Syrielle Montariol is a Researcher and Course Lecturer at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), affiliated with the Natural Language Processing Lab (NLP) under the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC). She holds a postdoctoral position and teaches courses related to computational linguistics and AI applications. Her research focuses on advancing NLP, medical language models, multimodal learning, and AI ethics. She works in the INR 240 office and maintains collaborations across EPFL's academic divisions. Research Interests: Her work spans interpretability of AI systems, cross-modal reasoning, medical domain adaptation, sustainability text analysis, and the societal impact of AI. Recent projects include developing explainable models (e.g., global mixture-of-experts frameworks) and benchmarking tools like Vinabench for visual narratives. Publications: Her recent work addresses critical challenges in AI, including vulnerability of higher education to LLMs, medical language model adaptation (Meditron), and robust geo-localization systems. Key themes include ethical AI, multimodal learning, and domain-specific NLP applications. Labs & Teams: She contributes to the NLP lab's initiatives on visual-language models and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on projects like PAN-RSVQA for remote sensing and PICLe for low-resource NER systems.
Prof. Helmut Grabner is a Professor at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), leading the Visual Intelligence and Applications Group and the Entrepreneurship initiatives within the School of Engineering. His work bridges computer science, medical technology, and visual communication, with a focus on Extended Reality (XR), surgical training simulations, and AI-driven decision making. Education: PhD in Computer Science (Graz University of Technology, 2008), Master's in Computer Science (2008), and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Higher Education (ZHAW, 2021). Prior to academia, he held roles including CTO at Logitech and co-founder of upicto, applying computer vision in industry and startups. Research spans augmented reality medical training tools, NMR spectrum analysis via deep learning, and understanding visual engagement in advertising. Awards include the prestigious Koenderink Prize (2018) for contributions to computer vision. Projects include Immersive Education frameworks, bias-mitigation in venture capital algorithms, and surgical proficiency measurement systems. Teaching includes courses on Visual Computing, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning. His work integrates academic research with practical applications in healthcare, education, and entrepreneurship.
Yujia Zhang is a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at the School of Engineering , École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), leading the Laboratory for Bio-Iontronics (BION) since January 2025. His work focuses on developing iontronic biointerfaces and hybrid intelligent systems for biomedical applications. Academic Affiliations: EPFL School of Engineering, STI-SMT SMT-ENS PhD program committee Research Themes: Droplet-based iontronics, synthetic tissues, advanced manufacturing Research Trends from his publications emphasize microscale droplet iontronics , soft energy systems , and biohybrid interfaces , with applications in neurostimulation , tumor modeling , and biomedical devices . Scientific Awards : 2023: Early-career Research Scientist Representative, UK Parliamentary & Scientific Committee 2022: Excellent Doctoral Dissertation, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2021: Outstanding Doctoral Thesis, Chinese Institute of Electronics 2020: Special Prize for President Scholarship, Chinese Academy of Sciences Academic Contributions include mentoring PhD students and teaching microfabrication technologies. His lab develops 3D-printed synthetic tissues and droplet networks for interactive biological communication.
Andreas Hein is an Assistant Professor of IT Management at the University of St. Gallen's Institute of Information Systems and Digital Business (IWI-HSG). His research focuses on digital services, AI literacy, conversational agents, and ethical design in education and business contexts. He holds a PhD (summa cum laude) from the University of Kassel and has led projects funded by SNSF and Innosuisse. Hein is an AIS Distinguished Member Cum Laude and has received numerous awards for research and academic service, including the AIS Best Conference Paper Award (2024) and Best Paper Awards at DESRIST (2023) and HICSS (2020). His work bridges design science and interdisciplinary collaboration, addressing topics like privacy nudges, gamification in learning, and lawful technology development. Hein actively contributes to academic communities, serving as associate editor for ECIS, ICIS, and AOM divisions, and has organized conferences like the Wirtschaftsinformatik-Nachwuchs-Treffen 2023. His teaching spans undergraduate to graduate levels, emphasizing data-driven service innovation and research practices. Hein's research has been published in top journals (ISR, JAIS, EJIS) and frequently recognized for innovation and impact. Education: PhD in Business Information Systems (Kassel University, 2018), Master of Arts in Communication Management, Diplom in Economic Sciences (Kassel University). Key Achievements: Over €2.2m in third-party funding, 60+ co-authors, and impactful contributions to digital education and AI ethics. His work on privacy nudges and conversational agents has been featured in leading conferences and journals.
Silvia Cascianelli is an AI and Computer Vision Researcher at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). She actively contributes to the computer vision and document analysis communities through research, conference organization, and academic mentorship. She serves as Area Chair for major computer vision conferences including CVPR2025, BMVC2025, and ECCV2024, demonstrating her standing in the field. Her research focuses on several key areas within computer vision and document analysis: Image Generation : Developing efficient and lightweight methods for image generation with desired characteristics, particularly using diffusion models Handwriting Imitation : Creating algorithms for generating images of text with specific content and handwriting styles, along with evaluation methods Document Understanding : Extracting information from 2D and 3D document images, ranging from modern documents to historical artifacts like carbonized Roman papyri Dr. Cascianelli's work shows a clear progression toward more sophisticated generative models and evaluation frameworks, with recent publications focusing on diffusion models for handwritten text generation, efficient token reduction for multimodal tasks, and innovative approaches to historical document analysis. Her research bridges theoretical advancements with practical applications across diverse document types. Her scientific contributions have been recognized through invitations to serve as Area Chair for top-tier computer vision conferences (CVPR, ECCV, BMVC) and opportunities to organize specialized workshops including VisionDocs at ICCV, AI4DH at ECCV, and ADAPDA at ICDAR. Area Chair at CVPR2025 Area Chair at BMVC2025 Area Chair at ECCV2024 Organizer of VisionDocs Workshop at ICCV2025 Organizer of AI for Digital Humanities Workshop at ECCV2024 Organizer of ADAPDA Workshop at ICDAR2024 Dr. Cascianelli actively mentors the next generation of researchers: Vittorio Pippi - PhD Student at UniMoRe (National PhD program in AI) Fabio Quattrini - PhD Student at UniMoRe (ICT program) Carmine Zaccagnino - Research Intern at UniMoRe (formerly MSc student) Kostantina Nikolaidou - PhD Student at Luleå University of Technology Pau Torras Coloma - PhD Student at Computer Vision Center, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Bram Vanherle - CV Engineer at Colruyt Group Smart Innovation (formerly PhD student) She is actively involved in several research initiatives including the AI Governance Lab where she serves as a lecturer, and collaborates with institutions worldwide. Her current projects focus on advancing diffusion models for image generation, improving handwritten text recognition systems, and developing novel methods for document understanding across historical and contemporary contexts.
Grzegorz Chrupała is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence , Tilburg University, where he leads research in computational approaches to multimodal communication. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Saarland University's Spoken Language Systems group and earned his PhD from Dublin City University's School of Computing. His research bridges biological and artificial computation , focusing on enabling machines to learn language from multimodal data (speech, gestures, visual-auditory stimuli) as children do naturally. This involves developing and interpreting deep learning architectures, analyzing emergent representations, and advancing speech technology for under-resourced languages. Key themes include Visually grounded speech modeling Feature attribution and model interpretability Human-inspired learning paradigms BlackboxNLP workshop leadership His recent publications examine speech model reliability , lexical tone encoding , and contextual dependencies in NLP systems. He mentors a team of PhD candidates and alumni working on topics like user-centric interpretability, bioacoustics, and disentangled speech representations. He also serves on the board of the Dutch Open Speech Technology Foundation, chairs Interspeech 2025 tutorials, and contributes as an Action Editor for TACL.
Prof. Frank-Peter Schilling is a Senior Lecturer at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) School of Engineering and Deputy Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAI). He leads the Intelligent Vision Systems group and coordinates the PhD Programme in Data Science with the University of Zurich. As an Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, he specializes in AI, Machine Learning, and applications in healthcare and physical sciences. His research focuses on deep learning-based computer vision, MLOps, and trustworthy AI certification frameworks. Education: PhD in Physics (University of Heidelberg, 2001) Dipl.-Phys. (MSc equivalent in Physics, University of Heidelberg, 1998) CAS University Didactics (PH Zurich, 2024) Research Interests: Developing AI systems for medical imaging (e.g., CBCT artifact reduction) Certification schemes for AI trustworthiness (e.g., certAInty project) Applications of deep learning in particle physics and industrial vision Achievements: Recipient of the EPS HEP Prize (2013) for contributions to the Higgs boson discovery at CERN Lead author of over 20 peer-reviewed articles on AI, MLOps, and medical imaging Principal investigator for projects like AI-BRIDGE (responsible AI development) and GenAI4SKA (Square Kilometre Array simulations) Teaching: Courses in MLOps, Machine Learning Operations, and Computer Vision at BSc and MSc levels. Developed the CAS Advanced Machine Learning program. Labs & Networks: Active in ELLIS (European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems), CLAIRE (AI research), and ZHAW’s Digital Health/Datalab initiatives.
Affiliations and Roles Michael Bronstein is a Professor at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in the Faculty of Informatics and the Institute of Computational Science . He holds the Chair in Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition at Imperial College London and serves as Head of Graph Learning Research at Twitter . Previously, he was affiliated with the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI) as an Adjunct Professor. Education Ph.D. in Computer Science, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology (2007) Visiting appointments at Stanford University, MIT, Harvard University, and Tel Aviv University Research Interests Bronstein's work focuses on geometric deep learning , graph representation learning , and non-rigid shape analysis . He pioneered methods for extending machine learning to non-Euclidean domains like graphs and manifolds. His research combines theoretical advancements in spectral geometry with practical applications in computer vision, robotics, and medical imaging. Publications Trends His articles emphasize geometric deep learning frameworks, functional maps for shape correspondence, and spectral methods for manifold analysis. Key themes include invariant representations, partial shape matching, and applications in 3D reconstruction and graph neural networks. Awards and Honors Five ERC Grants Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award IEEE and IAPR Fellowships World Economic Forum Young Scientist Advising and Entrepreneurship Bronstein is a serial entrepreneur, founding companies like Novafora , Invision (acquired by Intel), and Fabula AI (acquired by Twitter). His academic advising spans PhD and Master’s students in machine learning and geometry processing. Labs and Teams Active in the Institute of Computational Science at USI and leads Twitter’s Graph Learning Research team, focusing on real-world applications of geometric deep learning.
Jürgen Bernard is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Zurich (UZH), affiliated with the Digital Society Initiative (DSI). He leads the Interactive Visual Data Analysis (IVDA) Group and holds a joint position in the Department of Informatics within the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Informatics. His research focuses on interactive visual data analysis, explainable machine learning, and human-centered AI interfaces. Bernard completed his PhD at TU Darmstadt in 2015, followed by postdoctoral roles at TU Darmstadt and the University of British Columbia. He has received prestigious awards, including the EuroGraphics Young Researcher Award (2022) and EuroVis Young Researcher Award (2021). His work emphasizes combining human expertise with algorithms in domains like healthcare, climate science, and digital humanities. Key research interests include visual analytics for time-oriented data, interactive machine learning, and applications in healthcare. His projects address challenges such as medical data interpretation, sensor data analysis, and decision-making support systems. Bernard actively contributes to conferences like IEEE VIS and chairs workshops such as VAHC 2023. Education: PhD in Computer Science (2015, TU Darmstadt); Diploma in Computer Science (2009, TU Darmstadt) Grants: SNF Grant on Personalized Visual Analytics (2024), BMW collaboration on manufacturing analytics Labs/Teams: IVDA Group, DSI Health Community
Silvia Santini is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Informatics of USI since 2016, leading the People-Centered Computing Lab. Previously, she held roles at TU Dresden (2014–2016) and TU Darmstadt (2011–2014), focusing on embedded systems and wireless sensor networks. She completed her PhD at ETH Zurich in 2009 and earned a Telecommunication Engineering degree from Sapienza University of Rome (2004). Her research centers on wearable computing, human-computer interaction, and sensor networks applied to health monitoring, activity recognition, and physiological signal analysis. Notable projects include BiHeartS (bilateral heart rate monitoring) and studies on sleep quality using wearable devices. Key achievements include being ranked among the World’s top 2% of Scientists (2022) and securing grants for projects like XAI-FinCrime. She advises on PhD and postdoc positions, such as the 2025 Innosuisse-funded project in explainable AI for financial crime detection. Labs/Teams: People-Centered Computing Group (USI), collaborating on cross-disciplinary projects in pervasive computing and healthcare technology.
Roberto Calandra is a Full (W3) Professor at Technische Universität Dresden, where he leads the Learning, Adaptive Systems and Robotics (LASR) Lab. Previously, he served as a Research Scientist at Meta AI (formerly Facebook AI Research) and a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley’s BAIR Lab under Sergey Levine. His academic journey includes a PhD in Robotics from TU Darmstadt, an M.Sc. in Machine Learning from Aalto University, and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Università di Palermo. His research bridges Robotics and Machine Learning, focusing on tactile sensing, Bayesian Optimization, and model-based reinforcement learning. He pioneered the DIGIT tactile sensor , now the most widely used tactile sensor in robotics, and advocates for a computational field of Touch Processing to advance haptic understanding. His work emphasizes data-efficient learning, real-world dexterous manipulation, and multimodal perception. Recent publications highlight breakthroughs in tactile sensor design, in-hand object manipulation, and multimodal integration. He organizes workshops on robotics and machine learning (e.g., at NeurIPS, ICRA) and promotes open-source tools like PyTouch and TACTO .
Vinitra Swamy is a Postdoctoral Researcher at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), affiliated with the ML4ED Lab (Machine Learning for Education) and the MLO Lab (Machine Learning and Optimization Group). She holds a PhD in Computer Science from EPFL and a Master's and Bachelor's from UC Berkeley, graduating at 20 as the youngest recipient in UC Berkeley's history. Her research focuses on explainable AI, human-centric machine learning, and education technology. She has held roles as a lead engineer at Microsoft AI (ONNX framework) and served as a lecturer at UC Berkeley and UW Seattle. Vinitra's work bridges technical innovation with societal impact, exemplified by projects like MEDITRON-70B (medical LLMs) and iLLuMinaTE (actionable explanations for students). She has received multiple awards, including the 2024 G-Research PhD Prize and Rising Stars in Data Science recognition. Key contributions include interpretable neural architectures (InterpretCC), bias analysis in LLMs, and multimodal learning systems (MultiModN). Her research emphasizes practical applications in education and healthcare, with a focus on user-centered design and ethical AI practices.
Guillaume Chanel is a researcher at the University of Geneva, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science under the Faculty of Sciences, and the Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives. His work spans affective computing, emotion recognition, and physiological signal analysis in human-computer interaction contexts. Affective Computing Emotion Recognition Brain-Computer Interfaces Multimodal Interaction Physiological Computing Human-Computer Interaction Chanel's research focuses on integrating physiological signals (e.g., EEG, electrodermal activity) with computational models to enhance emotion detection and adaptive systems. Recent work includes attention mechanisms in U-Net for medical imaging, variational autoencoders for PPG denoising, and biofeedback-driven gaming systems. His publications emphasize multimodal fusion, transfer learning, and latent representation techniques. His 15 most recent articles (2025–2020) analyze advanced deep learning architectures for emotion and impression recognition, physiological signal processing, and adaptive game design. Key themes include attention mechanisms, variational autoencoders, multimodal synchronization, and biofeedback applications. Chanel collaborates with the Computer Vision and Multimedia Laboratory and the Centre universitaire d'informatique, contributing to open datasets and tools like the Toolbox for Emotional feAture extraction from Physiological signals (TEAP).
Dr. Thomas Sutter is a Researcher affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich , specifically part of the Professorship for Medical Data Science. His work focuses on advanced machine learning techniques applied to medical data, including anomaly detection, generative AI, and multimodal learning. He contributes to healthcare innovation through projects like improving radiology diagnostics via Vision-Language Models (RadVLM) and developing denoising techniques for physiological signals in cardiology. Research Interests: Medical Data Science, Anomaly Detection in Healthcare, Generative AI for Biomedical Signals, Multimodal Representation Learning, and Cardiac Function Prediction using Echocardiograms. His methods often combine deep learning with domain-specific medical challenges. Key Publications Trends: Recent work emphasizes medical imaging analysis (e.g., MIMIC-CXR studies), generative models for signal denoising, and contrastive learning for anomaly detection. His research bridges computer science theory with clinical applications, particularly in cardiology and radiology. Awards & Grants: No specific awards or grants mentioned in the provided texts. Advising & Teams: While no advisees are listed, he collaborates within the Medical Data Science research group at ETH Zurich, contributing to interdisciplinary projects in healthcare AI.
Prof. Dr. Alexandre de Spindler is a Professor of Information Systems at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) within the School of Management and Law . He co-leads the Center for Information Systems and Technologies and focuses on application development frameworks for conversational interactions with information systems, leveraging multimodal foundation models while enhancing their controllability and reliability. His work extends to improving social skills in digital interactions and teaching agile requirements engineering. University: Zurich University of Applied Sciences School: School of Management and Law Department: Institute of Business Information Technology Academic Rank: Professor His research explores conversational systems , generative AI , and stateful prompt orchestration for complex interactions, particularly in healthcare and financial sectors. Recent work includes frameworks like PROMISE for model-driven prompt management and Science Fiction Prototyping for responsible AI innovation. Teaching contributions span data science programs (BSc, MSc, CAS) covering machine learning, generative AI, and full-stack application validation. He collaborates across disciplines including gerontology and forensic phonetics, with a focus on applying AI to societal challenges.
