Axel Polleres is a full professor at the Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management in Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien). He leads the department of Information Systems and Operations Management while maintaining active research in knowledge graphs, semantic web technologies, and ontology engineering. PhD and Habilitation from Vienna University of Technology Former positions at University of Innsbruck, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, DERI Ireland, and Siemens AG Co-chair of W3C SPARQL working group Editorial board member for Semantic Web Journal and IJSWIS His research focuses on: Querying and reasoning over ontologies Graph schema languages (SHACL, SPARQL) Wikidata constraint formalization Ontology reuse in collaborative platforms Crisis management knowledge graphs FAIR data principles implementation Recent publications analyze knowledge graph evolution, constraint validation methodologies, and semantic web standardization efforts. Key topics include: OWL/RDF interoperability solutions Unit conversion systems for Wikidata Partition-based query processing frameworks Network resilience analysis for urban planning Open data platform discovery tools Temporal analysis of collaborative knowledge graphs He has co-organized major conferences like ISWC2023 and ESWC workshops while maintaining active roles in European research projects. Current work involves spatiotemporal knowledge graphs for city resilience and semantic web infrastructure development.
Gerti Kappel is a full professor at the Institute of Information Systems Engineering at TU Wien, affiliated with the Business Informatics Group (BIG). Since 2020, she has served as Dean of the Faculty of Informatics at TU Wien, previously holding the role of Dean’s team member responsible for research, diversity, and financial affairs (2016–2019). She previously held a full professorship in computer science (database systems) and led the Department of Information Systems at Johannes Kepler University Linz (1993–2001). Her research focuses on Model Engineering, Web Engineering, and Process Engineering, particularly in cyber-physical production systems. She has co-authored influential works such as UML@Work (2005), UML@Classroom (2015), and Web Engineering (2006). Key projects include leadership roles in Vienna Informatics Living Lab (2018–2019), MPM4CPS (2014–2019), and ARTIST (2012–2015), addressing topics like model versioning, cloud architecture modeling, and inter-organizational systems. Her recent articles explore circular systems engineering, IoT-based simulation environments, and model-driven approaches for time-series analytics and cloud applications. She actively contributes to academic governance, including managing the Office of the Dean (E199-01) and overseeing faculty services. Her work emphasizes bridging theory and practice through collaborative frameworks like ERPEL and TROPIC . Grants: Projects funded by Austrian Research Promotion Agency, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, Vienna Business Agency, and others. Advising: Supervised over 15 graduate theses, including recent works on model-driven techniques for railway planning, debugging frameworks for modeling tools, and cloud-based IDEs. Labs/Teams: Leads research within the Business Informatics Group (BIG) and collaborates with the Vienna Informatics Living Lab for applied systems engineering.
Takashi Gojobori (born October 24, 1951) is a Japanese molecular biologist who serves as Vice-Director of the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) and Professor at the Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) in Mishima, Japan. He also holds multiple visiting positions including Special Research Consultant at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Visiting Professor at Keio University, Tokyo University, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Visiting Research Director at RIKEN. His educational background includes a Ph.D. from Kyushu University (1979), followed by research positions at the University of Texas at Houston (1979-1983), Washington University in St. Louis (1985, 1986), and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London (1989). Professor Gojobori's research spans multiple areas of molecular and evolutionary biology. His work focuses on comparative genomics, molecular evolution, viral evolution, and bioinformatics. He has made significant contributions to understanding the rates of synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions, positive selection, horizontal gene transfer, and genome evolution. More recently, he has been investigating the evolution of the brain and central nervous system. His extensive publication record includes 389 peer-reviewed articles as of May 2012, reflecting his broad impact across multiple fields of biological research. His work shows a consistent focus on evolutionary mechanisms at the molecular level, with applications ranging from viral evolution to comparative genomics across diverse organisms including humans, plants, and model organisms like Hydra. Scientific Awards 2009: The Medal with Purple Ribbon from the government of Japan 2007: Academician Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican 2006: Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA 2005: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), USA 2005: Society Prize (Kihara Medal), The Genetic Society of Japan 2004: Society Prize (Motoo Kimura Medal), The Society of Evolutionary Studies, Japan 2004: The Gaetano Salvatore Gold Medal, Statione Zoologica, Anton Dohrn, Italy 1997: Science Award from Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Japan 1995: Science Award from Hitoshi Kihara Memorial Foundation, Japan 1987: Promotion Award from Japanese Society of Genetics, Japan Professor Gojobori has served in numerous editorial capacities, including as Founding Editor of Genome Biology and Evolution, Executive Editor of GENE, and Associate Editor for several major journals. He has also held significant administrative roles including Program Director of the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) of the Japanese government and Science Officer of MEXT. His contributions to international genomic databases including DDBJ/GenBank/EMBL and the H-Invitational human gene database have been instrumental in advancing global genomics research. As Director of the Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan from 1994-2009, Professor Gojobori led important initiatives in biological data management and analysis. His work continues to influence the field through his leadership roles in international scientific organizations including the International Genetics Federation and CODATA/ICSU.
Wolfgang Nejdl is a Full Professor of Computer Science at Leibniz Universität Hannover since 1995 and the Head of the L3S Research Center since 2001. His research focuses on Web Science, search and information retrieval, semantic web technologies, peer-to-peer infrastructures, databases, technology-enhanced learning, and artificial intelligence. Education: M.Sc. (1984) and Ph.D. (1988) in Computer Science from Vienna University of Technology. Previous Positions: Assistant Professor in Vienna (1988–1992), Associate Professor at RWTH Aachen (1992–1995), and visiting professor/researcher at Xerox PARC, Stanford, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, EPFL Lausanne, and PUC Rio. His research spans foundational and applied Web technologies, including social networks, trust and reputation, Web infrastructure, digital libraries, semantic web, collaborative filtering, and privacy-preserving systems. Recent projects like PHAROS, OKKAM, LiWA, and LivingKnowledge highlight his work in audio-visual search, web entities, web archive management, and diversity bias algorithms. Wolfgang Nejdl published over 230 scientific articles and held leadership roles as General Chair for AH'08 and PC Chair for WWW'09. He co-founded iSearch IT Solutions in 2006 to commercialize digital library and web engineering research from L3S projects. Scientific Awards: Founding member and head of the L3S Research Center The L3S Research Center, with a 2009 budget of €6 million (75% third-party funding), focuses on connecting the Web to real-world entities through research in Web Science, service computing, and security. Funding comes equally from the European Union and national/industry sources.
Wolfgang Sandberger (b. 1961) is a Professor of Musicology and Director of the Brahms-Institut at Musikhochschule Lübeck. Specializing in German music history from the 17th to 19th centuries, he focuses on composers like Brahms, Bach, and Handel, as well as music philology and reception history. He has secured over €1 million in grants from DFG and Schleswig-Holstein for digitization projects, advancing musicological research accessibility. Education: Master's in Musicology, Philosophy, and History (Münster/Hamburg); PhD in Musicology His research integrates interdisciplinary approaches, including iconography, performance practice, and editorial methodologies. He leads major editorial projects such as the Brahms-Briefwechsel-Verzeichnis and Göttinger Händel-Beiträge. Sandberger holds leadership roles in organizations including the Göttinger Händelgesellschaft and the International Dieterich Buxtehude Society, fostering collaborative scholarly initiatives. Awarded the Joachim Jungius Society of Sciences Award (1996), he emphasizes outreach through radio collaborations and public engagement with Brahms' legacy. His work bridges academic rigor with public dissemination, making complex musicological research accessible to broader audiences.
Ahmet Tekalp is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Koc University's College of Engineering since 2001. He holds dual citizenship in Turkey and the USA, with prior academic roles at the University of Rochester (1986-2005) and research positions at Eastman Kodak (1984-1987) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1981-1984). He chairs the Electronics and Informatics Group at TUBITAK since 2004 as a part-time position. B.S. (1980) in Electrical Engineering & Mathematics, Bogaziçi University M.S. (1982) and Ph.D. (1984) in Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute His research focuses on digital image and video processing, including video compression, motion-compensated filtering for high-resolution applications, video segmentation, object tracking, content-based video analysis, multi-camera surveillance processing, and digital content protection. He has led numerous European and U.S. grants, including FP7 STREP projects and NSF awards, emphasizing applications in sensor networks, visual databases, and medical imaging. His scholarly work spans diverse areas such as superresolution reconstruction, head gesture animation, 3DTV streaming, and reversible data hiding. He has played pivotal roles in editorial boards, including serving as Editor-in-Chief of Signal Processing: Image Communication, and has contributed to major standards bodies like ISO MPEG and ANSI NCITS. Member, Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) Fellow, IEEE Fulbright Senior Scholarship (1999) TUBITAK Science Award (2004) IEEE Signal Processing Society Distinguished Lecturer (1998) He has led multiple international research collaborations and projects, including European FP6/FP7 networks and NATO programs, with substantial grant funding from NSF, NYSTAR, and industry partners like Eastman Kodak, Xerox, and Siemens.
Willy Zwaenepoel is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney. He holds a B.S. from the University of Gent and M.S./Ph.D. from Stanford University. Previously, he served as Dean of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL and was a faculty member at Rice University. His expertise spans operating systems, distributed systems, and high-performance computing. Education: B.S., University of Ghent, Belgium (1979) M.S., Stanford University (1980) Ph.D., Stanford University (1984) Research Interests: Dr. Zwaenepoel focuses on distributed systems, operating systems, and their applications in database replication, virtual machine performance, and software update mechanisms. His work includes foundational contributions to distributed shared memory (e.g., Treadmarks) and startups like iMimic Networking. Awards: ACM Fellow (2000) IEEE Fellow (1998) Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering (2020) Recipient of the IEEE Tsutomu Kanai Award (2007) Key Contributions: His research addresses challenges in distributed systems performance, such as latency reduction in key-value stores and efficient graph processing. Current projects explore I/O optimization in virtualized environments and causal consistency for geo-replicated systems. Students/Advising: Advises Ph.D. students and postdocs, including William in database replication. His mentorship led to the Rice University Teaching Award (2000).
Torsten Hoefler is a Full Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, with an adjunct appointment in Electrical Engineering. He previously held roles at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Indiana University. Full Professor of Computer Science, ETH Zurich (2020–present) Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering, ETH Zurich (2020–present) Member at Large, ACM SIGHPC Executive Committee (2013–present) Leadership roles in the MPI Forum and Blue Waters project His research focuses on performance-centric system design , with emphasis on scalable networking, parallel programming models, and performance modeling. Key contributions include the Slim Fly network topology, Data-Centric Python framework, and innovations in parallel graph computations and RDMA-based systems. Recent publications span topics like LLM training networks , quantization geometry , chiplet interconnects , and AI-driven climate modeling , reflecting his interdisciplinary approach combining HPC, AI, and hardware-software co-design. ACM Gordon Bell Prize (2019) ERC Consolidator Grant (2020) IEEE TCSC Award for Excellence (2019) SIAM SIAG/SC Junior Scientist Prize (2012) Latsis Prize of ETH Zurich (2015) He has received multiple best paper awards at top conferences (SC10, SC13, SC14, SC19, IPDPS'15, HPDC'15, OOPSLA'16) and contributed to MPI-3 standardization.
Johann Eder is a full professor for Information and Communication Systems at the Department of Informatics Systems, University of Klagenfurt, Austria, and currently serves as Deputy Head of Department. He previously held positions at the Universities of Linz, Hamburg, Vienna, and Klagenfurt, and was Vice President of the Austrian Science Funds (FWF) from 2005-2013. He was also a visiting scholar at AT&T Shannon Labs, NJ. Educational Background: Diplom-Ingenieur, University of Linz Doctor of Technical Sciences, University of Linz Johann Eder's research focuses on databases, information systems, and data management for medical research, including temporal information modeling, process evolution, and workflow systems. His work spans temporal data warehousing, exception handling in workflows, and application interoperability, with a particular emphasis on privacy and quality in medical data lakes and federated biobanks. Recent publications highlight trends in temporal reasoning for business processes, medical data quality, and service composition optimization. His editorial roles include positions at ACM Transactions on Database Systems and IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering . He leads the Information and Communication Systems Research Group at AAU, contributing to projects like federated biobank integration and blockchain-based smart contracts.
Hanspeter Wieland is a Researcher at the Institute of Social Ecology within the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). He has been affiliated with BOKU since 2023, following his position at Vienna University for Economics and Business (2013-2022). He holds a Master of Science in Social Ecology from the University of Klagenfurt (completed 2016). His research focuses on environmental economics and resource flows, with expertise in: Material flow analysis and industrial ecology Carbon and environmental footprinting methodologies Global resource inequalities and circular economy transitions Sustainable resource policy and input-output modeling His 21 publications (2016-2025) demonstrate consistent focus on resource flow accounting, with recent work emphasizing: Global material stock dynamics and recycling systems Methodological advances in multi-regional input-output analysis Ecological unequal exchange between Global North/South Policy applications for EU resource efficiency transitions He contributes as peer reviewer for leading journals including Nature Geoscience , Ecological Economics , and Journal of Industrial Ecology . Current research projects include: Resilience and Malleability of Social Metabolism (FWF, 2024-2029) EEA: Investigating material stocks in Europe (2024-2025) Fostering federal climate policies via carbon footprints (FFG, 2024-2026) Developing circular pathways for EU low-carbon transition (EC, 2022-2026)
Klaus Richter is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, affiliated with the Department of Functional Materials and Catalysis. His research spans materials science, catalysis, and thermodynamics. Academic Rank: Associate Professor (ao. Univ.-Prof.) Research Focus: Phase diagrams, intermetallic compounds, vapour-solid synthesis, and catalytic applications for hydrogen production Projects: Notable work on Al-Cu-X (X=Si, Zn) phase diagrams and intermetallic nanoparticle synthesis Richter’s publications emphasize sustainable energy solutions through intermetallic catalysts, with recent studies on Ni-Te and Pt-Zn nanoparticles for green hydrogen production. His work integrates computational modeling (CALPHAD) with experimental phase analysis. Key scientific awards include the APDIC Best Paper Award (2014) and JPED Editors Choice Award (2018). He actively contributes to conferences and collaborative research in intermetallic systems.
Roman Krivko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Slavonic Studies , University of Vienna. His research focuses on Old Church Slavonic , Byzantine hymnography , and historical linguistics of Slavic languages. Specializes in medieval Slavic epigraphy and liturgical text analysis Key contributor to studies on Christian traditions in Slavic contexts Active editor and researcher in international Slavic studies Research Themes include: Quantitative analysis of loanwords in Slavic Gospels Textological studies of service menaia and kontakia Historical development of Old Bulgarian language Linguistic networks in Central/Eastern Europe Scientific Contributions span Editorial work on Slověne journal Notable publications on the Temnić inscription and Samuil's epigraph Collaborations with institutions like Vinogradov Russian Language Institute
Christos H. Papadimitriou is a prominent academic currently serving as the Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. He has held prestigious positions at institutions including UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Stanford University, and MIT. His research spans the theory of algorithms, computational complexity, and game theory, with significant contributions to databases and optimization. Education: Electrical Engineering at National Technical University of Athens, Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University. Papadimitriou's work bridges computer science with economics, focusing on computational complexity and game theory. His influential textbooks, such as Elements of the Theory of Computation and Computational Complexity and Combinatorial Optimization , remain foundational resources. Awards: Knuth Prize, Gödel Prize (jointly with Elias Koutsoupias), IEEE Charles Babbage Award, Kalai Game Theory and Computer Science Prize, IEEE John von Neumann Medal, and multiple honorary doctorates from institutions like ETH Zurich and EPFL. Memberships: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering, Academia Europaea, and US National Academy of Sciences. With over 300 publications and 25,000 citations, his novel Turing (2003) also highlights his interdisciplinary creativity.
Ulrike Sattler is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, where she also serves as Deputy Head of Department and Senior Mentor. Her academic journey includes a PhD from RWTH Aachen University (1998) and a Habilitation from the University of Manchester (2003). She has held roles such as Reader and Senior Lecturer at Manchester, and previously worked as a Senior Researcher at TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen. Her research focuses on logic-based knowledge representation, automated reasoning, and Description Logics, with contributions to OWL ontology languages and standardization. Notable awards include the Friedrich Wilhelm Preis (1999) for her PhD thesis. She has co-supervised over 20 PhD students, including prominent figures like Birte Glimm and Matthew Horridge. Her service contributions include co-chairing conferences (KR 2010, IJCAR 2012), editorial roles in journals like JAR and JAIR, and leadership in the W3C OWL Working Group. She teaches courses on ontology engineering and semantic web technologies, emphasizing practical applications in molecular biology and knowledge graphs.
Lukas Grasmann is a Researcher at the Faculty of Informatics, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), based in the Databases and Artificial Intelligence research group (Institute E192-02, Room HA0302). His contact details include email lukas.grasmann@tuwien.ac.at and phone +43-1-58801-192216, with professional activities centered on cutting-edge database technologies and AI applications. His educational qualifications comprise: Bachelor of Science (BSc) Diplom-Ingenieur (Dipl.-Ing.) in Engineering Grasmann's research spans database systems and artificial intelligence with emphasis on big data analytics, distributed query processing, and skyline query optimization. His work focuses on integrating specialized query paradigms into Apache Spark SQL for efficient large-scale data analysis, particularly applied to perishable food supply chain optimization for waste reduction. This intersects computer science fundamentals with sustainability-driven practical implementations. His 2022-2023 publications reveal a concentrated research trajectory in enhancing Spark SQL's capabilities for skyline queries, addressing both theoretical optimization challenges and real-world deployment in distributed environments. The work demonstrates consistent innovation in bridging database theory with big data infrastructure, advancing scalable solutions for multi-criteria decision problems. Scientific recognition: No formal awards or fellowships documented in source materials Research funding and collaborations include: Lead researcher on FFG-funded project "AI-driven collaborative supply and demand matching platform for food waste reduction" (2022-2025) Contributor to HyperTrac project (2018-2022) focusing on traceability systems Active participant in KnowledgeGraph initiative (2020-2028) developing semantic knowledge networks He operates within TU Wien's Databases and Artificial Intelligence research ecosystem (Institute E192), collaborating with specialists like Pichler and Selzer on database scalability challenges. The group maintains strong industry connections through applied projects targeting supply chain intelligence and food waste analytics.
