The PZAI

About us

The inter-university Doctoral Center for Applied Computer Science (PZAI) serves as a networking platform for pooling research strengths within the framework of the respective partner universities' own doctoral rights for this subject area. It facilitates inter-university cooperation, providing doctoral candidates in this subject area with a suitable scientific environment.

 

The center defines applied computer science as the use of computer science methods to develop solutions and systems for practical problems. In addition to issues relating to computer science, this also includes the application of computer science methods in other sciences and the development of special procedures and presentation techniques for specific applications.

Individual members assign themselves and their research interests to so-called Special Interest Groups (SIGs), based on the Association for Computing Machinery, which enable topic-specific collaboration.

There are currently three different SIGs at the doctoral center:

  • Dependable IT-Infrastructures,
  • Applied Machine Intelligence,
  • Digital Perception and Interaction.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) at the PZAI

Dependable IT-Infrastructures

Due to the ever-increasing digitization of all areas of society and the economy, information technology and its applications are permeating almost all fields. Ensuring that these applications function as smoothly as possible is one of the most important prerequisites for their use, especially since some applications are critical and their failure would have dramatic consequences. Without a high degree of reliability in the underlying IT infrastructures, it is impossible to operate modern applications.

 

The Dependable IT Infrastructures working group focuses on investigating and improving the reliability of IT infrastructure, particularly the reliability of software, networks, and services that are necessary for the operation of applications. The term "dependable" covers all aspects that are necessary for the reliable operation of applications from the user's perspective, especially security, safety, reliability, and resilience.

The topics considered in the SIG form an important basis for the research topics considered in the other SIGs of the PZAI, but conversely also make use of the methods of the other SIGs to improve the reliability of the infrastructure, for example through Machine Intelligence methods for anomaly detection or Digital Perception for the evaluation of sensor data.

Professor members of SIG Dependable IT Infrastructures

Applied Machine Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) now permeates many areas of life with numerous applications in business, science, and society. For SIG, we deliberately chose the term "machine intelligence" because it is often used synonymously with AI but includes a variety of relevant fields such as machine learning, deep learning, knowledge representation, reasoning, and decision making, thus covering a wider range of methods. The SIG has applications in numerous areas such as life sciences, manufacturing, digital humanities, smart cities, smart homes, and many more.

 

SIG Applied Machine Intelligence covers the AI subfields of machine learning, knowledge-based AI and cognitive computing, data science, natural language processing, scientific computing, and robotics. It interfaces with SIG Dependable IT Infrastructures in terms of IT security and data protection, which are essential for data-intensive applications. It also interfaces with SIG Digital Perception and Interaction, as a good user experience is essential for effective AI applications. There are overlaps between the two SIGs, particularly in the areas of intelligent sensor data processing, computer vision, and speech and text analysis.

Professor members of SIG Applied Machine Intelligence

Digital Perception and Interaction

Digital perception is understood here as the digitally based perception of reality, e.g., through sensor technology or image recognition, while digital interaction is understood as digitally supported interaction between humans and computer systems on the one hand and between humans on the other. What is special here is that both aspects are considered simultaneously in order to take advantage of the fact that they can be mutually dependent. This allows research questions to be considered such as

 

  • How can human-machine understanding be improved?
  • How can digital perception and interaction be integrated into everyday life and made more accessible to the general public?
  • How can digital perception and interaction increase the usability of software?
  • How can digital perception and interaction support digital transformation and generate added value, e.g., in industrial processes?
  • How can information obtained from digital perception be communicated interactively to people in a way that is easy to understand?

The SIG's main focus is therefore on a specific subset of computer vision, image understanding, computer graphics, visual computing, human-computer interaction, visual analytics, VR/AR/MR/XR, visualization, and multimodal user interfaces. Both sensor technology and interaction are based on Dependable IT infrastructures, while the implementation of semantic analysis in particular, as well as fundamental tasks such as image generation, makes use of Applied Machine Intelligence. This also provides an excellent thematic link to the other two SIGs within the field of applied computer science, enabling a more holistic and sustainable approach to research questions and thus contributing to the profile and brand essence of the PZAI.

Professor members of SIG Digital Perception and Interaction