Leibniz Institute for Educational TrajectoriesGermany
Dr. Daniel Schiffner is a Lecturer at the Goethe University and the Department head at the Education Information Center . His work focuses on Educational Informatics , with expertise in Learning Systems , User Interfaces , and Open Science . PhD in Computer Science (2012), Goethe University Diploma in Computer Science (2009) with distinction Research priorities include interfaces and APIs for information services , visualizations for learning systems , and high-availability monitoring infrastructures . He coordinates the TBA Center and contributes to conferences like DELFI and EC-TEL . Recent publications analyze learning analytics indicators , API design , and open science practices in educational contexts. Projects like PISA-LDW and MYSKILLS highlight his focus on digital transformation in education. Labs and teams include the stadiumdigitale unit at Goethe University and roles in the DELFI Programme Committee . He advocates for inclusive conference practices and data-driven educational reporting .
Maike Luhmann is a full Professor of Psychological Methods at the Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, and a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). She leads significant research initiatives on loneliness, well-being, and personality development, with substantial funding from the European Union including an ERC Consolidator Grant (LOTIS) and coordination of the EU Horizon project LONELY-EU. Her research interests span loneliness across the lifespan, subjective well-being, life events, and personality development. Luhmann investigates how social connections, major life transitions, and work contexts influence psychological well-being, with particular attention to measurement methodologies and statistical analysis. Her work bridges psychological theory with practical applications for mental health policy. Luhmann's publications demonstrate a clear trajectory from foundational work on well-being adaptation and personality development toward contemporary research on loneliness as a critical public health issue. Her most recent work integrates cross-cultural, longitudinal, and policy-relevant perspectives on social isolation, reflecting her leadership in establishing loneliness research as a priority for European policy-making. Lehrpreis Das Goldene Hirn (2025, 2020, 2018) Sage Young Scholar Award (2019) Honourable mention for the Ruut Veenhoven Award (2016) Best Scientific Publication based on SOEP data (2011) Luhmann advises multiple large-scale funded projects including an ERC Consolidator Grant LOTIS (2025-2030), EU Horizon project LONELY-EU (2025-2028), and several German federal ministry-funded initiatives. She serves as Scientific Member of the German Center for Mental Health and provides regular policy consultation to governmental bodies including the German Bundestag, European Commission, and European Parliament. Her laboratory focuses on advanced statistical methods for studying social connections and well-being across different life stages.
Cristina Conati is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada, with an extensive research portfolio spanning artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and educational technology. Her work focuses on developing intelligent systems that adapt to user characteristics and behaviors, particularly through the analysis of eye-tracking data and other implicit user signals. Her research interests include user-adaptive visualizations, intelligent tutoring systems, explainable AI, and eye-tracking analysis. She investigates how AI can be used to personalize user experiences, particularly in educational contexts, by modeling user cognitive abilities, emotional states, and learning behaviors. Her work often bridges theoretical AI research with practical applications in education and decision support. Analysis of her recent publications (2023-2025) shows a strong focus on explainable AI in educational contexts, adaptive visualization techniques, and the use of eye-tracking to understand and support user interactions. Her research demonstrates a consistent trajectory toward making AI systems more transparent, adaptive, and effective for diverse users across various domains including education, healthcare, and decision-making. Extensive work on user modeling through eye-tracking data Development of adaptive visualization techniques Research on explainable AI for educational applications Studies on how individual differences affect user-system interaction Her research has significant implications for designing more effective educational technologies, decision support systems, and user interfaces that can adapt to individual user needs and characteristics. She has been instrumental in advancing the field of user-adaptive interfaces through both theoretical contributions and practical implementations.
Christopher Somes is a Research Scientist at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, where he works in the Biogeochemical Modeling Research Unit. With expertise in ocean biogeochemistry and Earth system modeling, he investigates how environmental changes such as pollution and climate affect ocean biology and chemistry. His research integrates isotope geochemistry with climate modeling to understand past, present, and future ocean conditions. Dr. Somes earned his Ph.D. in 2013 from Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel with a dissertation on "Nitrogen Isotopes in the Global Ocean." He completed his Master of Science in Oceanography in 2010 and Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2006, both from Oregon State University. Dr. Somes' research focuses on analyzing elemental isotope ratios to gain insights into marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem dynamics. He uses global Earth system climate models to predict ocean responses to environmental changes and associated climate feedbacks. His work spans from modern ocean conditions to past climate change events recorded in ocean sediments, with particular emphasis on nutrient cycling, ocean deoxygenation, and the biological carbon pump. His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward integrating paleoceanographic records with future climate projections. The research shows increasing sophistication in modeling nutrient limitations, particularly iron and nitrogen cycles, and their impacts on marine productivity. His work consistently connects historical ocean conditions with contemporary observations to improve future projections. ISOIRON (2023-2026): Isotopic constraints of the global marine iron cycle, ocean productivity, and deoxygenation (Principal Investigator) ISODEG (2021-2025): Isotopic constraints of declining marine nutrient reserves during the last deglaciation (Principal Investigator) RETAKE II (2024-2027): CO2 removal through alkalinity enhancement (Associate Member) As Principal Investigator on multiple DFG-funded projects, Dr. Somes mentors students and collaborates with international research teams. His work spans from developing sophisticated ocean models to analyzing historical ecosystem changes using stable isotopes in marine organisms, with over 50 peer-reviewed publications to date. Dr. Somes is part of GEOMAR's Water Column Biogeochemistry Group and co-leads the PAGES (Past Global Changes) working group on Past Ocean Oxygenation. His research integrates observational data, laboratory analysis, and computational modeling to address critical questions about ocean-climate interactions and their implications for future environmental conditions.
Hannover University of Applied Sciences and ArtsGermany
Prof. Dr. Volker Ahlers is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Hochschule Hannover – University of Applied Sciences and Arts . He serves as the International Coordinator for the department and is a member of the Senate Commission for Research . His academic career spans over two decades, with prior appointments at Goethe University Hospital, WiSenT GmbH, and the University of Potsdam. Education : PhD in Physics (University of Potsdam, 2001), M.Sc. in Physics (Georg August University Göttingen, 1998) Research Interests : Focus on Computer Graphics , Machine Learning , Data Analysis , Information Visualization , and Urban Logistics . His work bridges network security and smart city applications. Grants : Led projects funded by BMBF (EKiKo-KI, GLACIER, USEfUL), BMDV (5GAPS), and DAAD collaborations. Professional Roles : Conference chair (IDAACS 2023, ASIM 2018), reviewer for journals like PLOS ONE and Bioinformatics , and member of accreditation agencies.
Prof. Eva Vitting is a Professor in the Department of Design at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, where she leads research and teaching in information visualization and design theory. Her work bridges the gap between complex data systems and human understanding through innovative visual communication approaches. Her educational philosophy emphasizes that "Good design requires dedication and a critical mind. It's about developing new ideas with curiosity, openness, and playfulness, methodically experimenting to create a variety of variants, and using analytical focus to filter out which design most convincingly solves the task." She has developed a conceptual design approach that alternates between experimental and analytical phases to find new solutions, with sustainability as a fundamental principle throughout her projects. Prof. Vitting's research portfolio demonstrates consistent activity from 2008 through 2021, with recent work focusing on interactive data visualizations for Industry 4.0 applications, energy systems, and financial data. Her publications and conference presentations reveal a strong emphasis on making complex information accessible through thoughtful visual coding that considers human perception. Her supervised student projects show expertise across multiple visualization domains including: Interactive weather data visualization (Caelum project) Robotics and human-machine interaction Plastics material properties catalog Time zone visualization for international teams Social media usage patterns Prof. Vitting leads the ongoing research interest in Visual Coding in Information Design and has secured significant research funding through BMBF and BMWI projects including: "Matchbox" (BMBF StartUpLab@FH) "Founded@FH Aachen" (EXIST-Potentiale) ProSense project (2012-2015) with RWTH Aachen Her teaching extends to foundational design principles through the Color Form Composition program where students learn that "All elements of a design should be optimized in their visual form to match the content, because graphic syntax implies semantic messages."
Prof. Dr. Marian Dörk is a Research Professor for Information Visualization & Management at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam , where he co-directs the Urban Complexity Lab (UCLAB) . His work bridges Digital Humanities , Human-Computer Interaction , and Critical Design , focusing on innovative visualization techniques for complex data. Education Ph.D. in Computer Science (2012), University of Calgary Dipl.-Ing. in Computational Visualistics (2008), Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg Dörk's research interests encompass: Critical Information Visualization for interrogating data politics Urban Complexity through spatio-temporal analysis Digital Cultural Heritage with situated visualizations Data-Driven Storytelling across journalism and education Exploratory Search with multivariate interfaces His recent publications demonstrate trends in foldable visualizations, edge contextualization in graphs, and ethical approaches to data storytelling. He leads the Urban Complexity Lab , exploring intersections of technology, urbanism, and critical theory. Scientific Awards include best paper and poster recognitions at CHI and VDA conferences. His work has been supported by grants from DFG and BMBF , including the GraDiM project (2023-2025) and SoNAR (IDH) (2019-2021). Dörk teaches in the MSc Urban Futures program and has supervised numerous student research projects like Reading Traces and Reverse Information Architecture . His design collaborations span institutions such as the Jewish Museum Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, and Freie Universität Berlin.
Boris Müller is Professor for Interaction Design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, where he has been employed since May 2004. He currently serves as Vice Dean and head of the Interface Design graduate programme. Müller is also co-director of the Urban Complexity Lab, a research group focusing on data visualisation and information design, which he established together with Prof. Dr. Marian Dörk. Born in 1972 in Berlin, Müller studied design at the University of the Arts Bremen before pursuing a Master of Arts in Computer Related Design at the Royal College of Art in London. His professional career has spanned multiple prestigious institutions including MetaDesign San Francisco, the Institute for Media Communication of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, and the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Italy, where he worked as a researcher and visiting professor. Müller's research focuses on the intersection of design, data, and technology, with particular emphasis on Data Visualisation , Interaction Design , and Generative Design . His work explores how visual representations can make complex information accessible and engaging, while also investigating the philosophical and cultural implications of digital interfaces. He has published extensively on these topics, with a particular interest in how design can facilitate understanding of scientific data, especially related to climate change and urban environments. Over the past decade, Müller's publications have evolved to address increasingly complex challenges at the intersection of design, data science, and societal issues. His recent work shows a growing emphasis on speculative design approaches, critical examinations of AI in creative practice, and innovative methods for visualizing climate data. Müller has also been increasingly focused on the pedagogical aspects of design education, exploring how to prepare the next generation of designers for a rapidly changing technological landscape. Scientific Awards Special Distinction at the Lucky Strike Junior Designer Award (2000) 1st prize in the student category of the EuroPrix (2001) Excellence Award of the 4th ACA Media Arts Festival in Tokyo (2000) Honourable Mention of the rhizome.org Net Art Commission (2002) Certificate of Typographic Excellence from the Type Directors Club New York (2003) 100 best posters (100 Beste Plakate) (2003) iF design award (2005) Information is Beautiful Silver Award (2013) German Infographics Award, category Science (2014) Müller has supervised numerous students through the Interface Design graduate programme at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, though specific names of advisees are not publicly listed. His work at the Urban Complexity Lab has attracted various research grants focused on data visualization and urban futures. Müller frequently collaborates with international institutions, as evidenced by his lectures at venues including Kyushu University in Japan and Aalto University in Finland. As co-director of the Urban Complexity Lab, Müller leads a research group dedicated to exploring how data visualization can help understand complex urban systems. The lab's work combines design practice with scientific research, creating innovative approaches to representing urban data. Müller's team has developed several notable projects, including the SENSES project which translates complex scientific climate scenario information into relevant knowledge for different user groups.
Kokil Jaidka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She is the founding Principal Investigator of the SMOL (Social Media, Online behavior and Language) project, focusing on computer-mediated communication and online human behavior. Her research spans social media analytics, computational social science, digital well-being, and ethical AI. She has contributed to policy discussions on age verification and platform regulation in Singapore and has developed tools like Twilly and SMOLgram for longitudinal online experiments. Her recent scholarly work explores emotional expression in political discourse, emoji use in digital communication, affordances of social platforms, misinformation dynamics, and ethical frameworks for computational research. She advocates for responsible experimentation and has co-developed ethical guidelines for top-tier conferences. Key research trends in her recent publications include: Use of NLP and machine learning to analyze social media content Design and ethics of longitudinal online behavioral studies Impact of platform design on user behavior and well-being Political communication and disinformation in digital spaces Policy implications of social media governance Her scientific contributions emphasize interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of communication, computer science, and psychology. As a PI and faculty member, she leads the SMOL research team, mentors students, and secures research grants for innovative projects in digital behavior. She actively engages with public discourse through blog posts and media collaborations, translating academic insights for broader audiences. She has developed and shared resources for online experimentation using platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk, oTree, Empirica, and custom-built tools, supporting open and reproducible research practices.
Yu-Ru Lin is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Information , University of Pittsburgh , and serves as Research & Academic Director at the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security (Pitt Cyber) . With secondary appointments in Political Science, Computer Science, and the Intelligent Systems Program, their interdisciplinary work bridges computational methods with social science inquiry. Research interests focus on: Social and political network analysis Computational social science Data mining and visualization Digital accountability in political communication Policy diffusion analytics Trust-distrust dynamics in networked societies Key research themes include: Developing network theories for misinformation and extremism Designing visual analytics for policy diffusion and group bias detection Studying collective behavior during emergencies Creating computational tools for social data analysis Major grants include NSF awards for: Public policy diffusion analytics COVID-19 misinformation mitigation Urban mobility and smart city initiatives Understanding extremism in cyber-social spaces Scientific leadership roles: Editor-in-Chief of ICWSM Editorial board member at Frontiers in Big Data, EPJ Data Science, PLOS ONE, and Nature Scientific Reports Co-chair roles at KDD Humanitarian Mapping Workshop, WWW Web & Society Track, and multiple SBP-BRiMS graduate programs As founder of the Pitt Computational Social Dynamics Lab (PICSO LAB) , they lead research on social media analysis, network modeling, and urban informatics through projects like PittSmartLiving – a $1.4M NSF-funded initiative exploring real-time transit incentives and community engagement.
Daniele Quercia is Professor of Urban Informatics at King's College London, with his research focusing on using data science to understand and shape urban environments. He also serves as Director of Responsible AI at Bell Labs Cambridge, and has founded initiatives like UrbanBeers and co-founded GoodCityLife.org. His research spans Urban informatics Human-centered AI systems Social dynamics modeling Geospatial analysis Computational social science and has been recognized through awards including the Ubicomp Best Paper 2014, ICWSM Best Paper 2015, and Information is Beautiful Awards 2022. Recent publications highlight his work in Using digital footprints for urban planning Multisensory city mapping systems Political sentiment analysis Cultural data applications with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches combining computer science and urban studies. Scientific awards include Fortune's 2014 Data All-Stars Ubicomp Best Paper 2014 ICWSM Best Paper 2015 ICWSM Honorable Mention 2013 Information is Beautiful Awards 2022
Sambit Bakshi is an active academic researcher in the field of computer science, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India. His research spans computer vision, biometrics, deep learning, and intelligent systems, with a strong emphasis on real-world applications in surveillance, healthcare, agriculture, and IoT. His primary research interests include biometrics (especially ear and periocular recognition), person re-identification , UAV-based image analysis , multimedia forensics , and fog/edge computing . He has contributed significantly to the development of deep learning models for object segmentation, anomaly detection, and secure biometric systems. The recent publications demonstrate a consistent trend in applying deep neural networks , attention mechanisms , and lightweight architectures to solve complex problems in visual recognition and data analytics. His work often appears in high-impact IEEE and ACM journals, reflecting strong technical rigor and relevance. Scientific Contributions: Co-edited special issues in IEEE Access and Image and Vision Computing Contributed to benchmark challenges such as the Unconstrained Ear Recognition Challenge 2019 Developed novel methods in ear biometrics, periocular recognition, and UAV-based segmentation Active in editorial roles and collaborative research across international teams Advising and Collaborative Research: Frequent collaborator with researchers from NIT Rourkela, University of Beira Interior (Portugal), and other international institutions Co-authored over 120 publications, indicating active supervision and mentoring of students Involved in interdisciplinary projects spanning AI, security, and healthcare Labs and Research Groups: Though not explicitly stated, his work suggests involvement in a computer vision and biometrics lab at NIT Rourkela, focusing on AI-driven solutions for societal and industrial applications.
Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical ResearchGermany
Mario Fritz is a faculty member at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security , an honorary professor at Saarland University , and a fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) . Previously, he led a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics (2011-2018) and conducted postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on trustworthy artificial intelligence at the intersection of information security and machine learning , with recent projects including the EU-funded ELSA - European Lighthouse on Secure and Safe AI . Current roles: CISPA faculty (2018-present), Saarland University professor (2019-present) Past roles: Max Planck senior researcher (2011-2018), ICSI/UC Berkeley postdoc (2008-2010) Education: PhD from TU Darmstadt, computer science studies at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg His research spans AI security , privacy-preserving machine learning , computer vision , and deep generative models . Recent work includes LLM-based code deobfuscation , certified malware detectors , and membership inference attacks on DocVQA models . He serves as Associate Editor for the journal IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI) and leads projects like Trustworthy Federated Data Analytics , PriSyn (synthetic health data with privacy), and ImageTox (automated toxicity detection). As of 2025, he has published over 100 scientific articles , including 80 in top venues like ICML, ICLR, and CVPR.
Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert InstituteGermany
Ernesto William De Luca is a Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science , Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg , and Head of the Digital Information and Research Infrastructures (MTB) department. He also leads the Human-centred artificial intelligence research group. Education: Studied Computational Linguistics at Bielefeld University PhD in Computer Science from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg His research spans Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence , Information Retrieval , and Natural Language Processing . Recent work explores ethical AI, bias mitigation in legal systems, and wearable technologies for sports medicine. Publications include 179 research outputs and 8 projects since 2025. Key article trends focus on semantic technologies, explainable AI, and interdisciplinary applications in education and law. He has organized major conferences like the International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research and workshops on adaptive user interfaces.
Basem Aljoumani serves as Technical and Data Manager/Principal Investigator at Technical University of Berlin's Faculty VI: Planning, Building, Environment since 2025, continuing a decade-long affiliation that includes Postdoctoral Researcher roles (2014-2022) on DFG-funded urban hydrology projects and Guest Researcher status (2023-2024). His work bridges geospatial technology, environmental planning, and data science within the Department of Geoinformation Processing for Landscape and Environmental Planning. His educational foundation includes: PhD in Soil and Water Management, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona (2008-2013) Master's in Agricultural Economics, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (2005-2007) Diploma in Agro-Food Marketing, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (2003-2004) Bachelor's in Agricultural Engineering, Damascus University (1992-1997) Dr. Aljoumani's research pioneers soil-water-plant interactions under salinity stress , AI-driven precision agriculture , and sensor-based environmental monitoring , integrating time-series hydrological modeling with geospatial analytics. His methodology emphasizes statistical rigor in urban soil systems, addressing critical challenges in water-scarce environments through computational innovation. Recent publications reveal a trajectory toward advanced uncertainty quantification in soil properties and dynamic modeling of urban evaporation patterns, demonstrating increasing methodological sophistication in environmental data science with strong interdisciplinary connections to climate resilience. His recognition includes: Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for soil water and salinity modeling As Principal Investigator for DFG-funded Urban Water Interfaces projects, he has directed research on solute transport in urban soils and contaminant dynamics in paved environments, securing competitive grants that support his team's field and computational work. His current leadership role expands this focus to integrated data management frameworks for environmental planning. He actively contributes to the Urban Water Interfaces research group and Soil Conservation Group at TU Berlin, developing collaborative approaches that merge hydrological modeling with landscape architecture to address urban sustainability challenges through sensor networks and AI-driven analysis.
