Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for AI c

Laptop or computer scientist Ingmar Weber will take up an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for Synthetic Intelligence at Saarland University in the coming wintertime semester (2022/2023). The professorships of the Alexander von Humboldt Basis are the most highly-endowed science awards in Germany. For researchers working experimentally they are sponsored with 5 million euros around five yrs and are financed by the German Federal Ministry of Instruction and Exploration (BMBF).

Ingmar Weber’s analysis emphasis is “societal computing”, a rather new subfield of pc science (CS) that interdisciplinarily combines computer science with the social sciences. Ingmar Weber devotes his investigation to troubles of societal scope, working with CS methods to investigate them. “My do the job is primarily based on the query of how we can use the procedures of computer science to understand and to improve our society,” claims Ingmar Weber.

Societal computing can be divided into two directions: Into computing of modern society and computing for modern society. 1 illustration that brings together equally is the investigation of migration streams making use of publicly obtainable social media info: “We can use this info to trace refugee movements just about in serious time and compute how the population composition has adjusted or will change in a distinct location. This enables us, for case in point, to make statements about whether or not there are more females and small children in an space,” describes Ingmar Weber. With this know-how, humanitarian businesses and governments can make additional correct selections about the predicament in the subject and adapt their humanitarian steps accordingly.

Ingmar Weber and collaborators have by now put this into exercise in the context of the Ukraine war and printed their function as a preprint. Even so, his most cited operate to date offers with the automated detection of detest speech on the Web. He also is effective on gender equality matters and on the dilemma of how details and information spreads on the Net. Public wellness matters are also amongst his areas of focus.

To make sure that his investigate results instantly profit society, Ingmar Weber works intently with various stakeholders – which include the United Nations, the European Commission, different non-governmental corporations and humanitarian support organizations. Frequently, his investigation concerns originate from these collaborations. “Very last April, I experienced the privilege of practically addressing the UN Typical Assembly and present the results of a investigation task on the ‘Digital Gender Gap’, outlining how males and women of all ages vary in their access to digital technologies,” says Ingmar Weber. “The exceptional laptop or computer science exploration atmosphere at the Saarland Informatics Campus alongside one another with the international, Europe-oriented orientation of Saarland University supply outstanding situations for my investigation,” the pc researchers adds.

“We are really joyful to have gained a major worldwide scientist like Ingmar Weber for our place with the aid of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This considerably strengthens our pc science target with the equally existing and socially relevant investigate spot of “Societal Computing”. This initial AvH/KI professorship listed here at Saarland University will foster new and pioneering bridges to other disciplines and scientific areas, the two in just our college and in global cooperation,” claims University President Manfred Schmitt.

Weber moves to Saarbrücken for the Humboldt Professorship from the “Qatar Computing Investigate Institute” of the “Hamad Bin Khalifa University” in Doha, Qatar.

Track record Alexander von Humboldt Professorships

The goal of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorships is to catch the attention of best experts who are leaders in their discipline from abroad to Germany as a exploration location. Because 2009, up to ten Humboldt Professorships have been awarded just about every yr for this objective. In 2020, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorships for Artificial Intelligence (AI) ended up on top of that introduced, of which up to 30 additional can be stuffed by 2024. Humboldt Professorships are endowed with 5 million euros for experts working experimentally and with 3.5 million euros for scientists doing the job theoretically the funding interval is five yrs. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s AI professorships are component of the Federal Government’s national AI approach.

More facts: Press release Humboldt Foundation

Preprint:

Douglas R. Leasure, Ridhi Kashyap, Francesco Rampazzo, Benjamin Elbers, Claire Dooley, Ingmar Weber, Masoomali Fatehkia, Maksym Bondarenko, Mark D. Verhagen, Arun Frey, Jiani Yan, Evelina Akimova, Alessandro Sorichetta, Andrew J Tatem, Melinda C. Mills Ukraine Disaster: Monitoring population displacement by social media action

Push photos are out there on this site.

Track record Saarland Informatics Campus:
900 researchers (which includes 400 PhD pupils) and about 2100 learners from additional than 80 nations make the Saarland Informatics Campus (SIC) one particular of the foremost places for personal computer science in Germany and Europe. 5 environment-renowned study institutes, particularly the German Exploration Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for Application Units, the Middle for Bioinformatics and the Cluster for “Multimodal Computing and Interaction” as properly as Saarland University with a few departments and 24 diploma programs protect the overall spectrum of computer system science. 
 

Push make contact with and editor:
Philipp Zapf-Schramm
Saarland Informatics Campus
Telephone: +49 681 302-70741
E-Mail: [email protected]