Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
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.
Prof. Christian Holz is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Deputy Head of the Institute of Intelligent Interactive Systems at ETH Zürich. His work focuses on advancing human-computer interaction through innovations in wearable technologies, mixed reality systems, and sensor-driven applications. Key research areas include motion capture, physiological signal processing, and adaptive user interfaces. Holz leads the SIPLab (siplab.ethz.ch), producing influential work at the intersection of computer science and biomedical engineering. His research explores cutting-edge topics such as egocentric vision systems, wearable health monitoring devices, and VR/AR applications. Recent studies investigate cybersickness detection via EEG, heart rate estimation from eye-tracking cameras, and scalable motion capture using inertial/UWB sensors. Holz's work emphasizes practical applications in healthcare, education, and human-centered computing. Publications reflect a strong focus on interdisciplinary solutions, combining machine learning with sensor data analysis. Notable contributions include the EgoSim multi-view simulator, WildPPG biomedical dataset, and MiBOT cardiovascular modulation device. His research bridges theoretical advancements with real-world usability in domains like emergency response training, chronic disease monitoring, and immersive education.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
Ali H. Sayed is the Dean of the School of Engineering (Faculté des sciences et techniques de l'ingénieur - STI) at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where he also directs the Adaptive Systems Laboratory (Laboratoire de systèmes adaptatifs). Previously, he served as an emeritus professor and chair of the Electrical Engineering Department at UCLA. He is a highly cited researcher and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the World Academy of Sciences. Sayed served as president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2018 and 2019. Professor Sayed's research focuses on adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, multi-agent systems, adaptive networks, and optimization. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in signal processing, machine learning, and network science. He has made significant contributions to distributed learning algorithms, social learning over networks, and adaptive signal processing techniques that have influenced both academic research and practical implementations. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on multi-agent systems, distributed learning, privacy-preserving techniques, and social learning over networks. The research trends show increasing emphasis on federated learning with privacy guarantees, graph-based learning approaches, and the intersection of social dynamics with information processing. His work consistently addresses fundamental theoretical questions while maintaining relevance to practical applications in communication networks, social media analysis, and distributed artificial intelligence systems. Professor Sayed has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his career, including: IEEE Fourier Award (2022) Norbert Wiener Society Award (2020) IEEE Signal Processing Society Education Award (2015) Papoulis Award from the European Association for Signal Processing (2014) Technical Achievement Award from IEEE Signal Processing Society (2012) Terman Award from the American Society for Engineering Education (2005) IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize (1996) Multiple Best Paper Awards from IEEE and EURASIP Sayed has authored or co-authored over 570 publications and six monographs. He has mentored numerous PhD students and researchers in the fields of signal processing and adaptive systems. His editorial leadership includes serving as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (2003-2005) and EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing (2006-2007), as well as Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access Book Series on Information and Learning Sciences. At EPFL, Professor Sayed leads the Adaptive Systems Laboratory, which focuses on developing theoretical frameworks and practical algorithms for adaptive systems, networked learning, and distributed signal processing. The lab's research encompasses both fundamental theoretical investigations and applications to real-world problems in communications, social networks, and computational biology.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
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.
Prof. Raffaello D'Andrea is a Full Professor at ETH Zürich's Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, affiliated with the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control. His research focuses on bridging digital and physical worlds through robotics, control systems, and autonomous systems. He has pioneered work in aerial robotics, swarm systems, tactile sensing, and soft robotics. His philosophy emphasizes solving 'easy' problems with scalable, robust solutions, prioritizing simplicity and replicability. Key research areas include UAV navigation, distributed control, tactile sensor design, and fault-tolerant systems. He has founded multiple organizations and led roles as CTO/CEO, emphasizing cross-disciplinary innovation. His work has commercial applications in logistics, healthcare, and automation, driven by a belief in technology's role in improving human life. Notable projects include the Cubli robotic cube, aerial vehicle swarms, and optical tactile sensors for robotics. His lab emphasizes collaboration and team leadership, aiming to translate theoretical insights into practical, scalable technologies. Scientific awards: None explicitly listed in the provided texts. Advising and grants: No students listed in the provided texts; grants information not detailed. Labs/Teams: Leads research at ETH Zurich's Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, collaborating with industry and academic partners globally.
Prof. Michael Moor is a tenure-track Assistant Professor for Medical AI at ETH Zurich's Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel. Previously, he conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University under Prof. Jure Leskovec, focusing on medical foundation models. His work spans causal learning, multimodal AI, and sepsis prediction. Moor holds an MD from the University of Basel and a PhD from ETH Zurich's Machine Learning and Computational Biology Lab under Prof. Karsten Borgwardt. Research Interests: Generalist medical AI models Multimodal medical reasoning Zero-shot and few-shot learning Clinical causal inference Retrieval-augmented language models Sepsis prediction systems Key Achievements: Published foundational work in Nature (2023) on generalist medical AI Developed Med-Flamingo multimodal model (2023) Zero-shot causal learning framework accepted to NeurIPS 2023 (Spotlight) International sepsis prediction study with 156k ICU patients (2023) Lab Activities: Leads ETH's Medical Foundation Models group, collaborating with Stanford HAI and NASA Ames. Active in creating medical AI benchmarks like AgentClinic and developing retrieval-augmented systems like Almanac.
Prof. Dr. Otmar Hilliges is a Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. He leads the AIT lab and serves as the head of the Institute of Intelligent Interactive Systems. His research focuses on spatio-temporal understanding of human movement and interaction, leveraging algorithms and representations from videos, images, and sensor data for applications in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Human-Robot Interaction. Education: Diplom (MSc) in Computer Science, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany PhD in Computer Science, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany (2009) Research Interests: Hilliges' work spans computer vision, robotics, and human-computer interaction. He develops methods for 3D human pose estimation, generative models for realistic avatar creation, and physically plausible simulation of human-object interactions. His research emphasizes practical applications in AR/VR and assistive robotics, aiming to bridge the gap between perception and action. Grants & Contributions: ERC Consolidator Grant (2022-2027): 'AI-Perceive: Robust Human-Centric Computer Vision for Advanced AI-Agents' Google Research Agreement (2020-2025): 'Generative Modelling of Humans' Microsoft Research Grants: Focus on human-centric robotics and interactive technologies Labs & Teams: Leads the AIT Lab at ETH Zurich, which pioneers research in intelligent interactive systems, emphasizing human-centric AI and robotics. The lab collaborates on projects ranging from drone cinematography to haptic feedback systems.
Dr. Vakil Takhaveev is a Lecturer at ETH Zurich's Department of Health Sciences and Technology, within the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health. His research focuses on DNA damage mechanisms, aging, cancer, and neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on developing novel DNA-damage-sequencing methods like click-code-seq and TRABI-Seq . He investigates anticancer drug action (e.g., trabectedin), aging clocks using DNA oxidation profiling, and stress-induced carcinogenesis. His work integrates multi-omics approaches and advanced sequencing techniques. Research Directions: Novel DNA-Damage-Sequencing Methods: Developed click-code-seq and TRABI-Seq for genomic mapping of DNA lesions and repair dynamics. Anticancer Drug Action: Explored mechanisms of trabectedin and other chemotherapeutics, linking DNA repair vulnerabilities to therapy resistance. Aging Clocks: Created DNA oxidation-based biomarkers for biological aging using genome-wide profiling in human and mouse models. Stress-Induced Pathologies: Studies metabolic and DNA damage links to early tumorigenesis and neurodegeneration. Awards & Recognition: 2025 Public Award Winner in PIs of Tomorrow competition 2024 ETH Zurich Career Seed Award Best presentation awards (Swiss Chemical Society, American Chemical Society) Grants & Collaborations: Impetus grants for aging clock development Swiss Chemical Society and American Chemical Society fellowships Labs & Teams: Leads research on DNA damage and aging mechanisms at ETH Zurich, collaborating with international groups in oncology and toxicology.
Dr. Robert Huber serves as a Lecturer at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich, specializing in Agricultural Economics and Policy. His research focuses on the integration of interdisciplinary knowledge to analyze and evaluate management and policy options that promote sustainable development in the agricultural sector. Institution: ETH Zürich Department: Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Focus: Sustainable Agriculture and Policy Methodologies: Bio-economic and agent-based modeling Dr. Huber's research explores how multifunctional agricultural sectors can provide essential non-market goods and services while maintaining their primary economic function of food production. His work applies bio-economic and agent-based modeling techniques to understand farmers' decision-making processes regarding ecosystem services provision, coupled with economic valuation techniques to analyze societal demand for these services. His research aims to identify effective and efficient policy measures that align supply and demand for ecosystem services at landscape scale. His recent publications demonstrate strong expertise in agricultural policy analysis, climate change mitigation strategies, sustainable farming practices, and innovative modeling approaches. His work spans topics from herbicide-free agriculture using remote sensing technologies to biodiversity enhancement in agricultural landscapes and the cost-effectiveness of different climate change mitigation policies at various scales. Remote sensing applications in sustainable agriculture Behavioral aspects of farmer decision-making Policy evaluation methodologies Climate change adaptation in farming systems Economic valuation of ecosystem services Digitalization impacts on agricultural policy Dr. Huber has published extensively in high-impact journals including Journal of Agricultural Economics, People and Nature, and Q Open. His collaborative research often involves interdisciplinary teams addressing complex agricultural sustainability challenges. His publications demonstrate a consistent focus on practical policy implications derived from rigorous empirical analysis.
Emilio Frazzoli is a Full Professor at ETH Zurich’s Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. He leads the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control and the Center for Sustainable Future Mobility, focusing on autonomous systems, robotics, and socio-technical control frameworks. Current affiliations: ETH Zurich (Dynamic Systems and Control, Sustainable Future Mobility) Research: Autonomous mobility-on-demand, game theory for resource allocation, and safety verification in multi-agent systems His work bridges robotics, control theory, and economics, with projects like the open-source AMoDeus simulation framework for autonomous taxis and karma-based resource allocation systems. Recent publications emphasize trustworthy AI, reproducibility in autonomous vehicle control, and human-robot interaction challenges. Notable projects include nuReality (VR-based pedestrian interaction studies) and CARSI II (context-driven vehicle interfaces).
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
Professor Nick Chater is a leading figure in the field of Behavioural Science, affiliated with the University of Warwick at Warwick Business School since 2010. He has held previous chairs in psychology at Warwick and UCL. His research spans cognitive and social foundations of rationality, with applications to business and public policy, and he has authored over 200 papers and six books. He is a fellow of the British Academy, Cognitive Science Society, and Association for Psychological Science. His research interests include cognitive science, behavioral economics, decision making, and computational psychology, with a focus on reasoning, language, and mathematical modeling of mental processes. He has been recognized with prestigious awards such as the Spearman Medal, Experimental Psychology Society Prize, and the David E Rumelhart Prize for lifetime achievement in cognitive science. His work extends to practical applications through co-founding Decision Technology and advising the UK government's Climate Change Committee and the Behavioural Insight Team. Recent publications highlight his interdisciplinary approach, bridging economics, cognitive science, computational modeling, and behavioral public policy. Topics include thermal macroeconomic theory, Bayesian sampling, paradoxes in cognition, and language emergence via social interaction. These works emphasize probability judgments, moral cognition, and computational limitations in human inference. British Psychological Society's Spearman Medal (1996) Experimental Psychology Society Prize (1997) David E Rumelhart Prize (2023) PROSE Award (2019) Chater's academic contributions include collaborations with researchers like Adam N. Sanborn, Hossam Zeitoun, and Morten H. Christiansen, focusing on Bayesian inference, behavioral public policy, and cognitive modeling. He has also been a resident scientist on BBC Radio 4's The Human Zoo.
Paolo Tonella is a Full Professor and Director of the Software Institute at the Faculty of Informatics, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland. He also holds an Honorary Professorship at University College London (UK) and previously led the Software Engineering group at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy). His research focuses on software testing, analysis, and AI-driven systems. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers and 100 journal articles, with an H-index of 72. He teaches courses in Data and Software Engineering and Informatics, including Information Modeling, Probability & Statistics, and Knowledge Search. Key contributions include foundational work on web application testing (ICSE MIP award), evolutionary testing techniques (eToc/EvoSuite tools), and reverse engineering of object-oriented systems. He led the ERC-funded PRECRIME project on anticipatory testing. His recent work addresses AI dependability, autonomous systems testing, and deep learning fault analysis. Scientific awards include the ICSE MIP Award (2001) and ERC Advanced Grant (2018). He has served on editorial boards for major journals like IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and ACM TOSEM. Current roles include leadership in the Software Institute and organizing the SIESTA summer school.
Prof. Claudio J. Tessone is a Professor of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich. He serves as Head of the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies group, Chairman of the UZH Blockchain Center, and is incharge of the NetSci Society. His academic background includes a PhD in Physics (Complex Systems) and an Habilitation in Complex Socio-Economic Systems from ETH Zurich. Education: PhD in Physics (2006): Thesis on synchronization in stochastic systems, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain Habilitation (2015): Thesis on agent-based modeling of socio-economic systems, ETH Zurich Master in Physics (1999): Thesis on stochastic resonance, Instituto Balseiro, Argentina Research Interests: Prof. Tessone specializes in modeling complex socio-economic and socio-technical systems, with a focus on blockchain-based systems. His work explores crypto-economics, blockchain scalability, decentralized finance (DeFi), and the interplay between micro-level agent behavior and macro-level emergent properties. Notable areas include transaction network analysis in Bitcoin/Ethereum, consensus mechanisms (Proof-of-Stake/Work), and blockchain governance models. Publications Trends: Recent articles emphasize empirical blockchain analysis (e.g., Ethereum microvelocity, Bitcoin mesoscopic structure), DeFi arbitrage strategies, and privacy-preserving blockchain applications in healthcare. His work bridges theoretical agent-based models with real-world blockchain datasets, addressing both technical and socio-economic dimensions of distributed ledger technologies. Grants & Labs: Director of the UZH Summer School on Blockchain and Certificate of Advanced Studies program. Active in interdisciplinary collaborations through the URPP Social Networks (2015–2021) and ETH Zurich’s Systems Design group (2007–2014). Labs/Initiatives: Leads the UZH Blockchain Center, a hub for academic-industry research on blockchain applications in finance, governance, and digital transformation.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
Thomas Demeester is an Associate Professor at the Internet Technology and Data Science Lab (IDLab), Ghent University - imec, Belgium. Appointed as Assistant Professor in 2019, he leads an AI research group focused on health applications and drug design, co-directing the Text-to-Knowledge research cluster with Prof. Chris Develder. His educational background includes: M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Ghent University (2005), completed with thesis work at ETH Zurich Ph.D. in Computational Electromagnetics from Ghent University (2009), funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Demeester's research spans artificial intelligence with emphasis on deep learning and neuro-symbolic methods. Current tracks include energy-based models (Hopfield Networks, Deep Equilibrium Models), diffusion models for drug design, and clinical reasoning systems. His work bridges NLP, healthcare informatics, and generative AI with strong industry partnerships. Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal strategic expansion from NLP into health-centric AI: BioLORD biomedical encoders (2023), synthetic medical data frameworks (UAI/NeurIPS 2024), and novel diffusion model guidance (ICLR 2025). This evolution demonstrates convergence of generative modeling, clinical data analysis, and protein design. He actively mentors 24 PhD students across diverse AI domains: Current Research: Conversational agents, emotion analysis, clinical reasoning, antibody design, and diffusion model optimization Recent Graduates: Interpretable language models, biomedical semantics, task-oriented dialogue, and social media knowledge extraction Research is supported by imec funding and collaborations with Flemish biotech companies, building on his post-doctoral experience securing media-sector projects. Within IDLab, he co-leads the Text-to-Knowledge cluster driving NLP innovations for healthcare, legal, and economic applications.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
Giancarlo Ferrari Trecate is an Adjunct Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) , affiliated with the School of Engineering and the SCI-STI-GFT department. He is also involved in teaching and research through the STI-SGM and EDRS-ENS programs. Research Interests : Automatic control, state estimation, system identification, machine learning, distributed control, hybrid systems, microgrids, biochemical networks, voltage and frequency stabilization in AC/DC microgrids. Publications Trends : His recent work focuses on integrating Neural ODEs and Hamiltonian structures for stable control systems, regret minimization in distributed control, and robust state estimation under uncertainty. Applications include autonomous mobility-on-demand , power grid optimization , and secure microgrid control against cyber-attacks. Scientific Awards : No specific awards mentioned in the provided data. Teaching & Advising : He supervises PhD students in mechanical engineering and teaches courses on Multivariable control and Networked control systems . His lab, DECODE , specializes in Dependable Control and Decision systems.
