Robert West is an Associate Professor at EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences , leading the Data Science Lab (dlab) . His research focuses on Natural Language Processing , Machine Learning , and Computational Social Science , analyzing human-generated data from the web, social media, and online platforms. Education : PhD in Computer Science (2016) - Stanford University MSc in Computer Science (2010) - McGill University BSc in Computer Science (2007) - Technische Universität München Research Interests : West develops algorithms for analyzing large-scale web data, with emphasis on multilingual NLP , social network analysis , and AI ethics . His work bridges machine learning with social science to understand digital human behavior. Scientific Awards : ICWSM’22 Adamic–Glance Distinguished Young Researcher Award Google Faculty Research Award Facebook Research Award Multiple Outstanding Paper Awards at ICWSM and WWW Advising & Grants : He advises 12 PhD students and has secured funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation , Swiss Data Science Center , and industry partners. His lab maintains collaborations with Microsoft Research and CROSS . Labs & Collaborations : West leads the Data Science Lab at EPFL, which focuses on web-scale data analysis , privacy-preserving machine learning , and AI for social good . The lab develops tools like Wikispeedia and Quotebank for public data exploration.
April Yi Wang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zürich, where she directs the Programming, Education, and Computer-Human Interaction Lab (PEACH Lab). She is a core faculty member at the Institute for Intelligent Interactive Systems and associated with the ETH AI Center. Wang is also an active member of ETH HCI and Swiss CHI communities, contributing significantly to human-computer interaction and educational technology research. Dr. Wang's educational background includes: Ph.D. in Information Science from University of Michigan (2023), advised by Steve Oney and Christopher Brooks M.Sc. in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University (2018), advised by Parmit Chilana B.Eng in Computer Science from Zhejiang University (2016) Dr. Wang's research focuses on human-centered approaches to programming and data science. Her work reimagines programming as a form of literature that communicates with both machines and people, exploring creative representations like text, shapes, animations, and everyday objects. She investigates how to make programming more natural and intuitive through literate programming environments, with applications in professional and educational contexts. Her research spans human-computer interaction, educational technology, and AI-assisted programming tools. Analysis of Dr. Wang's recent publications reveals a strong focus on AI-enhanced educational tools, particularly for programming and data literacy. Her work increasingly integrates large language models to scaffold learning while maintaining user agency. There's a clear trajectory toward developing situated learning approaches that connect abstract concepts to real-world contexts through augmented reality and tangible interfaces. Her research bridges HCI, education, and AI to create more accessible and engaging technical learning experiences. Dr. Wang has received numerous prestigious awards including: 2023 Gary M. Olson Award and Honourable Mention Award at ACM CHI 2022 Rising Stars in EECS and Heidelberg Laureate Forum Young Researcher 2020 Best Short Paper Award at IEEE VL/HCC and Honourable Mention at ACM CHI 2019 Best Paper Award at ACM CSCW Dr. Wang actively mentors students through thesis projects at ETH Zürich, supervising numerous bachelor's and master's students on topics ranging from AI-assisted programming to data literacy tools. Her lab, PEACH Lab, has secured funding including the recent innovedum funding for the Coducate project. She serves on program committees for major conferences including CHI and UIST, and regularly reviews for top HCI and education journals. The PEACH Lab, directed by Dr. Wang, focuses on creating expressive, intelligent, and human-centered systems that make technical topics more accessible. The lab explores textual, visual, and embodied representations for programming, with emphasis on enhancing communication, collaboration, and learning. Current research directions include balancing automation with user agency, supporting diverse learning needs, and developing tools for interdisciplinary technical communication.
Maksym Andriushchenko is an incoming faculty member at the ELLIS Institute Tübingen and Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems , where he will lead the AI Safety and Alignment group as a principal investigator. Currently, he is a Doctoral Assistant at the Theory of Machine Learning Laboratory (TML) within the Department of Computer Science (IINFCOM) at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) . His work focuses on AI safety, adversarial robustness, and alignment of large language models (LLMs) with societal values.
Professor Martin Schrimpf is a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EPFL, holding dual appointments in the School of Life Sciences (SV) and the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC). His research bridges computational neuroscience, deep learning, and cognitive science to model human natural intelligence in vision and language. He leads the NeuroAI Lab, focusing on aligning artificial neural networks with brain mechanisms and human behavior. Education: PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT (2017–2022), MSc in Software Engineering from TUM/LMU/UNA (2014–2017), and BSc in Information Systems from TUM (2011–2014). His work has been recognized with awards including the Neuro-Irv Open Science Prize, McGovern Fellowship, and Takeda AI+Health Fellowship. He co-founded Integreat, a social impact startup recognized with Google.org’s Impact Challenge and TUM’s Social Impact Award. Research interests include neuroAI, brain-like models, and clinical translation (e.g., visual prosthetics). He has published in top venues like Neuron, Nature Human Behavior, NeurIPS, and ICLR. Current projects involve developing topographic language models (TopoLM) and investigating causal language network interactions using LLMs. Teaching: Courses include Neuroscience Foundations for Engineers and Brain-like Computation and Intelligence . Supervised over 26 students, including PhD candidates Badr Alkhamissi, Ben Lönnqvist, and Yingtian Tang. Active in grants from SNSF, NeuroX, and EPFL’s AI Center. Labs/Teams: NeuroAI Lab at EPFL Neuro-X Institute. Future directions include advancing brain-inspired models for clinical applications and expanding interdisciplinary collaborations between neuroscience and AI.
Sebastian Raisch is a Full Professor of Strategic Management at the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM), University of Geneva, where he also serves as Director of the Executive MBA program. He is affiliated with the Institute of Management and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Geneva. His academic work is deeply rooted in understanding how organizations balance stability and change, particularly in the face of digital transformation. Research Interests: His primary areas of expertise include strategic management, organizational ambidexterity, organizational paradox, artificial intelligence in organizations, and digital transformation. His research investigates the dynamics of corporate growth and decline, strategic renewal, and the integration of human and artificial intelligence in organizational decision-making. He is especially interested in how firms navigate tensions between competing demands such as exploration and exploitation, automation and augmentation, and stability and innovation. Publications and Trends: His recent publications (2023–2025) show a strong shift toward the role of artificial intelligence in management, with a focus on hybrid human-AI systems, ethical AI, and the strategic implications of AI adoption. Earlier works center on ambidexterity, paradox theory, and corporate turnaround, establishing him as a leading scholar in these domains. Scientific Awards: Strategic Management Society’s Best PhD Paper Award Emerald Publishing Group’s Citation of Excellence Award Journal of Management’s Scholarly Impact Award Editorial and Professional Service: Sebastian Raisch serves as Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Review and sits on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal and the Strategic Management Journal . He has advised numerous doctoral students and supervised research projects on organizational innovation and digital strategy, though specific names are not listed in the provided materials. He has not received explicit mention of research grants, but his extensive publication record suggests active research funding. Labs and Research Teams: While no formal lab is mentioned, Raisch leads or contributes to research initiatives within the Institute of Management at GSEM, particularly in strategic management and digital innovation. He collaborates with scholars across Europe and the U.S., including notable co-authors like J. Schad, S. Krakowski, and M. Tushman.
Hoda Heidari is the K&L Gates Career Development Assistant Professor in Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), with joint appointments in the Machine Learning Department and the Institute for Software, Systems, and Society. She is affiliated with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, and co-leads the university-wide Responsible AI Initiative and K&L Gates Initiative for Ethics and Computational Technologies. Education: PhD in Computer and Information Science (University of Pennsylvania), MSc in Statistics (Wharton School) Her research focuses on the Ethical, Societal, and Policy Implications of AI , particularly fairness and accountability in high-stakes domains. Her work includes evaluating risks/benefits of general-purpose AI, human-AI decision-making systems, and AI governance frameworks. She has received multiple awards, including best paper honors at AIES, FAccT, and SAT-ML. Her research is supported by the NSF Program on Fairness in AI, PwC, CyLab, Meta, and J. P. Morgan. Recent Publications examine generative AI safety, fairness measurement, AI incident documentation, and ethical governance. Her teaching includes courses on Responsible AI, ML Ethics, and Societal Decision-Making, with a focus on preparing students to critically analyze AI's societal impact. Scientific Awards: Best Paper (AIES 2024, FAccT 2021, SAT-ML 2023), Exemplary Track Award (EC 2021) Grants: NSF, PwC, CyLab, Meta, J. P. Morgan She advises doctoral students and postdocs across CMU departments and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams. Her service includes organizing AI safety workshops and advising on NIST guidelines for AI red-teaming.
Gerold Schneider is an Associate Professor at the University of Zurich , affiliated with the Department of Computational Linguistics under the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics . He leads the Text Crunching Center (TCC) , focusing on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of NLP, Digital Humanities, and Health Data Science. Research Interests His work spans Text Analytics , Digital Humanities , Corpus Linguistics , and Health Data Science , with applications in: Biomedical NLP (e.g., Alzheimer’s detection, clinical trials) Digital Humanities projects (e.g., analyzing Charles Dickens, UN archives) Migration discourse framing across languages Adversarial data collection for hate speech detection Interdisciplinary methodologies for digital unstructured data Recent Publications 2025–2024 research highlights include annotated corpora for preclinical and neurological studies, AI-driven analysis of historical linguistic variation, and innovative tools for language learners. His NLP applications address health diagnostics, ethical AI, and cross-lingual political discourse. Labs & Teams As TCC leader, he spearheads collaborative projects within the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) communities (AI & Law, Health, Ethics, etc.), integrating computational methods with humanities and health research.
Elaine M. Huang is an Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, where she has served since 2010. She also leads the People and Computing Lab, focusing on the dynamic interplay between human practices and technological advancements. Her academic background includes: PhD in Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology (2006) Dr. Huang's research centers on human-computer interaction, examining the bidirectional relationship between technology and human practices. She is particularly known for her work on gender equality in technology, challenging assumptions about innate gender differences and investigating how AI systems may perpetuate biases. Her research also spans sustainable interaction design, mental health technologies, and chronic disease management, always emphasizing empirical data over intuition. Analysis of her recent publications (2023-2025) reveals a strong trajectory toward socially impactful HCI, with significant focus on health technologies (diabetes management, mental health), cultural sensitivity in design, and the ethical challenges of AI. Her methodology often involves field studies to understand real-world technology use, countering the industry's reliance on intuition. As head of the People and Computing Lab, Dr. Huang oversees a research group dedicated to designing and evaluating technologies that address complex human needs. The lab's work frequently involves co-design with diverse user communities to ensure relevance and inclusivity in technological solutions.
Lena Jäger is a Professor in the Department of Computational Linguistics at the University of Zurich (UZH). Her research focuses on the intersection of linguistics, computational cognitive science, and machine learning, particularly analyzing cognitive mechanisms underlying human language processing through experimental psycholinguistics, computational modeling, and NLP methods. She holds an MA in Chinese Language and Culture, an MSc in Experimental and Clinical Linguistics, a PhD in Cognitive Science, and a BSc in Computer Science. Prior to UZH, she led a Machine Learning Junior Research Group funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2020) and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Potsdam. Her work emphasizes developing machine learning methods for analyzing eye-tracking data to uncover cognitive processes reflected in eye movements. Notable contributions include creating multilingual eye-tracking corpora (e.g., MultiplEYE, PoTeC) and advancing tools like pymovements for data processing. Her research spans applications in language comprehension, biometric identification, and clinical diagnostics (e.g., ADHD detection via eye movements). Education: BA/MA: Chinese Language and Culture (University of Freiburg, Tongji University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Université Paris 7) MSc: Experimental and Clinical Linguistics (University of Potsdam) PhD: Cognitive Science (University of Potsdam) BSc: Computer Science (concurrent with PhD) Awards: Machine Learning Junior Research Group Grant (2020). Labs/Teams: Leads computational linguistics and machine learning research groups at UZH, collaborating on projects like ScanDL and CoLAGaze. Her recent work bridges AI and cognitive science, exploring how language models emulate human reading behaviors and developing frameworks for ethical AI applications. Ongoing projects include improving fairness in biometric identification systems and analyzing individual differences in reading through synthetic data.
Dr. Hongwei Wang is a Senior Researcher at Tencent AI Lab Seattle , specializing in applied machine learning for Natural Language Processing and Interconnected Systems . His work bridges Knowledge Graphs , Recommender Systems , and Graph Neural Networks , with a focus on large language models and retrieval-augmented generation. Ph.D. (2018), B.E. (2014) in Computer Science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Postdoctoral Researcher : Stanford University (2019-2021), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2021-2022) Dr. Wang’s research explores integrating Knowledge Graphs with Graph Neural Networks to enhance recommendation systems, language models, and information retrieval. His work spans Retrieval-Augmented Generation , Representation Learning , and GAN-based Graph Modeling , with recent papers on State-Space Exploration for LLM agents and Semantic Watermarking . His 15 most recent publications (2022-2024) focus on Retrieval Granularity , Interactive Memory , and Agent Systems , with keywords spanning Computer Science , Machine Learning , and Knowledge Graphs . Trends highlight advancements in Token-Level Semantic Matching , Schema-Guided Event Prediction , and Multi-Document Summarization . Scientific Awards: 2020 CCF Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award 2018 Google Ph.D. Fellowship Dr. Wang contributes to open-source projects like DKN and RippleNet , with 11 repositories on GitHub. He actively engages in Knowledge Graph Conferences (KDD, WWW, AAAI) and studies Chinese Classical Poetry and Film Arts .
Sai Praneeth Karimireddy is an Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC), with a courtesy appointment in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He previously held an SNSF postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley under Michael I. Jordan and earned his PhD at EPFL advised by Martin Jaggi. He co-leads the Federated Learning and Data Quality working group at MONAI (NVIDIA) and collaborates with researchers at Apple Research. His research lies at the intersection of optimization, machine learning, statistics, and economics, with a strong focus on federated learning, privacy-preserving machine learning, data valuation, and AI for healthcare. He investigates how data quality, privacy, and incentives shape collaborative ML systems, especially in high-stakes domains like medicine. His work has been deployed at companies such as Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Owkin. His recent publications span top-tier venues including NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and JMLR, with influential contributions such as the SCAFFOLD algorithm for federated learning. His research shows a consistent trend toward building robust, private, and incentive-compatible collaborative learning systems, with increasing emphasis on real-world deployment in healthcare and decentralized data markets. 2023 SNSF Mobility Fellowship 2022 Patrick Denantes Memorial Prize for best thesis in computer science 2022 EPFL thesis distinction (top 8%) 2021 Chorafas Foundation Prize for exceptional applied research Capitol One Fellow (2025) He is actively mentoring PhD students and leads a research group focused on foundational and applied challenges in federated and privacy-preserving ML. He teaches graduate courses at USC, including CSCI 599 on Optimization for Machine Learning and CSCI 699 on Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning. He serves as an area chair for ICLR 2025 and co-organizes major workshops on incentives in data sharing and federated learning. His lab collaborates with institutions like NVIDIA, Apple, and Argonne National Laboratory, and he is building a research program centered on sustainable, equitable, and trustworthy AI ecosystems.
Sylvie Delacroix is the Inaugural Jeff Price Chair in Digital Law and Director of the Centre for Data Futures at King's College London. She is also a Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, focusing on bridging theory and practice in ethics and public policy initiatives. Her research spans Data & machine ethics Ethical agency and habit Social sustainability of data ecosystems Participatory infrastructure for AI systems Uncertainty communication in LLMs Legal theory and digital law Recent publications address LLM interfaces as transitional spaces for democratic revival and sustainable data rivers in generative AI. Her work has attracted significant grant funding from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Omidyar Network. Scientific awards include the Leverhulme Prize Peter Birks 2d Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship Montgomery Fellowship at Dartmouth College She supervises PhD research on large language models and uncertainty communication, as well as habit in ethical lives. Her policy contributions include advising the Law Society of England and Wales on algorithmic justice systems.
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.
Jakub Macina is a Doctoral Fellow at the ETH AI Center and a PhD Candidate at ETH Zürich . He works in the intersection of Natural Language Processing and Learning Sciences as part of the Language, Reasoning and Education Lab (led by Prof. Mrinmaya Sachan) and the Professorship for Learning Sciences and Higher Education (led by Prof. Manu Kapur). Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science & Education 2023 Recipient of ETH AI Center Fellowship ( Co-founder of a health-tech startup with seed investment Research Interests : Focus on generative large language models (LLMs), dialogue tutoring systems , pedagogical alignment of AI models, and mathematical reasoning . His work explores: Reinforcement learning for pedagogical steering LLM evaluation frameworks Socratic question generation Stepwise error detection and remediation Student-teacher interaction modeling Publications span top conferences like EMNLP , ACL , NeurIPS , and RecSys , with particular emphasis on educational applications of LLMs and dialogue-based learning systems . Scientific Awards : Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Education (2023) 2nd Place in ACM IT SPY Computer Science Master's Thesis Competition (2017) ETH AI Center Fellowship (2021) Leadership & Teaching includes: Managing team of 6 data scientists Teaching Assistant for Machine Learning and NLP courses at ETH Zurich Developing large-scale ML pipelines for recommender systems Open-source contributions to Discourse and Google Summer of Code projects
Prof. Dr. Joshua Weidlich is an Assistant Professor for Digital Higher Education at the University of Zurich (UZH), collaborating with Zurich University of Education as a DIZH Bridge Professor. His academic background includes a PhD in Educational Technology from FernUniversität in Hagen, where he earned the Early Career Award for Outstanding Dissertation. He holds a BA in Educational Science from TU Chemnitz and an MA in E-Learning and Media Education from the University of Education Heidelberg. His research focuses on leveraging digital technologies to enhance higher education, emphasizing personalized feedback, feedback literacy, learning analytics, AI-driven environments, and social presence in online learning. Prior to UZH, he worked at the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, contributing to both research and teaching. Key achievements include pioneering work on social presence in distance learning, validated through frameworks like the Social Presence Measure, and exploring gender dynamics in STEM education. His recent studies address the impact of AI tools like ChatGPT in education and the role of feedback literacy in student success. Prof. Weidlich’s publications span educational technology, gender studies, and learning analytics, reflecting his commitment to advancing digital pedagogy and equitable educational practices. He actively contributes to the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at UZH, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on societal impacts of technology.
