Prof. Hermann Hellwagner is a Full Professor at the Department of Information Technology, University of Klagenfurt. He has held roles such as Vice President (Natural and Technical Sciences) at the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences. His research focuses on multimedia communication, network engineering, and future internet architectures. Notable projects include work on adaptive streaming, edge computing, and drone networks. He holds a Ph.D. in Systolic Architectures from the University of Linz (1988). Research interests span distributed multimedia systems, information-centric networking (ICN), and optimizing video streaming quality-of-experience (QoE). Recent work emphasizes edge computing solutions for low-latency streaming and dynamic codec adaptation. His contributions include frameworks like ALPHAS and MEDUSA for bitrate optimization, and studies on point cloud streaming in augmented reality. Publications (2021–2025) highlight advancements in edge-assisted streaming, hybrid P2P-CDN architectures, and transcoding techniques. His work often bridges theoretical models with real-world implementations, addressing challenges in latency, cost, and device adaptability. Current projects involve 6DoF video streaming and multi-robot system optimization. Labs/Teams: Part of the Institute of Information Technology (ITEC), Klagenfurt. Collaborates on EU-funded projects and industry partnerships in 5G edge computing and drone networks. Active in standards groups for HTTP adaptive streaming protocols.
Sophie N. Parragh is Professor and Head of the Institute of Production and Logistics Management at Johannes Kepler University Linz, where she also serves as program director of the master's degree program in Economic and Business Analytics. She received her PhD from the University of Vienna in 2009 and completed her habilitation in 2016, following postdoctoral research at the IBM Center for Advanced Studies in Porto and a visiting professorship at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Her research focuses on developing exact and heuristic optimization algorithms for complex logistics and transportation problems. Key areas include vehicle routing, green logistics, disaster relief distribution planning, scheduling, and multi-objective optimization. She has particular expertise in branch-and-bound, branch-and-price, column generation, and metaheuristics approaches to solve challenging combinatorial optimization problems. Dr. Parragh's publication record shows a consistent trend toward increasingly complex multi-objective problems, with recent work focusing on electric vehicle routing, multi-echelon production planning under uncertainty, and bi-objective facility location problems with applications in disaster relief. Her research bridges theoretical optimization methods with practical applications in logistics and transportation. Scientific Awards: ÖGOR (Austrian Society for Operations Research) dissertation prize doc.award from the University of Vienna Hertha Firnberg Postdoc fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Dr. Parragh has served as department editor for OR Spectrum and as associate editor for Transportation Science, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, INFORMS Journal on Computing, and Networks. She has led and participated in numerous third-party funded research projects in operations research, including work in healthcare logistics, field staff routing, production planning, and electric vehicle routing. In 2021-2022, she co-organized the monthly VeRoLog webinar series, demonstrating her active engagement with the international operations research community. She maintains strong research collaborations across Europe, evidenced by her co-authored publications with researchers from institutions in Austria, France, Portugal, Denmark, and beyond. Her work consistently addresses both theoretical challenges in optimization and practical applications in industry and public service contexts.
Dr. Adel Aazami is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Transport Economics and Logistics at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna) since 2023. His academic journey began with a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from University of Tehran (2010-2014), followed by an M.Sc. (2014-2016) and Ph.D. (2016-2021) from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran. Prior to his current position, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Sharif University of Technology (2021-2022) and was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Toronto (2020). His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (2016-2021) - Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering (2014-2016) - Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering (2010-2014) - University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Dr. Aazami's research spans multiple interconnected domains within operations research and supply chain management. His primary focus areas include Operations Research and Optimization, Supply Chain and Logistics, Production and Distribution/Transportation Planning, Competition and Game Theory, Stochastic Programming, and Decomposition Algorithms. His work demonstrates a strong emphasis on developing mathematical models and optimization algorithms for complex supply chain problems, particularly those involving perishable goods, competitive environments, and sustainability considerations. He has made significant contributions to integrating environmental factors into traditional logistics problems and developing robust optimization approaches for supply chain networks. Analysis of Dr. Aazami's publication record reveals a consistent trajectory of increasingly sophisticated research in supply chain optimization. His work shows a clear progression from foundational mathematical optimization techniques to increasingly complex integrated problems involving multiple stakeholders, uncertainty, and environmental considerations. A notable trend is his focus on perishable products within supply chains, developing models that account for limited product lifetimes while optimizing across multiple echelons of the supply chain. More recently, his research has expanded to incorporate green logistics considerations, developing algorithms that balance economic and environmental objectives in transportation and distribution problems. His notable scientific achievements include: Winner of the 'Best Student' award among nationwide students evaluated by the Iranian Ministry of Science (2020) Winner of the Iranian Nobel Prize (known as the Alborz National Foundation Prize) (2019) Winner of the Best Student Award at IUST (2018) Winner of the Top Researcher Award at IUST (2018) Annual Awards of the National Elites Foundation Iran (2015-2020) Dr. Aazami has extensive teaching experience across multiple Iranian universities including Tehran University, Amirkabir Technical University, Isfahan University, Yazd University, Zanjan University, Damghan University, Abrar University and Iran Technical University. His peer review activities include reviewing for prestigious journals such as Soft Computing, Expert Systems with Applications, and Annals of Operations Research. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided text, his research output suggests active engagement with complex optimization problems relevant to transportation and logistics industries. At WU Vienna, Dr. Aazami is part of the research team at the Institute of Transport Economics and Logistics, working alongside other faculty members including Prof. Kummer and Prof. Wakolbinger. His research integrates theoretical optimization methods with practical applications in transportation and logistics, contributing to the institute's focus on sustainable and efficient supply chain solutions.
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).
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.
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.
Martin Steinberger is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Control and Automation (IRT) at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). His work focuses on advanced control systems, networked control, model predictive control (MPC), and automation in manufacturing and autonomous systems. He leads research into real-time optimization, fault diagnosis, and safety-critical applications in industries like pharmaceuticals and automotive. Research interests include: Networked Control Systems Model-Based Control Autonomous Vehicle Trajectory Planning Process Automation Robotics and Industrial Automation His work bridges theoretical control engineering with practical applications in manufacturing lines, chemical processes, and autonomous driving. Recent studies emphasize digital real-time release testing for pharmaceuticals, universal control concepts for manufacturing systems, and safety-aware trajectory optimization for automated vehicles. His publications frequently address challenges in time-varying delays, packet loss mitigation, and robust observer design for nonlinear systems. Steinberger collaborates on EU-funded projects and regularly contributes to conferences like the International Workshop on Variable Structure Systems. His research often involves experimental validation, as seen in work with compact pharmaceutical manufacturing setups and small-scale autonomous vehicle testing platforms.
Donatella Sciuto is a Full Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, serving as Executive Vice Rector overseeing research strategies. She holds a PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MBA from Bocconi University. Her research focuses on embedded systems design, low-power electronics, and cyber-physical systems, with contributions to smart cities and ICT infrastructure. Education: Bachelor's in Electronic Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (1984) PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder MBA, SDA Bocconi School of Management Research Interests: Embedded systems, multiprocessor architectures, hardware/software co-design, power-efficient computing, and building automation via IoT technologies. She leads the Embedded Systems Design research group at Politecnico di Milano and coordinates EU-funded projects in smart cities and reconfigurable systems. Awards: IBM Women Leaders in AI (2021) IEEE Fellow (2011) EDAA Fellow (2010) Outstanding Contribution Award, IEEE Computer Society (2009) Professional Roles: Board Member: Bank of Italy, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, STM, Avio Former President, IEEE Council of Electronic Design Automation (2011-2013) Executive Committee Member, Design Automation and Test in Europe (DATE) conference Labs/Teams: Leads the Embedded Systems Design and Design Methodologies group at Politecnico di Milano, collaborating with CEFRIEL on executive education programs in embedded systems and IoT.
Dragi Kimovski is a Habilitated Assistant Professor in Distributed Systems at Klagenfurt University, Austria, focusing on Edge Computing and AI. He previously held roles at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Information Science and Technology in Macedonia. His research spans Edge/Fog/Cloud computing, multi-objective optimization, and high-performance computing. He has coordinated major projects like 6GContinuum and KärtnerFog, and led initiatives such as DataCloud and ASPIDE. His teaching includes courses on Distributed Computing, Cloud Computing, and IoT. He is the co-creator of the Carinthian Computing Continuum and maintains a blog on Edge AI World. His work emphasizes sustainable and efficient computing solutions for emerging technologies. Education: Not explicitly listed in the provided text. Research Interests: Edge Computing, Fog Computing, Cloud Computing, Multi-objective Optimization, High-Performance Computing, AI in Distributed Systems. His work addresses challenges in resource management, latency reduction, and scalability across heterogeneous environments, with applications in healthcare, IoT, and 6G networks. Projects: 6GContinuum (Coordinator): Focuses on AI services over 6G networks. KärtnerFog (Scientific Coordinator): Develops adaptive Fog infrastructures over 5G. DataCloud (WP5 Leader): Manages Big Data pipelines on the Computing Continuum. ASPIDE (Scientific Coordinator): Advances exascale programming models for data processing. Teaching: Klagenfurt University: Courses include Distributed Computing, IoT, Cloud Computing, and Advanced Programming. University of Innsbruck: Taught Advanced Parallel and Distributed Systems. University of Information Science and Technology: Courses in High-Performance Computing and Network Architectures. Labs/Teams: Co-created the Carinthian Computing Continuum, an automated SDN testbed for Edge computing research. Active in interdisciplinary teams addressing extreme data processing and sustainable computing.
Thomas Werner Pusztai is a Researcher at the Department of Distributed Systems, TU Wien. His work focuses on cloud-edge continuum systems, serverless computing, and service-level objective (SLO) management. He contributes to projects like RapidREC, TEADAL, and the EU-funded RAINBOW initiative. His research spans distributed scheduling algorithms, edge-cloud resource allocation, and SLO-aware middleware frameworks like Polaris and HyperDrive. Education: Completed a Diploma in Computer Science at TU Wien with a thesis on Model-based design and architecture of fog computing applications (2019). Active in academic conferences, presenting at IEEE/ACM Edge Computing, Cloud, and Fog/Edge events. Research interests include edge computing, cloud-native systems, IoT applications, and optimizing SLO compliance through novel scheduling techniques. His work emphasizes practical frameworks for real-world distributed systems challenges. Projects include developing HyperDrive for serverless function scheduling in 3D edge-cloud spaces, Polaris for SLO-aware microservices orchestration, and SLO Script for complex elasticity-driven SLO implementations.
Stefan Nastic is an Assistant Professor at the Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien), affiliated with the Faculty of Informatics and the Distributed Systems department. He serves as Curriculum Coordinator for the Master’s program in Distributed and Next Generation Computing, and is a Substitute Member of the Curriculum Commission for Informatics. His research focuses on distributed systems, edge computing, serverless computing, IoT, and smart cities. He holds a PhD in IoT cloud systems (2016) and a BSc (not explicitly stated). Key research contributions include frameworks for serverless edge-cloud continuum (e.g., HyperDrive, GoldFish), federated learning applications (e.g., adaptive human activity recognition), and IoT infrastructure governance (e.g., Polaris Scheduler). He leads projects like RapidREC (2023–2025) on supply chain optimization and participates in initiatives like TEADAL (2022–2025) for edge-cloud workflows. Publications span 30+ peer-reviewed articles in top venues like IEEE IoT, ACM, and IEEE Cloud. He supervises graduate students on stateful serverless functions, federated learning, and edge-cloud scheduling. His work addresses challenges in resource management, latency reduction, and scalable distributed systems.
Dr. Vincenzo De Maio is a PostDoc Researcher at the Department of Computational Sustainability, Faculty of Informatics, Technische Universität Wien. His research spans quantum computing, edge computing, distributed systems, and sustainable computing, with a focus on hybrid quantum-classical systems and edge AI applications. Current projects: HPQC (2023–2025), ThEMIS FWF (2024–2027), TRITON FWF (2023–2027) Previous projects: RUCON (2016–2023), SWAIN (2021–2024) His research explores the integration of quantum computing with classical systems, particularly in software engineering, workflow decomposition, and hyperparameter optimization. He also works on edge computing for smart cities, environmental monitoring, and traffic safety applications. Recent publications analyze quantum compilation bottlenecks, hybrid quantum-classical workflow orchestration, and quantum neural network optimization. He supervises master's theses on topics like quantum edge benchmarking and hyperparameter tuning. Key collaborations with Prof. Ivona Brandic and others Active in IEEE/ACM conferences and Springer publications
Patrick Hirsch is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Production and Logistics , part of the Department of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna . He serves as Head of the Institute of Production and Logistics since 2025 and has coordinated doctoral programs in Social and Economic Sciences since 2017. His research focuses on Sustainable Logistics, Operations Research, and Disaster Management , with specializations in Health Care Logistics Humanitarian Supply Chains Urban Mobility Food Security Cybersecurity in Logistics Green Logistics Recent publications highlight his work in 2025-2023 on: Cloud Resource Optimization Disaster Response Logistics Container Terminal Storage Cyberattack Resilience Home Health Care Scheduling His team also explores deep learning for cargo inspection and hybrid simulation modeling for pandemic and climate-related disruptions. Scientific awards include: BOKU Best Paper Award (2024) ITOR runner-up Best Paper (2023) Raiffeisen Science Award (2014) Multiple Early-Career Prizes Dr. Hirsch leads 13 active research projects funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency and Oesterreichische Nationalbank , including initiatives on food supply resilience , internet outage cascading effects , and blockchain in logistics security . He supervises collaborative theses and contributes to policy development through institutions like the ITA - Institut für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung .
Stefan Rass is a Professor at the Institute of Networks and Security within the Faculty of Engineering & Natural Sciences at Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), where he leads the LIT Secure and Correct Systems Lab. As Principal Investigator for FFG-funded projects including reSilienz (digital supply chain resilience, 2023–2025) and ITPUK (AI signature verification, 2022–2024), he bridges theoretical game theory with practical cybersecurity solutions for critical infrastructures and robotics systems. His research spans game-theoretic security models (patrolling games, defense-in-depth strategies), quantum cryptography (QKD network architectures), and cyber deception frameworks like Honeyquest for measuring honeypot effectiveness. Recent work addresses robotics security benchmarking (RobotPerf), cryptographic instruction chaining for control flow protection, and risk assessment methodologies for interdependent infrastructures. His mathematical decision-making approach integrates bounded rationality and stochastic modeling to solve real-world security challenges. Professor Rass actively shapes the field through program committee roles (ARES 2023), peer reviews, and invited talks on security transparency. His current projects focus on cost-benefit-aware monitoring for cyber-physical systems and quantum key distribution standardization, reflecting Austria’s strategic priorities in digital resilience. The LIT Secure and Correct Systems Lab under his direction develops foundational theories while deploying tools for industrial applications, particularly in critical infrastructure protection and secure robotics workflows.
Christoph Kirsch is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Salzburg. He also serves as Chair of the Programming Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Information Technology, CTU Prague. His research focuses on systems, concurrency, memory management, and formal methods, with notable contributions including the Selfie educational software project and work on symbolic execution. He is a prolific author with over 50 publications in top venues like LCTES and EMSOFT. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science (details not specified). His teaching includes courses on elementary computer science concepts and curricula development. He advises students such as Anna Bolotina and has graduated over a dozen PhD students. Research highlights include the Selfie system (self-referential C compiler and emulator), work on concurrency primitives like Scal and Timestamped Stack, and contributions to real-time systems (Logical Execution Time, Variable-Bandwidth Servers). His recent focus includes teaching digital thinking and evaluating eval in R programs. He has organized conferences like MPLR’24 and served on program committees for EuroSys and RTNS. His book Elementary Computer Science emphasizes foundational concepts for broad audiences.
