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» Published on 18. Oktober 2019

Meeting Artificial Intelligence

Conference to be held at Cluster of Excellence CITEC from 24–25 October

Artificial intelligence attempts to emulate human problem-solving abilities. That said, “thinking” technical systems are not automatically able to put themselves in other people’s shoes and interact with them according to the particularities of the situation. With the establishment of the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology 12 years ago, researchers began working on developing technology that adapts to the human user. At the 2019 CITEC Conference from 24–25 October 2019, re-searchers will present the fruits of their research and discuss how their approaches can contribute to future advancements in the field of cognitive interaction technology. The conference, which will be held at the CITEC Building, is called “Cognitive Interaction Technology Meets AI.” Renowned robotics researchers Professor Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro from Japan and Dr. Guilio Sandini of Italy will deliver the keynote lectures. Both talks will be open to the public.

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» Published on 11. Oktober 2019

Science Cinema with Robotics Expert Hiroshi Ishiguro

Japanese researcher on campus for 2019 CITEC Conference at Bielefeld University

The science fiction drama “Sayōnara” is considered to be the first film with an android as an actor. “Geminoid F” portrays a faithful robot who stays at the side of young, sick woman after a nuclear contamination. The Geminoid F robot was developed by Japanese robotics researcher Professor Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, who became known worldwide after having constructed a robot doppelgänger of himself. “Science Cinema Special” will screen “Sayōnara” on Wednesday, 23 October, which will then be accompanied by a discussion with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro. The film will be shown at 7pm the Kamera Filmkunsttheater in Bielefeld as part of the pre-program of the CITEC Conference 2019.

 

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» Published on 20. September 2019

HD microscopy in milliseconds

University researchers improve super-resolution microscopy

They can make tiny cell structures visible: cutting-edge light microscopes offer resolutions of a few tenths of a nanometre—in other words, a millionth of a millimetre. Until now, super-resolution microscopes were much slower than conventional methods, because more or finer image data had to be recorded. Together with partners from Jena, researchers from Bielefeld University have now developed the super-resolution SR-SIM process further. The academics show that SR-SIM is also possible in real time and at a very high imaging rate—and thus suitable for observing movements of very small cell particles, for example. Their findings have been published today (20 September) in the journal “Nature Communications”.

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» Published on 16. September 2019

Bielefeld University: From Rank 250 to Rank 166 in the worldwide THE ranking

Rector Gerhard Sagerer thanks everybody ‘who has contributed to this splendid outcome’

Bielefeld University has made a great leap forward in the new Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking that was published yesterday (11.09.2019): from Rank 250 to Rank 166. The British academic journal THE compares 1,400 universities across 92 countries in the world.

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» Published on 11. September 2019

Research on the good life

ZiF conference on late socialist societies 

In recent decades, the centrally planned socialist economy in countries such as Laos, China, and Vietnam has been replaced by a market economy that remains under the political rule of the Communist party. The resulting changes to society have had profound implications on the idea of the good life—from deliberations on housing to those around religion. This is the topic of the conference entitled ‘The Good Life in Late Socialist Asia: Aspirations, Politics, and Possibilities’ to be held from 16 to 18 September at Bielefeld University's Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF). The conference also marks the launch of the ‘WelfareStruggles’ project for which the social anthropologist Professor Dr Minh Nguyen is receiving an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council—one of the most important EU research grants.

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» Published on 3. September 2019

European research grant for Bielefeld mathematician

ERC Starting Grant for highly promising young scientists goes to Dawid Kielak

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Starting Grant to the Bielefeld mathematician Dr Dawid Kielak for his innovative approaches to research on geometric group theory, a field of mathematics. The European Union uses this award to promote early-career scientists with an excellent scientific track record who also show great promise. Dawid Kielak’s research will receive roughly 1.5 million euro over a period of 5 years. He is the second young academic at Bielefeld to be awarded this special grant within a year and the fifth researcher at Bielefeld University to receive an ERC grant - one of the most important lines of EU research funding.

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» Published on 5. August 2019

Anticipatory Smart Glasses for Assembly Work and Logistics

Bielefeld University and the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld working on “Avikom” project with eight regional partners

The new “Avikom” research project is innovating an intelligent, assistive audiovisual system for workers in the fields of manufacturing and logistics. The system is designed to provide assistance via a visual display with spoken instructions, which could also be useful for providing on-the-job training. The smart glasses, with a specialized headset, provide information precisely at the time it is needed. Bielefeld University and the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld are working on the project with four regional companies: the  v. Bodelschwinghsch Bethel Foundation, the Handelskammer Ostwestfalen zu Bielefeld (Chamber of Industry and Commerce Bielefeld, Ostwestfalen) and two trade associations. The Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry for Education and Research, BMBF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) are funding the new research with a total of 2.4 million Euro through April 2022.

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» Published on 30. Juli 2019

Unmasking Social Bots

Research project at Bielefeld University being funded by Volkswagen Stiftung

Social Bots are believed to have influenced public opinion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And before the European Parliamentary election, an EU Commissioner warned of disinformation campaigns being waged with Social Bots. Social Bots are specialized computer programs made specifically to communicate over social media. What impact are Social Bots having on societal discourse? And how might technical systems be used to combat these Bots? Researchers from Bielefeld University, the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld, and the Australian National University are working on these questions as part of a research project that is being funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung (Volkswagen Foundation).

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» Published on 29. Juli 2019

A Center for Big Data Information Services

Institute for Bioinformatics Infrastructure founded by Faculty of Technology

“The quantities of data that we in the life sciences work with are constantly growing. This has made analyzing and storing data a big challenge,” says Professor Dr. Jens Stoye, member of the Genominformatik (“Genome Informatics”) research group in Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Technology. Dr. Stoye is the acting director of the new institute.

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» Published on 24. Juli 2019

A peek at the birth of the Universe

University researchers publish study on new telescope

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is set to become the largest radio telescope on Earth. Bielefeld University researchers together with the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) and international partners have now examined the SKA-MPG telescope—a prototype for the part of the SKA that receives signals in the mid-frequency range. The study, published today (24 July) in the journal ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society’, shows that the telescope is not only a prototype to test the SKA design, but can also be used on its own to provide insights into the origin of the Universe. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the work on the SKA-MPG through a joint research project coordinated by Bielefeld University.

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