Team

Copyright: Andreas Friedle
Prof. Justus Piater, Ph.D.
Head of DiSC
Department of Computer Science, Intelligent and Interactive Systems
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
I seek to enable autonomous robots to perceive and act flexibly and robustly in unstructured environments, leveraging machine learning methods to build perceptual, motor and reasoning skills. Of particular interest is the ability of robots to conceptualise their environment such that they can learn on the basis of already-learned skills, transfer skills to novel tasks, and communicate with humans.

Copyright: Adam Jatowt
Prof. Adam Jatowt
Department of Computer Science
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My research is related to knowledge extraction and information retrieval from unstructured text collections such as news article collections, financial/legal documents or social media posts. In particular, I am interested in novel approaches towards retrieving useful knowledge from long-term news archives and other types of temporal document collections, as well as in applications of text mining techniques for digital history.
Research Area
Data Science: Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval

Copyright: Miroslaw Opoka
Dr. Joanna Chimiak-Opoka
Teaching Coordinator
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
As a senior lecturer, my goal is to support students in learning technical foundations of digitalisation, especially in gaining programming skills enriched with elements of software development. In my programming course, I follow the inverted classroom approach and incorporate unplugged exercises to increase the intelligibility and the overall effectiveness of the learning process.

Copyright: Fotostudio Thomas
Carina König, M.A.
General coordinator
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
As coordinator of the Digital Science Center, I serve as the primary contact for its members in all administrative matters so they can be fully dedicated to their research. I ensure effective communication between all parties involved to allow for a lively exchange of information and knowledge. That way, I seek to contribute to the DiSC’s overarching goal: the creation of synergies across disciplines.

Copyright: Eva Fessler
Dr. Sébastien Court
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My background are numerical simulations of fluid-structure interactions, elasticity theory, scientific computing, and optimal control theory. At the Digital Science Center, I will work on the Mathematical Foundations of Deep Learning.
Research Area
Deep Learning: Neural Networks for Big Data Analysis

Copyright: Matteo Saveriano
Dr. Ing. Matteo Saveriano
Department of Computer Science, Intelligent and Interactive Systems
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My research attempts to integrate cognitive robots into smart factories and social environments through the embodiment of AI solutions, inspired by human behavior, into robotic devices. From the economic perspective, cognitive robots have the potential to significantly increase the productivity and the flexibility of modern enterprises. From the social point of view, robots with embodied AI capabilities will improve working conditions and will guarantee seamless care and assistance to people in need.
Research Area
Embodied Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Copyright: Franz Oss
Mag. Reto Stauffer, Ph.D.
Department of Statistics & Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
I am working on the development and refinement of statistical machine-learning methods and their application in the field of natural and atmospheric sciences: spatio-temporal regression methods to enhance climatological estimates or probabilistic decision trees to improve weather forecasts. The development of these new methods is accompanied by implementing open-source software which is able to handle vast and continuously growing amounts of data in today’s digital world.
Research Area
Data Science in Atmosphere Climate Research

Copyright: Takashi Iwakiri
Kohei Watanabe, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
I develop R packages for quantitative analysis of textual data (https://quanteda.io/) to accelerate digitisation in political research and beyond. In my own projects, I apply them to measure bias in news coverage and detect spread of false information on the web from the international and political communication perspective.
Research Area
Political Communication & Digital Complexity
Affiliations

Copyright: Birgit Pichler
Dr. Clara Rauchegger
Department of Legal Theory and Future of Law
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
I examine the opportunities and risks of digital technology from a legal perspective. In particular, my research explores the regulation and governance of digital platforms and artificial intelligence by the European Union. My recent work focuses on EU legislation and policy that is aimed at preventing the spread of illegal or harmful online content such as hate speech, terrorist propaganda, or disinformation. I am particularly interested in the legal implications of AI-assisted filtering of online content. My other research interests include EU and comparative constitutional law, with a particular focus on the protection of fundamental rights in the digital environment.
Research Area
Law and Digitalisation

Copyright: Tobias Haller
Alexander Kupfer, Ph.D.
Department of Information Systems, Production and Logistics Management
Universität Innsbruck, Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My work focuses on information in digital business and digital markets. Online reviews, for instance, help to considerably reduce information asymmetries for consumers (e.g., hotel reviews or amazon reviews). In particular, my research investigates the effects of rewards and design aspects on online review systems. More generally, I am keenly interested in a wide variety of digital business and digital markets phenomena that employ the reduction of (information) asymmetries including crowdfunding and sharing platforms.
Research Area
Digital Business: Information System Design and Economic Behaviour

Copyright: Joseph Wang
DDr. Joseph Wang-Kathrein
Research Institute Brenner-Archiv
Universität Innsbruck, Brenner Archiv, Josef-Hirn-Straße 5-7, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My work field covers the philosophy of Wittgenstein’s and digital editing including related fields in the Digital Humanities. My research focus lies on the interface between philosophy and computer science: How can the insights gathered in philosophy help us in our daily work using computers?
Research Area
Digital Humanities: Digital Editing, Wittgenstein

Copyright: Gerald Hiebel
Gerald Hiebel
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Archäologien, Langer Weg 11, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My work focuses on research on methodologies that can be used to represent the complex knowledge arising from a (pre-)historic reality and the scientific research about this reality. They are from the fields of ontology engineering (in particular CIDOC CRM), knowledge graph creation, geoinformation systems, and computational linguistics (Named Entity Recognition, Named Entity Linking). While my main work field is archaeology, I also apply these methodologies in several projects from various fields of the Digital Humanities. My goal is to create e-infrastructures that can be used for research and the dissemination of knowledge about our past and how it was gained.
Research Area
Semantic and Space-Oriented Information Technology in Archaeology

Copyright: Copyleft
Luis Miguel Rodríguez-Rojas
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Mikrobiologie, Technikerstrasse 25d, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
My main research interest is the understanding of eco-evolutionary principles governing microbial communities: primary evolutionary and ecological forces shaping populations and their metabolic potential, their interactions with other microbial species, their hosts, and the environment, and the role of stochasticity. I develop computational and statistical techniques aimed at answering these questions as well as advancing standards and data quality evaluation methods in the field of environmental genomics.
Research Area
Bioinformatics: Computational Microbial Ecology, Environmental Genomics, and Prokaryotic Taxonomy

Copyright: Matthias Schurz
Mag. Dr. Matthias Schurz
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Psychologie, Innrain 52f, A-6020 Innsbruck
Statement
Humans are a highly social species, and complex societies rely on mutual understanding, cooperation, and trust. In my work, I am studying how central social abilities are implemented in the human brain. In particular, I would like to understand how we can represent another's perspective while at the same time keeping track of reality. Comparative work from other species as well as patient studies show us that this high-level skill is not easy for the brain. Presumably, it requires the interplay of several large-scale networks. To deepen our understanding of these mechanisms, I study functional brain activity and connectivity with statistical and machine learning methods.
Research Area
Computational Neurosciences, Neural Networks and Human Communication