Stefan Gabriel has successfully completed his PhD on the topic ‘A Systematic Approach to the Design of AI-Supported Work Processes in a Production Environment’ under the supervision of Dr. Roman Dumitrescu. We offer our warmest congratulations! Summary of the thesis: Work processes in production environments will change dramatically as a result of artificial intelligence (AI). AI increases the ability of technical systems to assume agency. The…

Whether on Amazon, Booking.com or Google Reviews, star ratings are now among the most important factors influencing online shopping decisions. Platforms summarise the reviews of thousands of customers into a single metric, usually the arithmetic mean. But does this calculation actually reflect the way in which consumers perceive and process rating distributions? A new study by an interdisziplinär research team from Paderborn University and Ludwig…

From 22 to 25 June 2026, Sabrina Plaß, a research assistant in our “Behavioural Economic Engineering and Responsible Management” workgroup, attended the Summer School on Responsible Capitalism in Venice. There she presented the project idea “Fooling oneself: Mapping the conceptual landscape of self-deception in economics and management research”. The Summer School focuses on academic exchange regarding sustainable development and shaping…

How does artificial intelligence create real added value? This was precisely the question addressed by the two-day masterclass organized by the SHAPE project. Among the contributors: the KLUG research project held a modul on how to consistently develop AI-based services from the customer's perspective. Using the Value Proposition Canvas, participants jointly elaborated needs, challenges, and added value that must be the focus of AI-supported…

Sustainability and digitalisation are two key areas of focus within companies that are crucial to business success. In the “DualStrat” project, partners from academia and industry have therefore set out to examine these two areas together and to develop an approach to the strategic management of what is known as the “dual transformation” in industrial companies. Researchers from the “Behavioural Economic Engineering and Responsible Management”…

Targeted data generation and data storage: This was the theme of the second workshop held at Roess Nature Group GmbH & Co. KG as part of the pilot study on the application of digital Key Technologies in the KLUG project. As part of the move toward implementing Predictive Maintenance, various options for Data Generation were explored, such as measuring power consumption and temperature. With the help of a demonstrator from our “Product Creation”…

From the motivation for digital transformation to the digital business model: Participants in the Community of Practice within the DigiLeistDAT KLUG project, from our ‘Product Development’ workgroup, gathered experience and have now begun drawing up concrete, company-specific plans based on the lessons learnt. For example, one company is validating its proposed business model with identified pilot customers. Another firm is carrying out initial…

Getting a close-up look at modern technologies—a strong motivation for students at the Richard-von-Weizsäcker Vocational College to visit Prof. Iris Gräßler’s “Product Creation” workgroup. Through various examples, the participants gained insights into current applications in engineering professions. Annika Reich, for example, demonstrated Augmented Reality for the maintenance of a spray painting machine: Digital overlays support the service…

Our colleague Kadiray Karakaya, who successfully completed his PhD in the “Secure Software Engineering” workgroup, is now joining Amazon Web Services in London. There, he will be conducting research and development into innovative tools for the automated analysis of source code, thereby continuing his academic work. Kadiray Karakaya successfully completed his doctoral dissertation in November 2025 at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at Paderborn…

ChatGPT, Claude and others: Paderborn University, with the support of the Westfalen Foundation, has investigated how generative artificial intelligence (AI) influences human creativity and learning processes as part of the “GenAI4PC”1 research project. To this end, researchers at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute have, amongst other things, developed new demonstrators capable of generating computer games, for example, with minimal human intervention.…

Yasir Mahmood, a postdoctoral researcher in our “Data Science” workgroup, will be attending the Conference on eXplainable Artificial Intelligence in Fortaleza, Brazil, from 1 to 3 July. There he will give a talk on this paper: Rethinking Explanations: Formalizing Contrast in Description Logics - Yasir Mahmood, Arnab Sharma, Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo and Balram Tiwari. The World Conference on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is an…

On June 25, the Heinz Nixdorf Institute welcomed numerous new research staff members as part of its annual “Get to Know HNI” event. The event offers newcomers the opportunity to get to know the institute, its workgroups, and their research focuses, as well as to establish early connections that foster interdisciplinary collaboration. The day began with an official welcome by the Chairman of the Board, Prof. René Fahr. Following this, professors…

From 22 to 25 June, Niklas Fittkau, a doctoral candidate in our "Control Engineering and Mechatronics" workgroup, will be a participant at the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium in Detroit. During a poster session on 24 June, he will present the paper “Intelligent Headlights Boost Energy Efficiency and Drive Decarbonisation”. Contributors include our research assistant Leon Bußemas, postdoctoral researcher Kevin Malena, senior engineer Sandra…

Simulations for digital validation of system properties are widely used. Niklas Döhner, a research associate in our ‘Product Creation’ workgroup, led by Iris Gräßler, presented an approach at the DESIGN Conference to make simulations, such as the Gazebo robotics simulation, accessible to users without in-depth expertise during product planning. The approach involves automating simulations, including data pre- and post-processing, through…

Research asspciates from our “Data Science” workgroup, led by Prof. Dr Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo, attended the FOODSIM 2026 conference in Ghent (Belgium) from 15 to 17 April. There they presented the paper “PBFF-KG: A FAIR Knowledge Graph towards Sustainable Design of Plant-Based Fermented Foods”, authored by Amgad Abdulmaqsod, Reda Ihtassine, Caroline Pénicaud, Anne Saint-Eve, Lucia Brisset, Axel Ngonga and Mohamed Ahmed Sherif. FOODSIM'2026…