Abstract

Artificial intelligence is transforming science, technology, and society at an unprecedented pace. At the same time, current AI systems raise fundamental questions concerning reliability, transparency, robustness, and sustainability. In this talk, I will discuss why these challenges call for a deeper mathematical and computational understanding of AI. I will highlight recent developments toward reliable AI, including questions of explainability and robustness, and discuss how the future of AI will also depend on new computing paradigms and the co-evolution of software and hardware. The talk will conclude with perspectives on how informatics can help shape the next generation of trustworthy and sustainable AI systems.

Gitta Kutyniok is Chair for Mathematical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence at LMU Munich, with additional affiliations at the DLR German Aerospace Center and the University of Tromsø. Before joining LMU, she held professorships at the University of Osnabrück and the Technical University of Berlin, where she was an Einstein Chair. She has held visiting positions at various international institutions, including Princeton, Stanford, and Yale University. In 2023, she co-founded EcoLogic Computing GmbH.
Her current research focuses on the mathematical foundations of artificial intelligence, in particular reliable and sustainable AI and automated scientific discovery, with applications in medicine, robotics, and neuroscience.
She has received numerous honors, including a Heisenberg Fellowship, the von Kaven Prize of the DFG, SIAM Fellowship, IEEE Fellowship, and ELLIS Fellowship. She has delivered invited and plenary lectures at major international conferences, including ICM 2022 and ICIAM 2023. She is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the European Academy of Sciences, Vice President for Science & Research Relations of Venture AI Germany, and LMU Director of the Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI.

Abstract

In today’s world, we are witnessing several challenges to the traditional formats of scientific publishing as a mechanism for sharing, validating, and receiving feedback on new ideas. These disruptions include over-reliance on metrics, predatory practices in publication venues, and metrics gaming by authors. Some of these behaviours not only hurt the development of science and add noise to the system, but also can ruin the career development of researchers. A second-order effect is the overload of the classic peer-review system. With increasingly capable AI agents, it looks as though the overload is poised to intensify, but maybe the same tools can also help transform the evaluation mechanisms and offer a fresh approach to replicability of results.

Carlos Baquero is a Professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Porto in the field of Distributed Systems. His work covers topics such as probabilistic data structures, causality tracking, CRDTs, and distributed algorithms in general. He tries to address fundamental problems that can have a practical impact on actual systems, and some of the resulting research has been applied in production systems worldwide. He writes regularly for the Blog@CACM.

Abstract

European universities are facing an increasing number of challenges due to budget restrictions, reduced government and industry funding, high expectations for research and education to be up to date, increasing competition within academia, and decreasing interest in international cooperation. Digitalisation is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of all processes and activities within university life, and is seen as a way of solving these challenges.
Currently, there are a number of individual activities, but a coherent concept and approach are lacking.
In this session, we will introduce the concept of a digital twin for universities. We will discuss whether such a digital twin could help leaders to monitor and manage a university more effectively. We will explore the concept of a digital twin with all participants by examining recent challenges and issues in their faculties. By the end of the session, participants should have a solid understanding of whether the concept of a digital twin is a promising way to solve current challenges in their faculties, and should have benefited from discussions and exchanges with colleagues.

Between 1991 and 1997, Gregor Engels held the position of Chair of Software Engineering and Information Systems at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Since then, he has been a professor of Informatics at Paderborn University in Germany. Following his retirement in 2024, he became a senior professor at Bielefeld University in Germany, where he acts as a strategic advisor for the digital transformation of universities.
He was the chairperson of the Software Innovation Lab at Paderborn University, which is part of the technology transfer institute SICP – Software Innovation Campus Paderborn. He is a founding member of Informatics Europe, a network organization of computer science departments across Europe.
His research interests lie in socio-technical systems, model-driven software development, enterprise architecture, digital twins, and software quality assurance. He is involved in numerous initiatives examining the impact of computer science on the future of work, education, enterprises and society.
He has published over 320 peer-reviewed scientific contributions and supervised 50 PhD projects. He has taught for over 40 years at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD level, as well as in professional education programmes.

Short Bio

Professor Michel R. V. Chaudron is a Full Professor of the Software Engineering group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), within the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
With over two decades of academic experience, Professor Chaudron has previously held positions at the University of Gothenburg/Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Leiden University and at CMG (now CGI) as a professional software engineer.
His research interests encompass software architecture, software design, software modelling, and empirical studies in industrial software engineering practice. Recently, he has focused on the architecting digital twins of the human body and on integrating AI in software development processes. He also works towards increasing inclusiveness of academics from the ‘Global South’ in the software engineering community. He is an active supporter of the Euromicro Software Engineering and Advanced Applications conference.

Short Bio

Professor Giovanni Russello is a Cyber Security specialist and the Head of the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Giovanni previously served as the Director of the Cyber Security Research Programme, a multi-million-dollar project funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, aimed at enhancing New Zealand’s cyber security posture and fostering collaboration between New Zealand and Australian researchers.
Additionally, he is the founding Co-Director of the Cyber Security Foundry, the first multi-disciplinary center in New Zealand for Cyber Security, focused on strengthening collaboration between industry and academia. From 2013 to 2014, Giovanni held the position of founding CEO at a startup targeting the smartphone security market. His research interests include human-centered cyber security, policy-based security systems, privacy and confidentiality in cloud computing, smartphone security, and applied cryptography.

Short Bio
Dimka Karastoyanova is a full professor of Information Systems at the Computer Science Department of Bernoulli Institute (BI) for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She completed a six-year term on the BI Board, while acting in several roles: she was the head of the Computer Science Department from 2020 to 2024, vice-chair of the BI Board from 2024 to end of August 2025 and chair of the BI Board from June 2025 to May 2026. Since May 2025 Dimka is a member of the Board of IPN – the Dutch National Association for ICT Research.
She holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science (received from the TU Darmstadt, Germany). Her current research is in the areas of data-driven, service-based, process automation and performance improvement with focus on Processes for AI and AI for Processes finding application in fields like manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, eScience, Data Science, healthcare and others. Her most prominent research topic is autonomic process performance improvement in the context of environmental and social sustainability.
Dimka is an Associated Editor of Transactions of Services Computing, an Associated Editor to Information Systems Journal and a member of the steering committee of EDOC. She is supporting the communities with organizing conferences, workshops and forums in different roles and is active as a reviewer for relevant conferences (e.g. BPM, CAiSE, EDOC, ICSOC, CoopIS), journals (TSC, JCC, TOSEM, Springer Computing, ACM TPDS, Information Systems, Computing Journal) and workshops. Dimka is leading the WG on Early Career Researchers of IE and is a co-organizer of the annual ECR workshop at ECSS.

Short Bio

Dr. Jonas Čeponis is the Dean and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Informatics of Kaunas University of Technology. He is a member of the Cybersecurity Research Group at the Faculty. Jonas Čeponis has many years of experience in academic and managerial activities as the former Vice-Dean for Studies of the Faculty of Informatics and the Vice-Rector for Studies of Kaunas University of Technology.

Short Bio

Birgy Lorenz is a Senior Research Fellow at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) and Head of the IT Didactic Center. Her work focuses on cybersecurity, computer science education, AI in education, and digital society technologies. She leads cybersecurity projects, develops educational materials and games, supports young cyber talent development, promotes gender equality in IT, and teaches the ethical and social aspects of technology. She is also known for organising youth cybersecurity competitions, including the Cyber Olympics.

Short Bio

Dr. Muhammad Mudassar Yamin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Information Security and Communication Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and a member of the System Security Research Group. His research focuses on system security, penetration testing, security assessment, cyber ranges, and intrusion detection. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed research articles and presented his work at prominent conferences including DEF CON, Black Hat, SafeComp, and DefCamp. His contributions have been recognized by over 50 Fortune 500 companies and he holds a Ph.D. in Cyber Security from NTNU.

Short Bio

Jens Myrup Pedersen is professor at Aarhus University, coach for the Danish National Cybersecurity team, and co-founder of the company Campfire Security. He is an active voice in the Danish cybersecurity community, where he has been working with cybersecurity training and talent development for the last 15 years. He is particularly interested in how gamification and active learning can be used to engage and upskill more people in cybersecurity, and in creating communities around cybersecurity.

Ana Belén Gil González is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Automatics at the University of Salamanca (USAL), where she carries out her teaching and research activities in the fields of Computer Engineering and Applied Artificial Intelligence. Holding a PhD in Computer Engineering with a European Mention and an Extraordinary Doctorate Award, her research specializes in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and personalization architectures. Her current work focuses on transferring technological solutions to the healthcare sector, efficiency in productive sectors, and social well-being, promoting AI applications that contribute to sustainable development.
She is currently the Director of USAL International Campuses in China and co-directs the ENIA International Chair in Reliable AI and Demographic Challenge, an initiative aimed at territorial cohesion through innovation. She represents the University of Salamanca in international academic forums such as Informatics Europe, the CRUSOE Group, and the Coimbra Group’s STEM working group.
Her research career includes authoring over 150 scientific publications and participating in more than 60 funded projects. Her work is closely linked to development with technology transfer, aiming to apply cutting-edge research to real-world solutions for both social and productive environments.
Her dedication and impactful contributions have earned her several prestigious recognitions, including being named an Honorary Member of the Professional Association of Computer Engineers of Castilla y León in 2025, serving as an Ambassador for the Salamanca Convention Bureau since 2024, and receiving the Gloria Begué Award for Teaching Excellence in 2022 and, recently in 2026, as Distinguished Professor at Ningbo Polytechnic University in China.

Abstract

Cookie consent banners have become a fixture of the modern web following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. In theory, they give users meaningful control over how their data is collected. In practice, many banners are designed to push users toward accepting tracking rather than refusing it.
We present the findings from a large-scale automated analysis of cookie consent banner design and compliance across 1,060 websites selected from eight target sectors. To guide us in this analysis we introduce the Manipulation Severity Index (MSI), a composite metric scoring five dimensions of dark pattern use: visual bias, interaction friction, default bias, opacity, and interface complexity.
The results show that consent can be weakened at three separate stages: tracking may begin before a choice, refusal may require more effort than acceptance, and the resulting network behavior may not substantially reflect the refusal. The study does not focus on legal violations from automated network measurements. Instead, it provides coverage-aware evidence that visible consent infrastructure often fails to deliver an equally accessible or behaviorally clean refusal experience.

Short Bio

Dr Monica Landoni is a professor at the Faculty of Informatics where she leads the Laboratory of User Experience, Interaction & Accessibility (LUXIA). She holds a PhD in Computing and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde and a Laurea in Scienze dell´Informazione from Università degli Studi of Milan.
She has been involved in a number of projects, including the JISC Project "EBONI", Electronic Books ON-screen Interface, EU Projects: STAMP, PENG, REVEAL-THIS and PuppyIR. Together with SNSF sponsored: TADAA, BEST, DEDUCE, HEBE, BEST and SOL, and Hasler funded PADS and COHRI. She was also member of the EUGAIN COST ACTION: European Network for gender balance in Informatics.
Her research interests lie mainly in the field of Human Computer Interaction with particular attention to understudied user groups as children and people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.

This contribution presents the results of an exploratory study aimed at identifying the presence of dark patterns in online travel agency websites. The study involved 71 students participating in an online learning environment, who systematically analyzed a selection of travel agency websites to detect interface designs and persuasive techniques that may mislead, manipulate, or influence users’ decision-making processes. Through the examination of common categories of dark patterns, the study provides insights into the prevalence and characteristics of deceptive design practices within the online travel sector. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how such practices appear in real-world websites and highlight the importance of promoting ethical and transparent user experience design.

Short Bio

Covadonga Rodrigo is a Spanish assistant professor at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid, currently being Vice-Dean for Innovation and Institutional Affairs at the Computer Science Faculty. She holds a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering and specializes in technology-enhanced learning, inclusive human-computer interaction, accessibility, open educational resources, and e-learning quality.
She is also involved in academic leadership and research, contributing to projects that improve ethical and inclusion aspects in hybrid education. She is EDEN fellow, EADTU expert, IEEE Senior member and chairs the Ethics WG at Informatics Europe.

Oana Andrei is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, UK. Her research spans formal methods, computing education research, and responsible AI in higher education. She has over 20 years of experience in formal modelling and analysis, with interests including stochastic model checking and rigorous reasoning about complex systems. More recently, her work has focused on professional competencies, reflective practice, AI literacy, and the social and ethical implications of AI in computing education. She is actively involved in initiatives on diversity and inclusion, widening participation, and work-based learning in computing.

Abstract

As artificial intelligence reshapes professional and educational landscapes across Europe, a critical gap persists between the rapid advancement of AI technologies and the capacity of institutions and individuals to adopt them meaningfully. AIM-PRO (AI Literacy for Multidisciplinary Professional Readiness and Outreach) is a 36-month Erasmus+ Alliance for Innovation project, funded by the European Union and co-supported by Movetia, that directly addresses this challenge. Bringing together 15 partner organisations across 9 European countries, AIM-PRO develops open, scalable frameworks and tools to embed AI literacy within higher education institutions, vocational education and training providers, and small and medium enterprises. The project is structured around three interconnected skill pillars: deep tech (AI literacy), green skills (Sustainable AI), and resilience and entrepreneurial skills (AI and EntreComp). This presentation introduces the vision, goals, and conceptual foundations of AIM-PRO. It outlines how the project integrates four technological approaches, Open Education Technology, Generative AI, Model-Driven Engineering, and Digital Twin Engineering, to produce validated, competency-aligned learning resources. It further describes how AIM-PRO synthesises major European frameworks (DigComp, GreenComp, EntreComp, and UNESCO AI competency guidelines) into a unified model aligned with EQF levels 5 and 6, supported by open badge certification and digital credentials. AIM-PRO represents a collaborative, research-grounded response to the urgent need for responsible, inclusive, and future-ready AI education across Europe.

Short Bio

Antonio Bucchiarone is an Associate Professor at the University of L’Aquila and a Visiting Fellow at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Trento, Italy. His research focuses on software engineering for adaptive socio-technical systems, with a strong emphasis on the design and development of educational tools and AI-driven agents for learning. He specializes in adaptive and motivational digital systems, gamification, and applying Model-Driven Engineering to create models, languages, and platforms that foster engagement and adaptability.
He is the Coordinator of the Erasmus+ AIM-PRO project (AI Literacy for Multidisciplinary Professional Readiness and Outreach) and has been actively involved in numerous national and European R&D initiatives, including the Erasmus+ ENCORE project on open educational resources. He serves as Senior Member of the IEEE and as Associate Editor for several journals, including IEEE Software, Journal of Object Technology (JOT), IEEE Transactions on Education, IEEE Transactions on Games, IEEE Technology and Society, and the International Journal of Serious Games.

Ana Belén Gil González is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Automatics at the University of Salamanca (USAL), where she carries out her teaching and research activities in the fields of Computer Engineering and Applied Artificial Intelligence. Holding a PhD in Computer Engineering with a European Mention and an Extraordinary Doctorate Award, her research specializes in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and personalization architectures. Her current work focuses on transferring technological solutions to the healthcare sector, efficiency in productive sectors, and social well-being, promoting AI applications that contribute to sustainable development.
She is currently the Director of USAL International Campuses in China and co-directs the ENIA International Chair in Reliable AI and Demographic Challenge, an initiative aimed at territorial cohesion through innovation. She represents the University of Salamanca in international academic forums such as Informatics Europe, the CRUSOE Group, and the Coimbra Group’s STEM working group.
Her research career includes authoring over 150 scientific publications and participating in more than 60 funded projects. Her work is closely linked to development with technology transfer, aiming to apply cutting-edge research to real-world solutions for both social and productive environments.
Her dedication and impactful contributions have earned her several prestigious recognitions, including being named an Honorary Member of the Professional Association of Computer Engineers of Castilla y León in 2025, serving as an Ambassador for the Salamanca Convention Bureau since 2024, and receiving the Gloria Begué Award for Teaching Excellence in 2022 and, recently in 2026, as Distinguished Professor at Ningbo Polytechnic University in China.

Simona Motogna is a professor of Computer Science at Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania, and currently serves as the chair of the Diversity and Inclusion working group of Informatics Europe. Her research focuses on empirical methods in Software Engineering and Software Quality. Simona was also an active member in EUGAIN COST Action and dedicated to supporting women in academic careers in Computer Science.

Enrico Nardelli is a full professor of Informatics in the University of Roma "Tor Vergata", affiliated with the Department of Mathematics. Since April 2014 he is coordinating the project “Programma il Futuro“ for the introduction of basic concepts of informatics as a scientific subject in Italian schools, with emphasis on primary schools and on computational thinking. Programma il Futuro is a joint project bewteen the Italian Ministry of Education and CINI, the Italian national inter-university Consortium for Informatics. Since its inception, the project has led about three million Italian students (half of them in primary schools) to start learning the principle of informatics. He was the President of Informatics Europe from 2018-2023, the association of informatics departments and research laboratories in Europe and neighbouring areas and initiator of the Informatics for All Coalition.

Jan Vahrenhold has been Professor for Algorithms and Education at the University of Münster since 2012. His research focuses on algorithms and data structures for geometric problems, algorithm engineering with a focus on resource efficiency and computer science education.
Jan Vahrenhold is co-editor-in-chief of "Computer Science Education" and associate editor of "ACM Inroads". He has (co-)chaired several conferences in the field of computer science and computer science education, most recently the ACM International Computing Education Research Conference (ICER 2021/2022). He is a member of the national consortium for the "International Computer and Information Literacy Study" (ICILS 2028). He is also a current member of the Informatics Europe Board, and speaker of the "Computer Science and Education" section of the German Informatics Society. He was an instructor at SCHIER 2024 and 2025.