On 16th of May the first guest lecture of our graduate school program about “Research on Effects of Social Media on Mental Health and Wellbeing – Mechanisms, Consequences and Implications for Adaptive Technologies” took place at the KD2Lab in Karlsruhe. The lecturer Prof. Dr. Adrian Meier is Assistant Professor for Communication Science at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg.

His research investigates the consequences of digital communication for well-being, mental health, and self-regulation, particularly at the interface between work and leisure (e.g., digital stress, procrastination with media). Previously, Adrian Meier worked as Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam (Oct. 2020 – Jan. 2021) and as Research Associate at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (2015 – 2020). We want to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Meier very much indeed for his remarkable presentation and our subsequent discussion about interdisciplinary research that brings together several disciplines like Psychology, Communication Science and Technological Design.

The end of March marked another milestone for the KD2School. With the start of Nicola Hüholt and Negin Javaheri, the first PhD student cohort is now complete. This means that the research work of the KD2School is now fully underway.

These fast-paced early-stage dynamics with so many new scholars coming together were the perfect timing for everyone to meet for the first KD2School retreat. Bad Herrenalb in the south of Germany provided us with a perfect setting for a few moments of reflecting, brainstorming, discussing and networking. Over several days the PhD students, associated members, and PIs used this opportunity to present and discuss a wide variety of research topics, all within the central context of KD2School: researching and developing the next generation of adaptive systems.

We saw promising presentations that span topics like novel measurement methods for ecologically valid behavioral data acquisition, innovative algorithmic approaches to make AI models explainable that work with sensor data, but also various experiment design ideas that aim to better understand mental states and social interactions within adaptive systems.

With so many aspirational scholars, the retreat helped reshape ideas and communication, and it also was a lot of fun! Thus, we are looking forward to the next retreat already!

Some impressions from the first KD2School retreat:

With Dr. Rafael Reisenhofer the KD2School team is now completed with a second PostDoc.

Dr. Reisenhofer obtained a PhD in applied mathematics at the University of Bremen under the supervision of Prof. Emily King. Prior to becoming a member of KD2School, he was the principle investigator of the FWF Lise Meitner project “Depth and discriminability in deep learning architectures” and a postdoctoral researcher at the Mathematics of Data Science group of Prof. Philipp Grohs at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on interdisciplinary projects which require the application of complex mathematical concepts and models in applied areas of research. This includes works on such diverse topics as perceptual image similarity, visual servoing (robotics), deep learning-based quantum Monte Carlo (computational chemistry), and the forecasting of financial time series with convolutional neural networks.

At the KD2School, Dr. Reisenhofer is responsible for the conceptualization, implementation and integration of lab linking models that aim at providing the members of KD2School with a joint experimental environment that encompasses all technical and methodological resources that are available at the involved labs in Karlsruhe, Bremen and Gießen. The main goal behind lab linking is to facilitate previously impossible experimental designs in which participants, sensors and devices can interact synchronized and in real-time across locations that might be hundreds of kilometres apart from each other.

We are excited to welcome Dr. Ivo Benke as a new team member to the KD2School. In his role in the KD2School, he will be responsible for the areas of research and integration. Research wise, he will guide the research topic “Emotion-adaptive Hybrid Work & Learning” at the IISM.

Dr. Ivo Benke conducted his PhD at the Institute of Information Systems and Marketing (IISM) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Alexander Mädche. In his research Ivo Benke has investigated the design of emotion-adaptive systems to create better users’ experiences in remote work collaboration. Further, he has focused on design-tradeoffs of such emotion-adaptive systems with regards to user autonomy and ethical design principles.

In his research at the KD2School, Ivo Benke will investigate the design and boundaries of emotion-adaptive systems in the context of work and learning. One focus will be on the downsides of overadaptation and the exploration of antecedents for negative consequences such as addiction.

The German broadcaster ARD recently published a documentary about robots as our partners of the future. The documentary featured IISM's doctoral researcher Florian Onur Kuhlmeier, who is designing a chatbot to treat depression in youth (CADY). He spoke about why such a chatbot is necessary, how humans can form relationships with chatbots, what the project's roadmap looks like and how large language models (such as GPT-3) will enable the next generation of intelligent chatbots to support mental health. The documentary was recorded in the KD2Lab - one of the main laboratories in the KD2School. Florian and the CADY project are funded by the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (SDW) as part of their PhD scholarship programme.

Watch in the ARD Mediathek (KD²Lab appearance starting from minute 16)

What a month! With the past October, the KD2School has officially kicked off with impressive numbers. With almost 80 applications for the PhD and PostDoc positions, we have had an intense search process for the KD2School project positions, spanning over several application events. The result is a formidable first cohort of interdisciplinary scholars: Economists, psychologists, computer scientists and information systems students are now gathering in the KD2School to bring forth the next generation of adaptive systems research.

As the research commences, we are now in the middle of assembling the teams, not only in the KD2Lab, but also in our very own KD2Loft. Beyond that, we have now also seen the first presentations by PI and KD2School members in our lecture series already. Prof. Weinhardt introduced research on adaptive mechanisms in online platforms and Prof. Ebner-Priemer has presented how adaptive technologies are used in real-world ambulatory assessment research. With much more input and creativity in front of us, we are looking forward to what the storming period in our group will bring. Stay tuned for more updates from the KD2School here!

Some impressions from our first events: