Alan Mislove is a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University and serves as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Interim Executive Director of the Institute of Experiential Artificial Intelligence (EAI). He is also a core faculty member of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute and EAI at Northeastern. His research focuses on algorithmic auditing, fairness, and privacy in online systems. Notably, he has testified before Congress on algorithmic discrimination, challenged the CFAA in ACLU litigation, and contributed to landmark FTC and DOJ cases against Meta. His work has been funded by the NSF, Army Research Office, Google, and Amazon Web Services. Mislove’s academic leadership includes roles in Khoury College, where he supports over 2,000 students and faculty. He has advised numerous PhD students, including current research scientist Piotr Sapieżyński. His lab explores algorithmic transparency, PKI security, and middlebox traffic differentiation. Key awards include the 2017 ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Award and recognition for work on QUIC protocol evaluation. He has authored over 150 publications, including seminal studies on Facebook ad discrimination and Uber’s surge pricing. His teaching spans systems, networks, and social computing courses, emphasizing experiential learning. Mislove actively serves on program committees for IMC, PETS, and other top conferences, and contributed to policy as Deputy U.S. CTO for Privacy (2023–2024).
Yi-Chi Liao is a postdoc researcher at ETH Zürich under the SIP Lab, funded by the ETH Zürich Postdoc Fellowship Programme. He holds a PhD from Aalto University (supervised by Prof. Antti Oulasvirta) and Master's/Bachelor's degrees from National Taiwan University. His research focuses on computational interaction, human-in-the-loop optimization, and biomechanical simulation. He has contributed to over 14 top-tier publications in venues like CHI, UIST, and TiiS. Education: PhD in Computer Science, Aalto University (Finland) Master's in Computer Science, National Taiwan University Bachelor's in Computer Science, National Taiwan University Research Interests: Advances in HILO frameworks for adaptive systems, human-AI co-design, and biomechanical motion simulation. His work integrates reinforcement learning, Bayesian optimization, and computational modeling to enhance interactive systems. Publications: Over 14 papers in top HCI venues, emphasizing optimization techniques, tactile interfaces, and 3D interaction. Recent work includes meta-Bayesian optimization for wrist-based interactions and real-time target inference via biomechanical simulation. Awards: CHI 2022 Honorable Mention, multiple outstanding review recognitions, and the ETH Postdoc Fellowship. He serves on program committees for CHI, UIST, and TEI. Teaching: Delivered lectures on Bayesian statistics, deep learning, and computational design at Aalto and NTU. Served as a teaching assistant for HCI and computer architecture courses. Labs: Active in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (Saarland University), SIP Lab (ETH Zürich), and collaborations with Meta Reality Labs.
Sebastian Stich is a tenured faculty member at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security , where he leads research in Trustworthy Information Processing . He has been a tenure-track faculty since 2021 and was promoted to tenured professor in 2025. He is also a member of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) . Education: PhD in Computer Science, ETH Zurich (2010–2014) MSc and BSc in Mathematics, ETH Zurich (2005–2010) Research Scientist, EPFL (2016–2021) Research at CORE/ICTEAM, UCLouvain (2014–2016) His research centers on optimization for machine learning , with a focus on federated, decentralized, and distributed learning . He investigates methods for communication efficiency , adaptive stochastic optimization , privacy-preserving training , and generalization theory . His work bridges theoretical guarantees with practical scalability. His recent publications (2023–2025) consistently address gradient compression , error feedback , local updates , and decentralized consensus , demonstrating a strong trend toward making distributed learning more efficient, robust, and scalable—especially under heterogeneous data and limited bandwidth. Scientific Awards: ERC Consolidator Grant 2024 (CollectiveMinds) Google Research Scholar Award (2023) Meta Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Research Award (2022) Sebastian Stich actively advises PhD students and postdocs, including Anton Rodomanov , Xiaowen Jiang , and Yuan Gao . He has secured competitive grants such as the ERC CollectiveMinds project, supporting collaborative research on scalable federated learning. He teaches advanced courses at Saarland University and serves as an area chair for NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR. He leads a research group at CISPA focused on trustworthy and efficient machine learning systems , contributing to both foundational theory and real-world applications in privacy and security.
Dr. Sinno Jialin Pan is a leading researcher in machine learning and artificial intelligence at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His work focuses on domain adaptation, sentiment analysis, and efficient neural network optimization. Key research areas: Machine Learning, Domain Adaptation, Reinforcement Learning, Sentiment Analysis Recent publications demonstrate expertise in time-series classification (2025) using hierarchical domain adaptation, LLM efficiency (2025) through expert pruning, and graph generation (2024) via spectral diffusion. His work spans both theoretical advancements and practical applications in neural architecture optimization and adversarial learning. Scientific contributions include: 2025: Virtual-label hierarchical domain adaptation 2024: Spectral diffusion for graph generation 2024: Multilingual jailbreak analysis in LLMs Current trends show increasing focus on large language model optimization and robust neural architectures , with applications in fault diagnosis, recommender systems, and misinformation detection.
Claire Vernade is a Group Leader at the University of Tübingen in the Cluster of Excellence Machine Learning for Science. She leads an active research group focused on theoretical aspects of sequential decision making, with particular expertise in bandit problems and reinforcement learning theory. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in scientific discovery. Her research interests span sequential decision making, bandit problems, theoretical Reinforcement Learning, Learning Theory, and principled learning algorithms. She has made significant contributions to understanding non-stationary environments, lifelong learning frameworks, and the theoretical foundations of bandit algorithms. Her work on "Eigengame: PCA as a Nash Equilibrium" received an Outstanding Paper Award at ICLR 2021. Dr. Vernade has been awarded prestigious grants including an Emmy Noether award (2022) for her FoLiReL project and an ERC Starting Grant (2024) for her ConSequentIAL project. Her current ERC project explores the role of Reinforcement Learning in developing Continual Learning agents, with applications to scientific domains like drug discovery and micro-chemistry. Emmy Noether award under the AI Initiative call (2022) ERC Starting Grant (2024) Outstanding Paper Award at ICLR 2021 She currently supervises three PhD students and actively recruits postdocs and PhD candidates through the IMPRS-IS and ELLIS doctoral programs. Her group collaborates extensively with the broader machine learning community, organizing workshops like FoRLaC at ICML 2024 and serving as co-chairs for tutorials at major conferences. Dr. Vernade is also deeply committed to diversity and inclusion in machine learning, co-leading initiatives like Women in Learning Theory and Tübingen Women in Machine Learning.
Jürgen Cito is an Associate Professor with tenure at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), specializing in software engineering, explainable AI, and performance engineering. He leads research at the IPA Lab (as indicated by his personal website) and maintains a visiting researcher position at Google. His academic journey began with joining TU Wien as an Assistant Professor in Spring 2020, with promotion to Associate Professor announced in April 2024. His research interests span multiple critical areas of modern software development, with particular focus on developer experience, program comprehension, and the intersection of AI with software engineering practices. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical industrial applications, as evidenced by collaborations with major technology companies. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on practical tools and methodologies that enhance software quality, performance, and security. His research trajectory shows increasing focus on explainable AI techniques applied to software engineering problems, performance prediction from source code, and automated security testing approaches that leverage large language models. best teaching award for distance learning for Web Engineering (2020) Cito actively contributes to the software engineering community through numerous conference committee roles, including program committee positions at ASE, ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and other major venues. His lab appears to focus on developer tools, program analysis, and AI-assisted software engineering, with connections to both academic and industrial research environments.
Dr. Julia Mierau is a researcher at the Institute of Movement and Neuroscience, German Sport University Cologne. She is actively involved in projects related to digitalization in sports teacher education, cognitive performance, and exercise neuroscience. Her work bridges pedagogy and neuroscience, with a strong focus on EEG, motor performance, and digital learning tools. Institution: German Sport University Cologne Department: Institute of Movement and Neuroscience Email: j.mierau@dshs-koeln.de Phone: +49 221 4982-8613 Her research interests include electroencephalography, cognitive performance, exercise psychology, sports pedagogy, and digital media in education. She investigates how physical activity influences brain function and learning, particularly in educational contexts. The recent publications reflect a strong trend in digital innovation in sports education, EEG-based monitoring of exercise effects, and cognitive performance in athletes and children. Her work combines experimental neuroscience with practical pedagogical applications. Scientific Awards: ECSS Young Investigators Award (2011) Fellowship for Digital Higher Education Innovation (2019) Graduiertenstipendium (2007) Reisestipendium (2011, 2014) Dr. Mierau has been principal or co-investigator in multiple externally funded projects, including ComeSport, ComeIn, and S.P.O.R.T.S., focusing on digital competence development in teacher training. She also served as co-editor of the Journal for Study and Teaching in Sports Science in 2021 and 2022, demonstrating academic leadership. She collaborates extensively with researchers such as Jens Kleinert, Heiko Strüder, and Andreas Mierau, contributing to a robust network in sports neuroscience and pedagogy.
Miriam A. Mosing, PhD, is currently the Head of the Behavior Genetics unit at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, a position she has held since August 2021. She also serves as an Associate Professor at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Neuroscience Department at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and holds a Develop Research Momentum (DRM) Senior Research Fellowship at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Mosing's primary research focuses on behavior genetics, specifically examining how genetic and environmental factors interact to influence individual differences in quality of life throughout the lifespan and expertise acquisition. Her work frequently uses musical expertise as a model domain to study these interactions. She investigates the complex relationships between cultural engagement (particularly musical and creative activities), mental health, social isolation, loneliness, stress, flow experiences, and overall well-being. Her research employs advanced methodologies including twin studies, causal modeling, and genome-wide association studies to disentangle the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors. Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding the genetic architecture of human behavior, with recent work examining dancer personalities, musical ability, cognitive aging, mental health outcomes, and gene-environment interactions in expertise development. Her research has significant implications for identifying causal pathways that could inform interventions to improve quality of life and mental health outcomes. Develop Research Momentum (DRM) Fellowship from the University of Melbourne (2020-2025) Marcus och Amalia Wallenbergs Foundation grant for 'Healthy learning' research (2018-2022) National Institute of Aging research project grant (2018-2022) Multiple Karolinska Institutet Fellowships for research on gene-environment interplay Dr. Mosing leads a research program that integrates large-scale twin studies with advanced genetic methodologies to understand the complex pathways through which genetic predispositions and environmental exposures jointly shape human development, health, and expertise. Her Behavior Genetics unit at the Max Planck Institute serves as a hub for international collaboration on these questions, working with twin registries and research groups across multiple countries.
Prof. Jan-Niklas Voigt-Antons is a Professor of Applied Computer Science specializing in Immersive Media at Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences. His work focuses on Extended Reality (XR), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and their applications in healthcare, education, and human-machine interaction. He holds a Dr.-Ing (Engineering Doctorate) and has extensive industry experience with organizations like Daimler AG, Telekom Innovation Laboratories, and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Research interests include user experience (UX) design, emotion analysis in virtual environments, and accessibility for aging populations. He has led projects on wearable health tech, AR/VR usability, and immersive training systems. Notable areas of impact include developing guidelines for inclusive XR interfaces and advancing telemedicine through immersive technologies. Prof. Voigt-Antons has collaborated with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin on healthcare applications and has contributed to standardization efforts in telecommunications. His technical competencies include agile project management, statistical analysis, and mobile application development for iOS/Android. He advises on UX evaluations, usability testing, and physiological data analysis for industry partners. Key achievements include creating the Story Time Dataset for video quality research and developing the ColorTable system for flavor perception studies. His work emphasizes real-world deployment, with projects addressing mobility challenges for seniors in rural areas and improving dementia care through tablet-based interventions.
Kai Barron is a Research Fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, affiliated with the Berlin School of Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics from University College London (UCL), following an MRes and MSc in Economics from UCL and a B.Soc.Sc. (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on behavioral and experimental economics, exploring topics such as belief formation, narratives, and discrimination. He also examines economic disparities in the Global South, with studies on child development and the psychological foundations of discrimination. Research interests span cognitive foundations of economic decisions, narratives' influence on persuasion, and applications in understanding mental models and discrimination. His recent work includes studies on alcohol policy impacts in South Africa and experiments on children's social behaviors. Kai has been involved with the CRC Rationality & Competition and contributed to collaborative projects like the 'Your Contribution Squared' initiative for Ukraine aid. He has published in top journals such as the American Economic Review, Management Science, and the Review of Economics and Statistics. His research is highlighted by interdisciplinary collaborations, including work on violence reduction, medical adherence, and gender bias in hiring. Kai actively participates in academic networks and promotes evidence-based policy through platforms like VoxDev and Bluesky.
Marios Georgakis is a clinician-scientist and Junior Group Leader at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at LMU Munich. He also holds a Visiting Scientist position at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. His research focuses on leveraging multi-omics data and causal inference methods (e.g., Mendelian randomization) to discover drug targets for atherosclerosis, develop personalized risk stratification tools for cerebrovascular disease, and identify in vivo biomarkers of disease activity. His work bridges human genetics, molecular biology, and clinical translation. Education : MD and PhD (Epidemiology) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; doctoral studies in Systemic Neurosciences at LMU Munich. Honors : Emmy Noether Award (DFG), CHARGE Consortium Early Career Achievement Award, Hertie Network Fellowship, and multiple scholarships/fellowships. Research Themes : Drug target discovery for cardiovascular disease via multiomics integration Molecular phenotyping of atherosclerosis using single-cell RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics Development of AI-driven tools for vascular imaging and aging Genetic studies of inflammation, cytokines, and stroke subtypes Causal inference in vascular risk prediction and post-stroke outcomes Recent Article Trends : His team's publications (2024-2020) emphasize: Proteogenomic and genetic studies of atherosclerosis Cytokine signaling pathways (e.g., IL-6, CCL2/CCR2) Polygenic and genomic risk scores for stroke Multi-omics biomarkers in cerebrovascular disease Clinical translation of Mendelian randomization findings Meta-analyses of population-based data Scientific Awards : Emmy Noether Group Leader Award (DFG, 2023) CHARGE Consortium Early Career Achievement (2023) Hertie Network Fellowship (2023) Walter-Benjamin Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021-2022) Team Leadership : Georgakis mentors multiple PhD students and postdocs in his lab. His group collaborates with vascular surgeons, neurologists, and computational biologists. Current projects include the AtherOMICS biobank and AI-driven vascular phenotyping tools.
Dr. Marios Georgakis is a Clinician-Scientist and Junior Group Leader at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich). He also serves as a Visiting Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is completing his clinical residency in Neurology at LMU University Hospital. As Principal Investigator of the Georgakis Lab, he leads a research team focused on developing precision medicine approaches for cerebrovascular diseases. Education: Medical studies (M.D.): Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (2009-2015) Master studies (M.Sc.): Molecular Physiology (Neurosciences), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (2015-2017) Doctoral studies (D.Sc.) in Epidemiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (2015-2019) Doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN), LMU Munich, Germany (2017-2020) Dr. Georgakis' research focuses on leveraging big data from epidemiological studies and human biobanks to develop precise and personalized preventive and therapeutic strategies for cerebrovascular diseases. His work spans biomedical neuroscience with particular emphasis on cerebrovascular disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, cerebral small vessel disease, multi-omics, data science, epidemiology, and population genetics. He employs innovative bioinformatic tools including genome-wide association studies, Mendelian randomization, multi-omics integration, single-cell transcriptomics, spatial transcriptomics, and machine learning to discover causal mechanisms, identify therapeutic targets, develop risk stratification tools, and create accurate biomarkers for cerebrovascular diseases. His laboratory has established the AtherOMICS biobank for human atherosclerotic plaque samples and developed computational pipelines for big data analyses. Recent publication trends show a strong focus on genetic architecture of stroke, inflammatory pathways in cerebrovascular disease, and development of polygenic risk scores for clinical application. Scientific Awards: Emmy Noether Independent Group Leader Award, German Research Foundation (DFG), 2023 Early Career Achievement Award, CHARGE Consortium, 2023 Fellow of the Hertie Network of Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience, 2023 Clinician-Scientist Fellow of the Excellence Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), 2023 Walter-Benjamin Fellowship for postdoctoral research by German Research Foundation (DFG), 2021-2022 Dr. Georgakis actively mentors a diverse team of 12 current students and postdocs including PhD students, MD students, and clinician scientists, with several alumni who have completed their training in his lab. His research is supported by multiple grants including the Emmy Noether program from the German Research Foundation, focusing on multi-omics characterization of immune mechanisms driving human atheroprogression, dissecting cerebrovascular atherosclerosis with population genetics, and developing personalized biomarkers using deep learning. The Georgakis Lab operates two main research platforms: the AtherOMICS Biobank for human atherosclerotic plaque samples and the Big Data Lab for computational analyses. These platforms enable his team to conduct deep phenotyping of human atherosclerosis, develop in vivo diagnostics, discover therapeutic targets, and create personalized diagnostic and risk prediction tools for cardiovascular diseases.
Johannes Soeding is a Research Group Leader in the Computational Biology department at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany. His work bridges physics, bioinformatics, and molecular biology, focusing on computational methods for biological data analysis. His research interests include computational biology, protein structure and function prediction, metagenomics, transcriptional regulation, and statistical genomics. He develops widely used software tools such as HH-suite, HHpred, MMseqs2, and Foldseek for protein sequence and structure analysis. The recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on high-throughput biological data, particularly in protein structure search (e.g., Foldseek), metagenomic gene discovery (e.g., MetaEuk), and regulatory genomics. His work combines algorithm development with deep biological insights, often published in top-tier journals like Nature Biotechnology , Science , and Nature Methods . He has been involved in significant methodological advances in sequence clustering, contact prediction, and eQTL analysis, showing a consistent trend toward scalable, data-driven approaches in genomics and proteomics. Soeding has contributed to major projects in gene regulatory networks and RNA biology, often in collaboration with experimental groups. His leadership in developing open, efficient bioinformatics tools has had a broad impact on the scientific community. He is affiliated with several graduate programs including IMPRS Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, Biomolecules: Structure - Function - Dynamics, and Genome Science, indicating active participation in training the next generation of scientists.
Ulrich Schroeders is a Professor of Psychological Diagnostics at the University of Kassel, where he has been employed since October 2017. His work focuses on developing and validating psychological assessment tools, with particular expertise in cognitive diagnostics and educational measurement. He teaches various programs for approximately 500 students annually and serves as a supervisor for teacher training students preparing for their oral state examinations in Pedagogy/Psychology. Dr. Schroeders earned his PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2010 with a dissertation titled "Measurement of Cognitive Abilities Using Modern Technologies: Artifacts, Equivalence, and New Constructs." Prior to that, he completed his Diploma in Psychology at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg in 2004 with a thesis on diagnosing dyscalculia in first-grade students. His research spans several key areas in psychological assessment. He specializes in technology-based competency diagnostics, developing innovative methods for measuring cognitive abilities and school competencies. A significant portion of his work involves applying Machine Learning and metaheuristics to psychometric problems, particularly in structural equation modeling. His methodological expertise includes advancing techniques in Local Structural Equation Modeling (LSEM) and Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM), with applications across educational and clinical psychology contexts. Analysis of Dr. Schroeders' recent publications reveals a strong focus on computational approaches to psychological assessment. His work frequently employs optimization algorithms like Ant Colony Optimization and Bee Swarm Optimization to address challenges in test construction and validation. There's a clear trajectory toward game-based and technology-enhanced assessment methods, as seen in studies using Mastermind and Wordle as assessment tools. His research also demonstrates growing interest in applying machine learning to predict behavioral outcomes, including juvenile delinquency, suicide risk, and psychotherapy outcomes. Dr. Schroeders has secured significant research funding, including projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Hector Foundation. His current projects include "Facing the Replication Crisis in Machine Learning Modeling" (2025-2027) and "PINGUIN: Potenzialidentifikation IN der GrUndschule" (2024-2027), which focuses on identifying elementary students' initial competencies. He leads the development of the BEFKI assessment system (Berliner Test zur Erfassung fluider und kristalliner Intelligenz), which includes versions for different age groups (5-7, 8-10, and 11+). His methodological toolbox includes specialized approaches for test construction and validation, particularly focusing on optimization algorithms applied to psychological measurement problems.
Prof. Dr. Katja Beesdo-Baum is a Full Professor of Behavioral Epidemiology at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Science, Technical University of Dresden. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of mental disorders, integrating neurobiological, developmental, and environmental factors through large-scale observational and experimental studies. She holds editorial roles at journals like Child Psychiatry & Human Development and contributes to global initiatives such as the WHO’s ICD-11 clinical practice network. Her work spans anxiety disorders, depression, and prevention strategies in youth, with a strong emphasis on translational research and healthcare system integration. Education includes a Diploma in Psychology (2000) and a Dr. rer. nat. (2006), both from TU Dresden, followed by Habilitation in 2010. Professional experience includes postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health (USA) and leadership roles in clinical and research groups. Awards include the ECNP Fellowship and Dr.-Walter-Seipp Dissertation Award. Her research explores mechanisms linking stress, neuroendocrine systems, and mental disorders, with recent studies focusing on brain structure alterations in anxiety disorders (ENIGMA collaborations) and the efficacy of prevention programs. She investigates digital health tools, stigma reduction, and sociodemographic barriers to mental healthcare access in adolescents and young adults. Key Research Themes: Behavioral epidemiology, developmental psychopathology, neuroimaging, prevention science. Recent Trends: Machine learning in brain-based classification of anxiety disorders, longitudinal studies on stress biomarkers (e.g., cortisol, androgens), and implementation science for pediatric mental health services. Awards highlight her contributions to clinical guidelines (DSM-5 Task Force) and global mental health policy. Her grants and collaborations span European and international funding bodies, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to mental health challenges. Labs/Teams: Active in the ENIGMA Anxiety Working Group, BeMIND study (behavioral-mind health cohort), and Dresden-based clinical research networks.
