurisicchio, with an MEng in Automotive Engineering from Loughborough University (2012). Research: Explores explainable AI through argumentation semantics, counterfactual reasoning, and hybrid symbolic-statistical methods. Application domains include e-learning, Formula One race strategy, healthcare, and mechanical engineering. Workshops: Organizer of international workshops like Arg&App 2025 and ArgXAI-25, and co-organizer of previous events at KR, ECAI, and COMMA conferences. Publications: Active in top AI venues (KR, IJCAI, AAAI, AAMAS) with over 25 publications since 2016, emphasizing argumentation-based explanations and robust AI systems. Industry Experience: Former Race Strategy Engineer at Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team (2012-2014) and Project Manager at Green Lifting Ltd. (2014-2017).
Prof. Dr. Renato Pajarola is the Head of the Visualization and MultiMedia Lab at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich. His research focuses on computer graphics, scientific visualization, and geometric processing, with applications in 3D scanning, point cloud analysis, and real-time rendering. He leads a team developing advanced visualization techniques for high-dimensional data, parallel rendering frameworks, and interactive systems for complex datasets. Key research areas include: 3D reconstruction of indoor environments Tensor approximation for volume visualization Interactive ray tracing and point cloud processing Parallel rendering frameworks (e.g., Equalizer) Scientific computing and sensitivity analysis His recent publications emphasize: High-dimensional data exploration using tensor methods Efficient rendering techniques for large-scale point clouds Integration of citizen-reported weather data for environmental analysis Prof. Pajarola’s lab collaborates on projects like VIAN (visual annotation tool for film analysis) and Terrender (web-based terrain visualization). His Erdős number is 3, reflecting interdisciplinary research connections in mathematics and computer science.
Olivier Verscheure serves as the Executive Director of the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC), a national R&D center organizationally hosted by both École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and ETH Zurich. He also holds multiple Adjunct Professor appointments at EPFL, specifically within the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (SIN and SSC) and the School of Engineering (SEL). His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Computer Science from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), June 1999 Verscheure's research focuses on the intersection of data science and real-world applications. His work centers on stream and big data mining, geospatial analysis, and large-scale data management. These technical capabilities are applied across diverse domains including personalized health and medicine, Intelligent Transportation Systems, telecommunications, smart building technologies, Smart Grid infrastructure, healthcare analytics, and waste water management systems. His approach emphasizes creating practical data science solutions that address complex challenges in these sectors while considering the constraints of real-world deployment. An analysis of his recent publication record reveals a strong focus on real-time data processing and analytics, particularly for transportation and urban systems. His work frequently addresses challenges in handling massive time series data, developing efficient architectures for low-latency analytics, and creating practical applications for smart city infrastructure. There's a clear progression from theoretical data science contributions to production-ready systems that can process billions of data points daily, demonstrating his ability to bridge research and practical implementation. His notable achievements include: Two IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards Best Paper Award for his research Student Best Paper Award Verscheure has substantial experience in research leadership and mentoring. During his tenure at IBM, he managed the Exploratory Stream Analytics research group and led a technical and management team of approximately 40 people at the IBM Research lab in Ireland. He has served on PhD committees at major universities and published nearly 100 research papers that have garnered over 2,400 citations. His work has resulted in more than 40 US and international patents, demonstrating both academic and practical impact. As Executive Director of the Swiss Data Science Center, Verscheure oversees a distributed multi-disciplinary team working across domains including personalized health, transportation, earth and environmental science, social science and digital humanities, and economics. The center aims to federate data providers, data and computer scientists, and subject-matter experts around a cutting-edge analytics platform while addressing security and privacy issues. Under his leadership, the SDSC develops embedded data science support, offers end-to-end data science services, and fosters a community to share tools and knowledge in data science.
Dr. Joram Schito is a Lecturer at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zürich, affiliated with the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics. His work focuses on applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to solve complex infrastructure planning challenges, particularly in power transmission line routing, decision support systems, and multi-criteria analysis. He specializes in integrating technical, environmental, and stakeholder considerations to enhance sustainable infrastructure design and public acceptance. His research interests include 3D decision support systems (3D DSS), spatial data modeling for urban and environmental planning, and innovative visualization techniques such as sonification for geographic data exploration. Schito’s contributions emphasize the development of tools that bridge technical precision with societal needs, such as optimizing power line corridors and integrating underground cable systems with overhead infrastructure. His recent work highlights advancements in automated planning algorithms, stakeholder preference integration, and GIS-based frameworks for renewable energy systems. Though no specific grants or awards are listed, his publications reflect a strong focus on interdisciplinary solutions for civil and environmental engineering challenges. He actively contributes to academic conferences like GIScience, showcasing his commitment to advancing geospatial science.
Dr. Stefan Ivanovic is a Lecturer at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zürich. His work focuses on geospatial data analysis, advanced visualization techniques, and environmental engineering applications. He teaches courses such as Advanced Geospatial Data Mining and Visualization in the autumn semester. His research interests intersect geomatics, civil engineering, and data-driven environmental solutions. No specific grants, advising roles, or lab affiliations are explicitly mentioned in the provided information.
Prof.ssa Caterina Balletti is a faculty member at the Department of Project Cultures , Università IUAV di Venezia , holding the academic rank of Professor in the CEAR-04/A - Geomatics disciplinary sector. She leads multiple research initiatives including the MURATORI and VeLA - Venezia Libro Aperto projects, focusing on multi-scale geomatic approaches for historical center resilience. Her work integrates GIS and satellite surveying SLAM technology for urban mapping BIM-GIS integration for archaeological data climate risk assessment for infrastructure , with recent projects like SAR-CLIMARIS examining advanced MT-InSAR monitoring in climate-vulnerable contexts. She contributes to inclusive urban design through the IDEA | Inclusive Design and Environmental Accessibility aggregation, demonstrated in her H-City | Housing in the city collaborative research. Her teaching includes GIS and Satellite Survey of Coastal Environments (2025 Laurea Magistrale) and Urban and Territorial Planning modules.
François Chalet serves as an Artistic Professor at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts within the Design Film Art school, where he teaches Expanded Animation and has held academic positions since 2005. His professional profile combines academic instruction with an active practice as an independent visual artist, animator, and director spanning nearly three decades since 1997. Chalet's research and creative work centers on expanded animation techniques that transcend traditional screen boundaries. His practice integrates projection mapping, interactive installations, and immersive audiovisual performance, creating innovative experiences that merge digital technology with artistic expression. Recent projects demonstrate increasing sophistication in audience interaction and contextual awareness, particularly through his work with Context-aware AR and full-dome animation environments. As an educator, Chalet has supervised numerous student collaborations, most notably the Reizvoll immersive audio-visual performance that brought together HSLU animation students with the molto cantabile choir. His teaching philosophy emphasizes both technical mastery and conceptual development, encouraging students to explore animation beyond conventional formats and applications. Chalet leads significant research initiatives including Ludic Lab Lucerne (2019-2021), the ETH Zurich collaboration on Context-aware AR (2021-2022), and previous holography research with the National Filmboard of Canada (2018-2019). These projects consistently involve interdisciplinary teams combining animation expertise with music composition, technical development, and interactive design to create cohesive, boundary-pushing works. His professional recognition includes regular participation as a jury member and speaker at internationally relevant conferences and festivals, reflecting his standing within the global animation and visual arts community. Chalet's work continues to evolve toward more sophisticated integration of animation with live performance, audience participation, and responsive environmental systems.
Adrienne Grêt-Regamey serves as Full Professor at ETH Zurich's Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, where she heads the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development. Her academic career spans over 15 years at one of Europe's leading technical universities, with significant leadership roles including Head of the Engagement Platform for Future Cities Lab Global since 2021. Her research focuses on the complex interactions between human activities and landscape evolution across temporal and spatial scales. Specializing in landscape planning and environmental science, she investigates land-use decision models through forecasting and backcasting approaches. A key innovation in her work involves developing state-of-the-art 3D visualizations and auralizations within her laboratory to understand public perception of landscape changes and create decision support tools for participatory planning processes. Her methodology emphasizes iterative design-science collaboration to develop place-specific solutions that balance human well-being with environmental sustainability. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trend toward interdisciplinary research integrating spatial analysis, ecosystem services assessment, and participatory decision-making. Her work increasingly addresses urgent global challenges including renewable energy transitions, climate adaptation strategies, and urban-rural dynamics, often employing advanced computational methods like machine learning and immersive virtual reality environments. Dandelion Entrepreneurship Award (2023) Most Influential Female Award in Land System Science (2022) ERC Starting Grant for GLOBESCAPE project (2017) Swiss National Science Foundation Transdisciplinary Award (2013) ETH Silver Medals for both Master and PhD theses Grêt-Regamey actively contributes to scientific governance as Member of the Swiss Science Council (since 2024) and Advisory Committee of the Wyss Academy for Nature. She serves as Associate Editor for Landscape and Urban Planning and Editor for disP - The Planning Review. Her research program has secured significant funding including an ERC Starting Grant and multiple Swiss National Science Foundation projects, with current work focusing on integrating design and land system science to foster place-making in peri-urban landscapes. Her laboratory at ETH Zurich specializes in developing immersive 3D environments for landscape assessment and planning, with recent work extending into therapeutic applications of virtual reality. She leads the Future Cities Lab Global engagement platform, facilitating knowledge exchange between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on sustainable urban development challenges worldwide.
Seraina Rüegger is the Scientific Director of the Population Research Center (PRC) at the University of Zurich since 2023. She has previously worked as a senior researcher in the International Conflict Research group at ETH Zurich and as an expert on Ukraine at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). At ETH Zurich and the Universities of Basel, Lucerne, and Zurich, she served as a lecturer in conflict research and forced migration. Education: PhD in Political Science, ETH Zurich (2013) Master's in Political Science, University of Zurich (2009) Research Interests: Seraina’s work focuses on the intersection of public health, forced migration, conflict dynamics, and ethnic power relations. She has developed datasets such as the CShapes 2.0 and Refugee-Related Security Incidence Dataset (RRSID) , emphasizing large-scale data collection and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development. Her recent studies explore mental health burdens among displaced populations and the role of ethnic power structures in conflict diffusion. Publications Trends: Her research spans geopolitical mapping, refugee security, pandemic vulnerabilities, and inequality-driven unrest. The majority of her work addresses conflict causality, migration patterns, and data-driven frameworks for analyzing ethnic and political tensions. Teams and Labs: Seraina leads the Healthcare Epidemiology team at the University of Zurich’s Population Research Center, contributing to tools for personalized, preference-sensitive healthcare and patient-centered care models.
Quoc-Hy Dao serves as a Full Professor and Vice-Director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva, where he leads research in geospatial technologies and environmental governance. He also heads the Metadata and Socioeconomics Unit at GRID-Geneva (United Nations Environment Programme), demonstrating his significant international impact. His academic journey includes a postgraduate degree from the International Institute for Aerospace Surveys and Earth Sciences (ITC, Netherlands) and a PhD in human geography from the University of Geneva. Professor Dao's research spans critical environmental domains with three primary axes: Planetary Boundaries breakdown at the territorial scale, Territorial cohesion through indicator development, and Environmental risks via spatial and quantitative modeling. His work integrates Geographic Information Systems, cartographic semiology, risk assessment, population mapping, and sustainable territorial development. He has pioneered applications of Big Data and geospatial technologies in environmental monitoring, particularly through the TRACES project addressing Sustainable Development Goals 13, 14, and 15. His publication record reveals a consistent focus on planetary boundaries frameworks, environmental risk modeling, and geospatial data infrastructure. Recent work shows increasing emphasis on semantic enrichment of Earth Observation data, flood risk assessment using innovative platforms like Google Earth Engine, and climate vulnerability analysis in urban settings. His research bridges technical geospatial innovations with practical environmental governance applications. As an educator, Professor Dao teaches core courses including Cartography, Geographic Information, Remote Sensing, and Spatial Analysis in Geography. He also co-directs advanced programs such as the Master of Advanced Studies in Urban Planning and the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Geographic Information in Urban Planning. He actively mentors doctoral students across diverse topics including geospatial technologies in illegal gold mining monitoring, ecosystem services policy analysis in West Africa, and smart city development in Rwanda. His leadership extends to directing the Complementary Certificate in Geomatics and representing the University of Geneva at the Geneva Territorial Information System. Professor Dao leads significant research projects including TRACES (2021-2025, Swiss National Science Foundation) on semantic environmental trajectories of territories, and CATI-GE Geoportal for territorial analysis of inequalities in Geneva. His work connects academic research with practical environmental governance applications through his dual roles at the University of Geneva and UNEP/GRID-Geneva.
Olivier Ertz is a Professor at the Media Engineering Institute (MEI) of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), based in Yverdon-les-Bains. He specializes in geospatial technologies, augmented reality (AR), and educational technology, focusing on applications for biodiversity education and citizen science. His work emphasizes open-source tools and interoperability standards, particularly within the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Key projects include: BiodivAR: A location-based AR platform for biodiversity education, enabling users to explore geolocated media in natural environments. ArODES: Research on symbology encoding standards for cartographic interoperability, contributing to OGC specifications. CrowDPLOS: Developing pedestrian navigation tools for disabled users using crowdsourced geospatial data. Research interests span: Augmented Reality applications in education and cultural heritage. Geospatial data visualization, including 6DoF georeferencing and real-time AR integration. Citizen science platforms for biodiversity monitoring and data validation. Open-source geospatial tools and standards compliance (OGC). His recent work explores: The impact of AR on screen time and environmental engagement. Optimizing geolocation accuracy for AR usability in outdoor settings. Interoperability of citizen science datasets through standardized formats. He has led multiple funded projects (e.g., FNS, Fondation Hasler) with total funding exceeding CHF 1.5 million. Collaborations include institutions like Swisstopo, Camptocamp, and academic partners across Switzerland.
Mirko Birbaumer is a Professor at the Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture (HSLU), specializing in data science and machine learning applications. He holds a PhD in computer-assisted image analysis from ETH Zurich and has completed advanced executive education at MIT in Innovation and Strategy. PhD in Systems Biology (ETH Zurich, 2010) Executive Certificate in Innovation and Strategy (MIT, 2022) Advanced Executive Certificate in Innovation, Strategy, and Technology (MIT, 2024) His research integrates statistical data analysis , computer vision , and digital health , with applications spanning industrial quality control, medical imaging, and environmental monitoring. Recent work focuses on physics-informed neural networks, interpretable anomaly detection, and causal machine learning. His projects include AI-driven solutions for medical diagnostics, predictive maintenance in manufacturing, and environmental anomaly detection. He has supervised over 20 student theses on topics like deep learning for knee osteoarthritis detection, monocular depth estimation, and AI-assisted logo similarity analysis. He leads the Data Science profile in the Master of Science and Engineering program and teaches courses on deep learning, Bayesian machine learning, and computer vision. His methodological expertise includes agent-based modeling, statistical analysis, and explainable AI.
K Ram Prabhakar is an Assistant Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University, advised by Prof. Rama Chellappa. Previously, he earned his Ph.D. from the Video Analytics Lab at the Computational and Data Sciences department of the Indian Institute of Science under Prof. R. Venkatesh Babu. He also worked as a Research Scientist at TCS Research in Bangalore. His research focuses on Computer Vision and Computational Photography , particularly in High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging , 3D vision, and image processing. His work spans applications in biometrics, remote sensing, and medical imaging. Recent publications highlight advancements in distillation-guided representation learning for video authentication diffusion models for fairness in face generation gait recognition thermal modality integration for low-light imaging and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) applications . Scientific awards include IAPR Best Biometrics Student Paper Award (2024) Best Student Paper - Runner Up at BMVC 2021 . He has advised multiple students, including Yuxiang, Vishal, and Susmit, and contributed to projects on HDR deghosting, image fusion, and deep learning for computer vision tasks.
Andreas Kunz is a Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, where he leads the Innovation Center for Virtual Reality (ICVR). His research focuses on developing user-oriented virtual and mixed reality systems tailored for industrial applications across product development processes and digital factories. Current Affiliation: ETH Zurich, Institute for Machine Tools Research Themes: Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Twin Systems Since joining ETH Zurich in 1994 and completing his habilitation in 2004 on "Interaction with the digital product model in virtual space," Kunz has pioneered VR systems for visualization, collaboration, and haptic interfaces in industrial contexts. His work combines academic research with practical implementation through industry collaborations. Recent research trends show increasing focus on real-world VR applications including: Multiuser redirected walking algorithms Attention guidance systems Industrial MTM motion transcription Smartphone-MR device integration Eye tracking for cognitive analysis Haptic interfaces for control panels The ICVR group under Kunz's leadership maintains strong industry partnerships while producing significant publications in IEEE VR, ISMAR, and ACM VRST conferences. Their work bridges theoretical VR research with practical implementations in manufacturing, assembly, and safety-critical environments.
Lucca Zachmann is a Lecturer at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich. His research focuses on farmer decision-making in perennial crop production, combining behavioral economics and quantitative methods to explore supply chain dynamics and plant protection strategies, particularly in viticulture. PhD in Agricultural Economics and Policy (ETH Zurich, 2021-2024) Master of Gastronomy (University of Gastronomic Sciences, 2018-2019) Master of Arts and Bachelor in Economics (University of Zurich, 2014-2016, 2010-2013) His research areas include agricultural economics, environmental economics, and wine economics. He utilizes survey data and geospatial analysis to study sustainable transformation in agri-food systems, with a focus on evidence-based policy and interdisciplinary collaborations. Recent publications analyze fungus-resistant grape adoption, organic wine labeling, and aesthetic-driven pesticide use in apple production. His work bridges economic theory with practical insights for policymakers aiming to align agricultural practices with sustainability goals. He teaches courses on microeconomics in agriculture, sustainable pest management, and data-driven projects. Outside academia, he is involved in open-source software development, including tools for Strava data visualization and crowd-sourced agricultural data collection.
