IJAR Young Researcher Award for relAI student Yusuf Sale
People
/ mc
🎉 Congratulations!
We are proud to share that relAI PhD student Yusuf Sale has been honored with one of the IJAR Young Researcher Awards. The prestigious prize, funded by the International Journal of Approximate Reasoning (IJAR), recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in research at an early stage of their scientific careers.
Yusuf received the award at ISIPTA 25, the 14th International Symposium on Imprecise Probabilities: Theories and Applications, organized by ISIPTA, the leading international forum for theories and applications of imprecise probabilities.
This is an exceptional outcome, considering that only six papers have received this recognition out of more than 12000 submitted this year.
relAI has been instrumental in fostering the collaboration that led to this significant outcome by funding Unai Fisher Abaigar's research stay at Harvard University. Visits to international centres are one of the components of the relAI PhD curriculum, designed to support collaborations with international researchers and gain international research experience on the topic of the reliability of artificial intelligence (AI).
The paper tackles aspects of the Algorithmic Decision-Making relAI research area and the relAI central theme Responsibility, exploring how predictive models, particularly those using machine learning, can be used in government programs to identify and support the most vulnerable individuals.
/ mc
On the latest TV episode of “Neuland” by BR - Bayerischer Rundfunk, relAI PhD student Sarah Ball shares her insights about fundamental issues surrounding a central theme of relAI: “responsibility in AI systems.” She addresses topics such as when AI might reinforce discrimination and how to ensure that AI systems align with human values.
On 1 July 2025, relAI fellow Claudia Eckert will assume the office of Scientific President of acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering. She was unanimously elected by the acatech Executive Board.
acatech, founded in 2002 and established as the German Academy of Science and Engineering in 2008, represents the interests of German technical sciences independently, in self-determination and guided by the common good, at home and abroad. acatech is organized as a working academy that advises politicians and the public on forward-looking issues concerning the technical sciences and technology politics.
This is a significant recognition of Professor Eckert's leadership and expertise in the field.
For more information, please see the following links:
Last week, our industry partner QuantCo generously hosted over 30 relAI students at its offices in Munich. The visit provided a valuable platform for our students and QuantCo colleagues to connect, fostering a friendly environment for discussions on potential future collaborations.
We extend our sincere gratitude to QuantCo for their warm welcome and for facilitating such a beneficial exchange!
/ mc
We are proud to announce that the European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an Advanced Grant to relAI Fellow Albrecht Schmidt for the project titled “AI Twins of Human Experience: Towards Personal Generative AI Systems for Amplifying Human Cognition.”
ERC Advanced Grants are highly prestigious, providing support to established and leading principal investigators who are pursuing groundbreaking and high-risk projects. This newly funded project aims to establish a scientific foundation for creating AI twins of human experiences. The goal is to store and process these experiences in a way that seamlessly enhances human cognitive and creative abilities. This initiative has the potential to transform the use of personal data, fostering cognitive augmentation and social connectivity through AI.
Find more information about this exciting project via the links below:
The Eduard Rhein Foundation has honoured Björn Ommer and his team, a group of pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence. Through open and efficient model architectures, the group has democratized access to generative AI. Their approach demonstrates the potential of generative AI not only for images, but also for other modalities such as audio and text, thus laying the foundation for a wide range of applications – from media production, where realistic or creative content is created for presentations, to prototyping in automotive design, to synthetic data to support diagnostics in medical research.
We are excited to announce that Airbus, a key player in the global aerospace sector, and QuantCo, a leading data science and AI firm, have become industry partners of relAI.
The research areas of Airbus Central Research and Technology, the central research entity of the Airbus Group, align well with the relAI research areas algorithmic decision-making, and robotics & interacting systems. Furthermore, trustworthy AI, along with relAI’s central themes of safety and security, is essential for establishing a reliable foundation for the use of AI in Airbus's future products and services
In addition to their involvement in events and activities and supporting relAI students, Airbus brings fresh perspectives and potential application areas for AI. The aerospace sector demands a high level of safety and reliability, and this collaboration will contribute to stimulating the development of new research directions.
QuantCo, founded in 2016 by four Harvard and Stanford PhDs. has rapidly grown into a team of 200 data scientists, software engineers, and deep learners. With offices across the US, UK, Switzerland, and Germany (including one in Munich), QuantCo collaborates with market-leading companies in insurance, e-commerce, and automotive. The data science and AI company develops algorithms for, among others, pricing and claims management, and works on topics within the relAI research area medicine & healthcare. QuantCo will support our students by offering valuable internship opportunities.
/ mc
relAI warmly welcomes TUM Professor Alexander König to our school. Prof. König is the Interim Head of the Chair of Robotics and System Intelligence and the Scientific Lead of Project Geriatronics at the Technical University of Munich.
His work sits at the intersection of medicine & healthcare and robotics & interacting systems, directly addressing the central themes of our program: Safety, Security, Privacy, and Responsibility. He follows two main research directions: i. Translating AI-controlled robotic technology from laboratory to patient, to investigate the real-world effects of AI and robotics on healthcare and caregiving. ii. Using AI and robotics to understand how aging affects cognitive abilities and motor control in the elderly, with the aim of optimizing quality of life through technology.
He will contribute to relAI through lectures and workshops on medical technology and robotics, teaching young scientists the path toward real-world application of their ideas with patients. Additionally, his insights on conducting user studies, navigating CE certification processes, and developing commercialization strategies through startups will further enrich research at relAI.
/ mc
Europe faces challenges in the competitive field of artificial intelligence (AI). relAI director Gitta Kutyniok shares her insights on the current landscape of AI in Europe and proposes future strategies for developing trustworthy and secure AI technologies:
Europe should focus on specialised, efficient, and transparent AI.
We should place the emphasis on smart AI research: high-quality training data, efficient models, specialised software and hardware, and open-source approaches.
We should further build on another of our advantages: our pool of excellent researchers.
AI regulation assures trustworthiness, and Europe could be a role model in this area.
An international data privacy agreement for AI can address the data security concerns of AI models.
AI models running locally allow personalised teaching and lower costs. This is an enormous opportunity for universities and research institutions because open-source models offer transparency and flexibility.
