Next up in our series "Research at MPI for Informatics": The Computer Vision and Machine Learning department. Director Bernt Schiele talks about the department’s work on explainable AI, foundation models, and how this connects to a range of real-world applications. 🎓 www.youtube.com/shorts/KUwuL...

Science where it’s rarely present: “Heimspiel Wissenschaft” brings researchers back to their rural homes to talk about their work. @oduenkel.bsky.social spoke in Boxberg-Schwabhausen on generative AI. 86 attendees in a village of ~600 people, plus a lively Q&A.🎓 ↪️https://sic.link/heimspiel

🏆 Saarbrücken now houses 11 ACM Fellows — about 1/3 of all ACM Fellows in Germany — highest of any location nationwide. This year, only 3 new Fellows in Germany were named, and Saarland University software engineering professor Sven Apel was one! Congrats, Prof. Apel! 👏 🔗 Read more: sic.link/apel

📚 Curious about research at Max Planck Institute for Informatics? Good news — you can now check out their new series, where they put every department under spotlight! 🎥

Congrats to @cispa.de researcher and Saarland University professor @andreaszeller.bsky.social on his IEEE Fellowship for his exceptional contributions to software analysis and development! 👏 Fellow is the top membership grade, awarded to under 0.1% of members each year. 🔗 Read more: sic.link/ieee

Congrats to Prof. Dr. @ingmarweber.de on his AAAI Fellowship! The fellowship honors individuals with significant contributions to #AI. Working in societal computing, he bridges AI and the social sciences, analyzing social platform data for valuable insights on society. 👏 Read more: sic.link/weber

Time to close the books! 📚✨ Campus Library Holiday Hours: 🔒 Closed: Dec 24 – Jan 4 🔓 Reopen: Jan 5 Happy holidays & see you in 2026! ❄️ @uni-saarland.de @dfki.bsky.social @mpi-inf.mpg.de #SaarlandInformaticsCampus #CampusLibrary #SIC #UniSaarland #UdS #WinterBreak #StudyBreak #HappyHolidays

💬 Ever wonder how Alexa or Siri understands you? Prof. Alexander Koller has the answers! We’re thrilled to announce he’s been elected an ACL Fellow—the only 2025 Fellow from the EU! 🏆 Huge congrats to Prof. Koller for his contributions to NLP. 👏 @uni-saarland.de @mpi-inf.mpg.de @dfki.bsky.social

Are you an international researcher interested in ethical AI in education? Good news — Prof. Nagashima is hiring another Postdoc (as a Humboldt Fellow) to LaLa Lab! 🎤 Read his interview to see what he looks for in candidates: sic.link/lalalab 📄 Application requirements: sic.link/fellowship

Spotify Wrapped may have just dropped – but do you know what else has? The Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, basically academic citations wrapped. 😌📚 Congrats to Saarland University’s Prof. Dr. Andreas Keller for making it to the list for the third time in a row! 🔗 Read more: sic.link/keller

Missed the #TEDxSaarbridge talks by our Interdisciplinary Institute for Societal Computing? Good news, you can find their recordings now! 👀 🎥 #societalcomputing #sciencecommunications

🔥 Last week, Computer Science and Language Science and Technology students joined forces for a torch run to honor Prof. Dr. Alexander Koller. They were joined by staff and faculty. Result? An #SIC evening where we united for our passion for teaching and research. 🔗 Read more: sic.link/torchlight

#SIC is hosting an X-Mas giveaway! Send us a pic or tag us:
 – you,
 – you + your bestie, or
– your favourite study gadget (for everyone who’s camera-shy 😉). 🏆 First 3 entries: an official SIC mug ☕️.
 ✨ The most creative pic? SIC Christmas ornaments for your own tree at home. Join the fun! 🎁

🗣️ Language connects people — #NLP lets computers join the conversation. At SIC, we explore it from all angles: 💬 Spoken Language, Prof. Klakow 🧩 Cognition & Psycholing, Prof. Demberg 🧠 Computational Linguistics, Prof. Koller 💭 LaCoCo Lab, Prof. Hahn 🔗 sic.link/17 @dfki.bsky.social @mpi-inf.mpg.de

🏆 Congrats to Professor Reinhard Wilhelm for being awarded the 2025 ACM SIGBED Technical Achievement Award! His work in WCET analysis has shaped safe embedded, real-time, and cyber-physical systems used worldwide, from aircraft control to medical devices. 🔗 Read more: sic.link/profwilhelmacm

Telling AI content from real content has been getting harder and harder. To overcome this, the masses have requested labels for AI videos. But DFKI Saarbrücken's Prof. Philipp Slusallek suggests a different approach: label what's real, so people know what to trust. 🇩🇪 Read more: sic.link/slusallek

🤖 Using AI while coding? Think again. 🖥️ A study conducted by Prof. Dr @svenapel.bsky.social and his team shows that, compared to human partners, developers working with AI assistants approach code less critically and experience less knowledge transfer. 🔗 Read more: sic.link/software

📚 Writing your thesis? Print it at the CS Students Printer (E1.3, room 013) and bind it in the Campus Library. Get inspired by past theses — and leave yours for future students. 👉 Learn more: sic.link/15
 @uni-saarland.de @dfki.bsky.social @mpi-inf.mpg.de #campuslibrary #saarlanduniversity

🏆 Congrats to Yonggang Jiang, PhD candidate at the Saarbrücken Graduate School of Computer Science (Saarland University) and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, on being named a 2025 Google PhD Fellow! 🔗 More: sic.link/14 @uni-saarland.de @mpi-inf.mpg.de @dfki.bsky.social

🎉Three #SIC scientists join the Emmy Noether Programme (DFG), launching three new Junior Research Groups in Al, optimization & ML — strengthening #Saarbrücken's CS leadership as one of Germany's leading computer science centers! Congrats Drs. Lenssen, Wegrzycki & Hahn!👏 Read more: sic.link/emmy

📰 Fundierter Journalismus hilft, die schnelle technologische Entwicklung zu verstehen und zeigt, wie wichtig Informatik für die Gesellschaft ist. 🏅 Die besten Beiträge 2025 werden mit dem Journalismuspreis Informatik ausgezeichnet. 📅 Bewerbungen bis 16.01.2026. Mehr info: sic.link/journalismuspreis

📰 This week at #SIC: Prof. Dr. Sven Apel, Chair of Software Engineering, and Dr. Marvin Wyrich, software engineering researcher at Saarland University, highlight the importance of science communication in November’s CACM issue! 📰 Read: sic.link/silentscientist 📺 Watch: youtu.be/85Q3gTx_MUs

🏅Big news from #SIC: Congrats to Wolfgang Wahlster, Professor Emeritus at Saarland University and Founding Director of #DFKI, for receiving the Konrad Zuse medal for Services to Computer Science! Read more: sic.link/wahlster #ArtificialIntelligence #ComputerScience #SaarlandInformaticsCampus

This week, we started the Winter Semester with our #SemesterKickOff, where the Computer Science Students' Council presented the #BusyBeaver awards! 🏃 The Busy Beavers go to instructors whose courses get outstanding student evaluations in base, core/advanced lectures, or seminars. See the winners ⬇️

⌨️ Code breaks. We fix it. That’s debugging — frustrating, yes, but also where good code is born ;) At SIC, researchers explore smarter, automated ways to track down bugs and build more reliable software 🐞💻 @uni-saarland.de @cispa.de @dfki.bsky.social @mpi-inf.mpg.de #debugging #softwaretesting

German Unity Day celebrates the reunification of East and West Germany. This year, Saarland is hosting the festivities! We will be in Saarbrücken, Mainzerstraße 3, joined by DFKI, MPI-INF, MPI-SWS, and LZI, to celebrate German Unity Day with you! 🥳 🔗 Find our full program here: sic.link/burgerfest

A new semester at SIC is here! Join our welcome events to meet people, get key info & settle into uni life! Start strong—we can’t wait to see you 💪 🔗 For more: sic.link/semesterinfos @uni-saarland.de @mpi-inf.mpg.de @dfki.bsky.social #saarlandinformaticscampus #universitylife #backtocampus

✨ Welcome to the SIC Glossary ✨ Today’s term: Compiler The translator between humans and machines — without it, code would just stay text. Which language do you wish had a better compiler? 💻⚙️ @uni-saarland.de @dfki.bsky.social @mpi-inf.mpg.de #SIC #compiler #computerscience

🏅 Saarbrücken receives 2 #ERC Starting Grants in computer science this year, more than any other institution in Germany! Congrats to Dr. Mariya Toneva and Dr. Franziska Boenisch! 💶 Each project will receive €1.5M over 5 years. 🔗 Read more here: ➡️ sic.link/mariya ➡️ sic.link/franziska #AI #SIC

🏃‍➡️ This week, between September 1-5, Saarland Informatics Campus is hosting the internationally renowned Highlights of Logic, Games and Automata conference! 🌍 150+ researchers worldwide are attending for the latest developments in logic, verification, and more. Full program here: sic.link/hl2025

📣 Starting Computer Science or a related program this winter? Join Saarland University’s Mathematics Preparatory Course! 🎓 📅 Sept 8–Oct 2 🕘 Mon–Fri, 9–16h 📍 Saarbrücken • Boost math foundations • Meet classmates • Only €20 🌍 In English (tutorials also in German) 💡 Info + registration: sic.link/10

🏅We're proud to announce that Professor Emeritus Kurt Mehlhorn of #SIC was awarded with the Saarland Order of Merit! As founding director of the @mpi-inf.mpg.de, he helped shape Saarland Informatics Campus into one of Europe's leading computer science centers. Read more here: sic.link/saarmerit

📥 Last month, DFKI’s Prof. Josef van Genabith & Simon Ostermann spoke to t-online on how Gmail's auto translate could've altered words on their newsletter and disrupted the reporting of recent events: sic.link/tonline In the age of misinformation, we thank them for speaking out about the issue! 🙏

Trustworthy AI isn’t luck—it’s certified. DFG & CAPES back a project with Saarland Informatics Campus and the Institute of Legal Informatics to turn EU AI Act rules into certifiable tech. 🗓 1 Aug · free online workshop on AI certification 🔗 For more: sic.link/z #unisaarland #AI #AICertification

A big round of applause from the SIC to Doctor Kalinina's Drug Bioinformatics group for a successful week at the #ISMBECCB2025 conference! 👏

📢 Visit the Campus Library of Computer Science and Mathematics to see their poster series on Open Science publishing, covering: 🔍 What is Open Science? 🧚 FAIR Data (not just for fairies) ⚠️ Predatory Publishing And more! Drop by, take a look, and tell us what you think! 📍 Library, Building E2.3

🎉 Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster wins the 2025 Rudolf Diesel Medal! From coining ‘Industry 4.0’ to digital assistants, and 100+ spin‑offs at @dfki.bsky.social , he’s put @uni-saarland.de & SIC on the global AI map since 1982—a proud moment for European AI 👏 📸 © Dominik Wagner / Eichmeister Kreativagentur

If you're @ic2s2.bsky.social #IC2S2 and are looking for a faculty position, get in touch. @uni-saarland.de is hiring. Right now, there's an open call in Computer Science @saarland-informatics-campus.de: www.uni-saarland.de/fileadmin/up... Soon, there'll be open calls in the Social Sciences.

📝 Exam season is here, and it’s time to lock in again at the #SIC! Whether you’re studying, writing your thesis, or both, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Struggling with problems like stress or anxiety? The #PPB is here to help. 🌴 We wish you good luck and a nice break afterwards!

🚨Job Alert W2 (TT W3) Professorship in Computer Science "AI for People & Society" @saarland-informatics-campus.de/@uni-saarland.de is looking to appoint an outstanding individual in the field of AI for people and society who has made significant contributions in one or more of the following areas:

🏅This week, SIC celebrates its 46th #ERC Grant! Congrats to @cispa.de researcher Prof. Dr. @andreaszeller.bsky.social on receiving an ERC Proof of Concept Grant of €150,000 from @erc.europa.eu! 💶 Find out more on how his group aims to improve software productivity here: sic.link/ercproofofconcept

🎓 How time flies - it's been two months since Prof. Holger Hermanns became Scientific Director at Schloss Dagstuhl! Thanks to Prof. Seidel for shaping the center for 11 impactful years, and congrats to Prof. Hermanns for leading a new chapter with his expertise. Read more: sic.link/schlossdagstuhl

👏 Congratulations to Anna Kukleva, postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for Informatics, for receiving the Otto Hahn Medal for her research in reducing manual data labeling in image and video recognition! #AI #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #computervision #womeninstem

Fresh headlines, new insights 🗞️💭 The Campus-Bibliothek stocks more than books. In addition to Saarbrücken local newspaper you can find Journals; Künstliche Intelligenz, Datenbank Spektrum, The Science of Nature… and many more! Drop by, pick up something that interests you, and enjoy your read 📚

👏 Congrats to Prof. Dr. @tomonag.bsky.social for being appointed a Henriette Herz Scout by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation! He can now nominate three international researchers for the Humboldt Fellowship to join his research group. Maybe it's your turn? 👀 Apply here: sic.link/humboldtfellow

🎓 The #ReasonableAI project at @‌tuda.bsky.social has earned a #ClusterofExcellence, with Saarland #ML prof Isabel Valera on the team! At #SIC, we believe in collaboration — this time with TU Darmstadt! We're proud to see Prof. Valera in RAI. Congrats to the team! Read more: sic.link/reasonableai

⚛️ Quantum software meets Saarbrücken science: new €53M+ research center launched at @uni-saarland.de. With #informatics, #physics, #math & #engineering on board – and @dfki.bsky.social , @mpi-inf.mpg.de & ‪@fz-juelich.de in the mix. 🔗 Read more about the #QuTe initiative here: sic.link/qute

Interested in recent advances in graph decomposition techniques and their use in designing efficient algorithms? Then save the date for ADFOCS 2025. More information on registration and available grants: ↪️https://sic.link/adfocs25 See you in Saarbrücken! 🎓 @saarland-informatics-campus.de

Congratulations to Mojtaba Bemana for receiving one of the Eurographics 2025 Dissertation Awards! His thesis was about Image-Based Rendering, an emerging subfield of Computer Graphics. 🎉 More about his work and a link to the thesis: sic.link/egaward @uni-saarland.de @saarland-informatics-campus.de

🏅 Congrats to Dr. Martin Schmitz for receiving one of Germany’s top research awards! 💭 At SIC, it’s not just machines that connect, it’s people and ideas: his work explores how AI can go beyond text, picking up on gestures and emotions. Read more here: sic.link/drmartinschmitz #AI #GenerativeAI