Prof. Walter Schwaiger is a Full Professor at TU Wien’s Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, leading the Institute of Management Science. His academic roles include serving as Head of the Faculty Council since 2010 and holding various curriculum committee positions. He teaches critical courses such as Financial Management, Enterprise Risk Management, and IT-based Management across bachelor’s and master’s programs. His research focuses on three core areas: Financial Enterprise Management (stochastic NPV modeling for renewable energy investments), Enterprise Risk Management (risk maturity assessments via ERMMA studies), and IT-based Management (ontology-driven accounting frameworks like OntoREA). Recent work includes predictive analytics applications in credit risk scoring and pandemic-driven default prediction studies. Prof. Schwaiger has authored influential textbooks like IFRS-Finanzmanagement series and pioneered the REA-based ERP-Control system. He actively contributes to management control research, publishing in venues like Controlling and WingBusiness , and collaborates with institutions like Funk Stiftung on large-scale ERM maturity studies. His professional service includes leading faculty strategy groups and quality management initiatives at TU Wien, reflecting his commitment to institutional governance and academic excellence.
Thomas Henzinger is a Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), where he leads the Henzinger Thomas Group focused on improving software reliability through mathematical methods. He previously served as ISTA's President (2009–2022) and held academic positions at EPFL, Max Planck Institute, UC Berkeley, and Cornell University. Education: Dipl.-Ing. in Computer Science (Johannes Kepler University, Austria), M.S. in Computer and Information Sciences (University of Delaware), PhD in Computer Science (Stanford University), and Honorary Doctorates from Fourier University (France) and Masaryk University (Czech Republic). The group's research spans concurrent systems , embedded systems , quantitative model checking , runtime monitoring , and trustworthy AI . They develop tools like HyTech and VAMOS, emphasizing predictability, robustness, and fairness in safety-critical software. Recent publications highlight trends in quantitative automata , fairness in AI , quantum algorithms , and automata theory , reflecting interdisciplinary applications from cyber-physical systems to neural networks. Collaborative projects include SPyCoDe (security foundations) and VAMOS (software monitoring). Honors & Awards: 2024 Fellow of the Royal Society 2020 Member, US National Academy of Sciences 2015 Royal Society Milner Award 2012 Wittgenstein Award 2006 ACM and IEEE Fellow 1995 NSF CAREER and ONR Young Investigator Awards Henzinger advises current and former PhD students including Mahyar Karimi, Pavol Kebis, and Mathias Lechner. His grants include ERC Advanced Grants (QUAREM, VAMOS) and FWF funding (Wittgenstein Award, NFN RISE). Labs & Teams: He leads the Henzinger Thomas Group at ISTA, collaborating with FORSYTE (TU Wien) and contributing to EU-funded initiatives. The group integrates postdocs, PhD students, and interns in formal methods and system verification.
Albert Treytl is a Senior Researcher at the Danube University Krems , serving as Head of the Center for Distributed Systems and Sensor Networks and Deputy Head of the Department for Integrated Sensor Systems. He holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Vienna University of Technology (2001) and has over two decades of experience in communication technologies and security. Current roles: Head of Center, Deputy Head of Department Research focus: Security for embedded systems, IoT, digital twins, AI in energy optimization Involvement: IEEE, CEN TC 247 WG4, IEEE1588 standardization His work addresses distributed data management, smart grid security, and model predictive control strategies for energy efficiency in buildings and traffic systems. He leads multiple national and international projects funded by FFG and EU programs. Recent research projects include KI4HVACS (AI-driven HVAC optimization), Factories4Renewables (industrial renewable energy integration), and Dataskop (sensor-based data economy). He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and serves as co-lecturer at the Vienna University of Technology.
Karl-Heinz Wagner is Full Professor of Nutrition and Food Quality at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Nutritional Sciences. He directs an experimental research group investigating how lifestyle factors—diet, specific food components, phytochemicals, physical activity and bioactive non-food compounds—modulate oxidative stress and DNA stability in humans, with emphasis on aging and sarcopenia. He initiated the university-wide “Active Ageing” research platform and coordinates EU projects such as SHIFT2HEALTH. Education & Affiliations: University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Nutritional Sciences – Professor and Chair of Nutrition and Food Quality Principal investigator of the Emerging Field “Oxidative Stress and DNA Stability” Head of the “Active Ageing” research platform activeageing.univie.ac.at Research Focus: Prof. Wagner’s group applies state-of-the-art biochemical and molecular techniques to quantify antioxidant compounds, ROS-induced DNA and chromosomal damage, DNA repair capacity and transcriptional regulation of antioxidant defenses. Human intervention trials, cross-sectional cohorts and in-vitro models are used to examine: Impact of plant-based vs. animal-based diets on multimorbidity risk Nitrate-rich beetroot juice effects on microbiome, vascular function and oxidative stress Bilirubin biology and metabolic health in Gilbert’s syndrome High-protein nutrition and resistance training on DNA damage and muscle quality in older adults Microbiota-derived metabolites that enhance CD8 T-cell antitumor immunity after exercise Publication Trends 2023-2025: Recent output demonstrates a strategic shift toward multi-omics integration (metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics) to dissect diet–microbiome–immune crosstalk and to identify predictive biomarkers of healthy ageing. Papers consistently appear in top-tier journals (Cell, Lancet Healthy Longev, Redox Biol, Mol Nutr Food Res) and embrace large multinational cohorts, randomized controlled trials and mechanistic animal/cellular work. Funding & Networks: Research is mainly funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), National Bank, European Commission (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe), EU Cross-Border Co-operation and the University of Vienna. A dense national and international partner network ensures continuous biomarker development and knowledge transfer. Student Training & Citizen Science: Prof. Wagner actively involves MSc/PhD students and post-docs in externally funded projects and advertises internships via ERASMUS+. Study participant recruitment portals for projects like SHIFT2HEALTH, NUTRIAGING and bilirubin clinical studies are maintained to engage the public and foster translational impact.
Navid Rekab-saz is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Computational Perception, Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), Austria. He is actively involved in research and teaching, offering courses such as Natural Language Processing and Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning . He maintains regular office hours and is accessible via email and a dedicated booking system for meetings. His research focuses on natural language processing , information retrieval , fairness and bias in AI , and recommender systems , with applications in humanitarian action and ethical AI. He employs deep learning and machine learning techniques to address challenges in bias mitigation, explainability, and domain adaptation. His work often bridges technical innovation with societal impact, especially in developing inclusive and fair AI systems. The recent publications of Navid Rekab-saz reflect a strong trend in debiasing strategies , parameter-efficient learning , and evaluation of societal biases in search and recommendation systems. His research spans from foundational work on word embeddings and retrieval models to applied studies in humanitarian NLP and gender bias in user queries. He frequently collaborates with a broad network of researchers and contributes to the development of datasets and benchmarks. Scientific Awards: Best Student Paper Award at ISMIR 2022 for 'Traces of Globalization in Online Music Consumption Patterns and Results of Recommendation Algorithms' Advising and Grants: Navid Rekab-saz has advised and collaborated with numerous students and researchers, many of whom are co-authors on his publications. While specific grant details are not listed in the provided text, his extensive publication record in top-tier venues suggests active involvement in funded research projects, likely supported by national or European funding bodies. He is also engaged in interdisciplinary research, particularly at the intersection of technical AI and legal or social implications. Labs and Teams: He is a core member of the Institute of Computational Perception at JKU, where he contributes to research projects in computational linguistics and AI. He collaborates closely with the team led by Prof. Markus Schedl and participates in initiatives related to music information retrieval, fairness in AI, and humanitarian applications of NLP.
Thomas Ertl is a Professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), leading the Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control. His research focuses on urban water systems, emphasizing sustainable drainage, climate change adaptation, and nature-based solutions. He has coordinated 55 projects, including international initiatives in Albania and Austria, addressing stormwater management, wastewater heat recovery, and sewer infrastructure resilience. Key Projects : Analysing re-activated watercourses for urban resilience (2024–2028) Resilient rainwater management in Austria (2024–2028) Assessing pollutant emissions in Albania (2024–2027) Research Themes : Building Information Modeling (BIM) in wastewater systems Uncertainty analysis under climate change Stormwater pollution and heat island mitigation Awards : 2018: Goldene Ehrennadel des ÖWAV 1993: Best student award at AGIT 93 His recent publications highlight multidisciplinary approaches to wastewater energy recovery, spatial compatibility of nature-based solutions, and prioritization of stormwater management sites. He has supervised numerous theses and contributed to media discussions on urban climate resilience, including articles in Austrian outlets like futurezone.at and Der Kurier.
Theresa Scharl-Hirsch is a Senior Scientist and Deputy Scientific Director at the Core Facility Bioinformatics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). She holds concurrent appointments at the Institute of Statistics, BOKU, and has extensive experience in bioprocess modeling, machine learning, and statistical computing. Her work bridges biochemical engineering with advanced data science methodologies. Her research focuses on real-time monitoring of biopharmaceutical processes, clustering of high-dimensional data (particularly RNA sequencing), and application of explainable machine learning techniques. She has developed statistical models for process optimization and quality prediction in antibody capture and protein purification, with a strong emphasis on industrial implementations using R programming. Key trends in her publications include three-way data analysis, matrix-variate Gaussian mixture models, and permutation-based variable importance methods for deep learning architectures. Her work spans bioprocess engineering, bioinformatics, and industrial data science applications.
Jean Ponce is a Professor of Computer Science at Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) in Paris and a Part-Time Global Distinguished Professor at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Data Science (CDS). He previously served as Director of the ENS Computer Science Department (2011-2017) and held positions at Inria (2017-2022), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1998-2006), MIT, Stanford, and Inria (1982-1985). Academic Leadership: Scientific Director of PRAIRIE Interdisciplinary AI Research Institute in Paris Startup Involvement: Co-founder and CEO of Enhance Lab (2022) Editorial Roles: Senior Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Computer Vision (2019-2022) Conference Leadership: Chair of IEEE CVPR (1997,2000), ECCV (2008), and upcoming ICCV (2023) Research Focus: Computer vision, machine learning, robotics, and AI with applications in exoplanet imaging, 3D reconstruction, and image quality assessment. His work bridges statistical learning and deep learning approaches. Awards: IEEE Fellow (2003) ELLIS Fellow (2019) ERC Advanced Grant (2011) IEEE CVPR Longuet-Higgins Prizes (2016,2020) ICML Test-of-Time Award (2019) Patents & Publications: Co-author of influential textbook Computer Vision: A Modern Approach (translated into Chinese, Japanese, Russian). Holds two US patents and one pending French patent. Google Scholar h-index of 78 with over 55,000 citations.
Tobias Ofner-Graff is a researcher at the Institute of Forest Growth within the Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). Based at Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Wien, his work focuses on advanced forest monitoring technologies. His research interests include: LiDAR and remote sensing applications in forestry Automated forest inventory systems Forest regeneration quantification Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data analysis Sustainable forest harvesting planning Recent project contributions include: Leading lidar-based forest monitoring systems development Developing spatial forest growth models Implementing digital inventory workflows His publications demonstrate expertise in: Quantifying forest resources through 3D point clouds Advanced timber stack measurement techniques ALS data integration for forest modeling Mobile laser scanning applications Forest climate adaptation strategies
Jürgen Huber is a Full Professor in Finance and Head of the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Innsbruck. He has been a central figure in experimental finance since 1998, founding the Society for Experimental Finance and leading international collaborations with institutions like Stockholm School of Economics and VU Amsterdam. Education: PhD in Political Sciences (2001) and Business Administration (Habilitation, 2007), both from University of Innsbruck. Research Interests: His work spans Experimental Economics , Behavioral Finance , and Meta Science , focusing on market microstructure, replicability of scientific research, and communication behavior. Recent projects explore: Climate change policy through CO2 taxation and climate dividends . Digital finance implications of cryptocurrencies and NFTs . Communication differences (face-to-face vs. online) and their impact on decision-making. Scientific objectivity in peer review via the Nobel and Novice project. Article Trends: His 2024 publications in Nature Human Behaviour and PNAS emphasize replicability crises, climate economics, and communication behavior. Earlier work in Management Science and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization analyzes market microstructure, financial transaction taxes, and crowd-sourced research validation. Scientific Awards: Voted Professor of the Year by students (2019-2023), with multiple FWF and OeNB grants totaling over €1 million. Received the Pater Johannes Schasching SJ-Preis (2016) and Forschungspreis der Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse (2015). Teaching: Integrates research into interactive lectures, including lab-based simulations for stock market experiments. Taught at universities in Austria, Germany, USA, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Philipp Haindl is a lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Security at St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences. His work focuses on software engineering, cybersecurity, and AI integration in education and manufacturing. Software Engineering Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence DevOps Quality Assurance Research Interests: Dr. Haindl explores software metrics, inter-service security in microservices, and AI tools like ChatGPT in programming education. He investigates quality models and non-functional requirements in DevOps environments. Publications: Recent work includes studies on ChatGPT's impact in software engineering education, systematic reviews of microservice security, and frameworks for human-AI teaming in manufacturing.
Franck Courchamp is a Senior Researcher at CNRS affiliated with the University of Paris Sud . His work focuses on ecology, conservation biology, and invasion biology , blending theoretical and applied approaches to address biodiversity loss and climate change impacts. Research Highlights: Investigates population dynamics, biological invasions, and their economic costs; pioneers ethical frameworks for conservation decisions. Awards: Recipient of the CNRS Silver Medal (2011), Fulbright Fellowship (2014), and Thompson Scientific’s Highly Cited Scientist recognition. Teaching & Outreach: Regular teaching engagements and author of two popularization books, including 'Ecology for Dummies' (in French). Leadership: Supervised over 60 students, served on editorial boards (Ecology Letters, Ecological Research), and contributed to global invasive species policy assessments. His recent publications emphasize economic costs of invasions , ethical dilemmas in conservation , and cross-regional invasion trends , reflecting his commitment to actionable ecological science. Scientific Impact: With an h-index of 35 and over 5200 citations, Courchamp’s work spans peer-reviewed journals, monographs, and book chapters, influencing both academic and public discourse on biodiversity.
Richard English is currently Professor of Politics at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and serves as Director of the Senator George Mitchell Institute. He held leadership roles including Pro Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement (2016–2021) and Wardlaw Professor of Politics at the University of St Andrews (2011–2016). His research focuses on radicalism, political violence, nationalism, and Irish/British politics. A Fellow of the British Academy and recipient of the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal (2019), he has authored influential works such as Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland . Research Trends: His recent publications (2022–2025) address energy systems, building simulations, and sustainable urban infrastructure, with keywords spanning Building Simulation , Sustainable Energy , and Smart Grids . Subfields include District Heating , Thermal Modeling , and Machine Learning in Energy Management . Honors: CBE (2018) Gold Medal, Royal Irish Academy (2019) Fellow, British Academy (2009) Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize (2007)
Bernhard Pucher is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Sanitary Engineering, Industrial Water Management and Water Pollution Control (SIG), within the Department of Landscape, Water and Infrastructure at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). He holds a doctorate in technical natural sciences and is actively leading and participating in multiple research projects focused on urban water management and nature-based solutions. His research interests lie at the intersection of urban sustainability and environmental engineering, with a strong focus on urban water management , circular economy , nature-based solutions , treatment wetlands , vertical greening systems , and greywater treatment . His work emphasizes process-based modeling of water and solute transport, particularly using the HYDRUS software, to optimize the design and performance of decentralized water treatment systems. The recent articles highlight a consistent trend in developing and evaluating nature-based technologies for sustainable urban water cycles. Key themes include the performance assessment of vertical and horizontal flow wetlands, numerical modeling for design optimization, the multifunctionality of green walls for cooling and water reuse, and the integration of blue-green infrastructure into circular city frameworks. His research bridges technical modeling with practical implementation, aiming to quantify resource recovery and improve urban resilience. Board member of the IWA national committee Austria (2023) Member of the Management Committee, IWA Specialist Group on 'Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control' (2019) Active reviewer for journals including Chemical Engineering Journal , Science of the Total Environment , and Water Science and Technology Served on scientific advisory boards for major conferences like WETPOL and IWA ecoSTP He has supervised numerous master’s theses on topics such as greywater use for vertical greening, treatment performance of living walls, and modeling of rainwater use. His projects are funded by diverse sources including the European Commission (Horizon), FFG, national companies, and private foundations, demonstrating strong grant acquisition capability. He is also involved in knowledge transfer through public reports, media contributions, and participation in policy-relevant seminars. Bernhard Pucher is a key member of a research team that includes collaborators like Günter Langergraber, Ulrike Pitha, and Isabella Zluwa. His work is often conducted within interdisciplinary projects such as 'resilientRAIN', 'UrBan hEat islands REsilience', and the EU COST Action 'Circular City Re.Solution', reflecting a collaborative approach to addressing complex urban environmental challenges.
Ulrich Schmid is a Full Professor and Head of the Research Unit for Embedded Computing Systems at TU Wien. He holds a position in the Faculty of Informatics and leads the department of Embedded Computing Systems (E191-02). His roles include Curriculum Coordinator for the Bachelor and Master programs in Computer Engineering, as well as the Excellence Program Bachelor with Honors. He is also the Chair of the Curriculum Commission for Computer Engineering and a Substitute Member of the Informatics Commission. His research focuses on fault-tolerant distributed algorithms, digital integrated circuits, and topology-based approaches to distributed systems. He coordinates major projects such as the FWF-funded DMAC (2019–2024) and ByzDEL (2020–2025), which integrate topological semantics and hybrid delay models for robust hardware design and distributed system analysis. Schmid has contributed to groundbreaking work in Byzantine fault tolerance, epistemic logic for system recovery, and real-time scheduling through collaborations with researchers like Chatterjee, Függer, and Rajsbaum. Notable awards include the 2018 Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize and the 2021 Principles of Distributed Computing Doctoral Dissertation Award. His research also bridges formal verification techniques with physical hardware implementations, exemplified by projects like HEX (a Byzantine-tolerant clock distribution system) and the Involution tool for timing analysis. Schmid actively contributes to academic governance, advancing rigorous education and research standards in computer engineering. His advising and grant work involve mentoring on fault-tolerant architectures and securing funding from agencies like FWF and the European Commission. Labs and teams under his leadership include the Embedded Computing Systems group, specializing in hardware-software co-design for dependable systems-on-chip, and collaborations with institutions like GSI Helmholtzzentrum and the University of Amsterdam.
