Arbeitsbereich: Computer Science

Maike Behrendt

27. April 2023

Maike Behrendt is a research associate at the Chair of Machine Learning in Computer Science at HHU-Düsseldorf since January 2021. In addition, she is a collaborator in the use case policy of the Manchot research group on the topic of supporting political decisions with the help of artificial intelligence. She studied Business Informatics (B. Sc.) at the University of Cologne and Computer Science (M. Sc.) at the HHU-Düsseldorf.

She is currently doing her PhD on the topic “Natural Language Processing for Discussion Platforms”.

Julia Romberg

27. April 2023

Julia Romberg joined the junior research group “CIMT – Citizen Involvement in Mobility Transitions” at HHU-Düsseldorf in 2019. She studied computer science at the University of Düsseldorf and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In the context of her dissertation, Julia Romberg deals with the question of how the evaluation of textual contributions of consultative public participation can be supported in an automated way.

Her research focuses on the analysis of arguments and the thematic classification of texts.

Photographer: ©Tilman Schenk

Prof. Dr. Stefan Dietze

21. December 2020

Prof. Dr. Stefan Dietze is Professor of Data & Knowledge Engineering at HHU-Düsseldorf and Scientific Director of the Knowledge Technologies for the Social Sciences Department at GESIS (Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) in Cologne. In his research, he works on harnessing large amounts of data from the Web using methods of Natural Language Processing (NLP), information retrieval, and machine learning. As scientific head of the Knowledge Technologies for the Social Sciences department at GESIS, a particular focus is on the use of (social) web data for interdisciplinary research questions in the social sciences.

At DIID, he is interested in the investigation of online discourse using NLP-based methods, e.g., for the recognition and classification of statements or sources or the understanding of information diffusion in social networks.

Björn Ebbinghaus

15. October 2020

Björn Ebbinghaus has studied Computer Science at the HHU-Düsseldorf since 2013. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in 2017. At the same time, he was already working on D-BAS, the dialog-based argumentation system, a project of the first phase of the Research Training Group, as a student assistant. During his master studies at the HHU, he focused on the use of argumentation systems in natural language environments, such as chat systems, by chatbots.

In his master thesis he investigated the possibilities of extending existing argumentation systems with a subsequent decision making process. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted with the student body of computer science to test whether this kind of decision making is perceived as fair and acceptable by the students. Since January 2019 he is employed as a research assistant at the Chair of Computer Networks of Prof. Martin Mauve, where he is researching the practical application and development of systems for decision making.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Rothe

21. March 2018

Prof. Dr. Jörg Rothe has headed the Complexity Theory and Cryptology Group at the Institute of Computer Science at HHU-Düsseldorf since 2000. His research interests lie in computational social choice, algorithmic game theory, and fair division, focusing in each case on the algorithmic and complexity-theoretic treatment of the relevant problems.

In the context of DIID, he is interested in formal models of theoretical computer science for the description and evaluation of user interactions in online participation processes.

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dorothea Baumeister

19. March 2018

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dorothea Baumeister is junior professor for theoretical computer science at HHU-Düsseldorf since September 2013. Since 2017, she is head of the DFG project “Distances in Elections”. In her research, she focuses on axiomatic and complexity-theoretic analysis of the fields of preference aggregation, voting systems, and distributional problems.

At DIID, she is particularly interested in the formal modeling of online participation processes and the influence of distances in online election processes.

Prof. Dr. Martin Mauve

12. March 2018

Prof. Dr. Martin Mauve has headed the Chair of Computer Networks and Communication Systems since 2003. Since 2015, he has been Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at HHU-Düsseldorf. His research interests include secure and robust distributed systems, computer-aided group work, and the realization of participation using Internet technology. A particular focus is on highly scalable support for discussion and decision making.

Within DIID, his interests include innovative concepts for dialog-based online participation processes and their technical implementation in functional systems.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Conrad (vice speaker)

9. March 2018

Prof. Dr. Stefan Conrad has held the Chair of Databases and Information Systems at the Institute of Computer Science since 2002. He has been a member of the Senate of HHU-Düsseldorf since 2015. In his research, he works on issues related to the analysis of large data sets, especially in image retrieval, time series analysis, clustering, and text mining.
He has been cooperating with practice partners for many years, especially in several BMWi-funded ZIM projects on opinion mining, extraction of product features important for users, and automated text summarization.

At DIID, he is interested in researching techniques for automated topic detection and content analysis of text contributions as well as the identification of argument structures, subjective evaluations, and emotions.

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tobias Escher

5. March 2018

Tobias Escher leads a BMBF-funded junior research group investigating the effects of participation processes on the quality and legitimacy of political decisions, especially in the context of the transformation to sustainable mobility in the local context. Previously, he supervised the DIID as well as the NRW Forschungskolleg Online-Partizipation at the HHU-Düsseldorf as scientific coordinator. He is a social scientist and holds a PhD from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. He can also draw on his basic knowledge of computer science when assessing the possibilities and limits of digitization.

His research focuses on the evaluation of political participation online and offline. In particular, he addresses the question of the extent to which citizen participation contributes to higher quality and legitimacy/acceptance of political decisions. He has developed a teaching module on the theory and practice of online participation, from which, among other things, a project on student participation in teaching has emerged.