The PZAI

The Inter-institutional Doctoral Centre for Applied Computer Science (PZAI) serves as a networking platform for consolidating the research strength within the framework of the independent doctoral awarding powers held by the respective partner universities in this discipline. By facilitating collaboration across institutions, the Centre provides doctoral candidates with an appropriate and stimulating academic environment.

The Centre understands Applied Computer Science as the application of computational methods for the development of solutions and systems addressing real-world problems. This encompasses not only core research questions within computer science itself, but also the application of computational approaches to other scientific disciplines, as well as the development of specialised methodologies and representation techniques tailored to specific application domains.

Members of the Centre organise themselves and their research activities within dedicated Special Interest Groups (SIGs), aligned with the structure of the Association for Computing Machinery. These SIGs promote focused, theme-based collaboration and strengthen interdisciplinary exchange.

At present, there are three SIGs within the Doctoral Centre:

• Dependable IT Infrastructures
• Applied Machine Intelligence
• Digital Perception and Interaction