About This Newsletter

Dear RWTH AI community,

This newsletter is meant to keep you informed on relevant activities around AI at the RWTH University. The newsletter also provides an excellent platform to showcase your success, share your results, and promote your events. We've had numerous contributions and suggestions, so keep up the good engagement. If you are missing something or have any other ideas how this newsletter could be even more interesting and useful to our AI community, please send an email to contact@ai.rwth-aachen.de

As usual, we would appreciate it if you could forward this information to your research groups, your students, and other interested parties. To receive the newsletter, please join the mailing list by sending an email with the subject “subscribe” to ai-center-interest-join@lists.rwth-aachen.de

We are looking forward to collaborating with you all on some exciting topics and hearing your feedback.

QUICK ACCESS

Announcements/News

Meet The Members

Project/Paper Of The Month

Events

Awards/Prizes/Recognitions

Open Calls

External Events

External Open Calls

Announcements/News

WASF 2026 explores the foundations of neurosymbolic AI

The 2026 Wallenberg Scientific Forum (WASF) at Rånäs Slott, Sweden, gathered leading researchers worldwide to explore neurosymbolic AI – the integration of learning and reasoning in principled, reliable ways. Bringing together experts from machine learning, knowledge representation, planning, and cognitive science, the forum offered an interdisciplinary venue focused on theory, foundations, and long‑term impact.
Where much of today’s AI work emphasizes new architectures, benchmarks and empirical gains, WASF 2026 turned to deeper questions. As Luc De Raedt – Wallenberg Guest Professor in Computer Science and AI at Örebro University, professor at KU Leuven, and one of the organizers – explains, neurosymbolic AI strives to “combine neural networks with symbolic representations and solvers,” yet the field still lacks unifying theories and formal models that delineate what its various approaches can or cannot achieve.
“We need stronger theoretical and conceptual underpinnings,” De Raedt argues. “Unified frameworks, formal models, and rigorous theories are essential if we want to understand the limits and possibilities of current techniques.”

Hector Geffner, Professor and Chair of Machine Learning and Reasoning, RWTH Aachen University (and former Wallenberg Guest Professor at Linköping University) and Pablo Barcelo, Director Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering, Universidad Católica de Chile, were the organisers of this event.

You can find more informations to speakers and topics of the WASF 2026 here.

Meet The Members

Dominik Groß

Area of Expertise:

Ethics of AI in Medicine; Impact of AI on Medicine and Society; Research and Responsibility

Ancillary activities:

President of the Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) of the University Hospital; Rector's Delegate against Anti-Semitism at RWTH Aachen University

Fun Fact:

Started out as a dentist, then became a philosopher (ethicist) and a physician, now working at the interface of (AI in) medicine and ethics

Hobbies:

Gym; breeding tortoises; culinary activities with friends

Contact:

dgross@ukaachen.de

Project/Paper Of The Month

Events

Awards/Prizes/Recognitions

Open Calls

Call for "Manfred-Nagl-Preis 2026"

The prize, funded by the Aachen‑based company DSA Daten‑ und Systemtechnik GmbH, recognises PhD dissertations in computer science that show clear potential for a spin‑off company. The laureate receives a € 5 000 award plus, if a start‑up is founded on the dissertation’s results within two years of the prize ceremony, an additional € 5 000. The award will be presented on 18 June 2026 during the “Day of Computer Science”.

Eligibility

• PhD completed (defence) at RWTH Aachen between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
• Dissertation must be graded at least “very good” and belong to applied computer science.
• The research presented must have genuine commercial‑isation potential.

Who may nominate
All supervisors of eligible dissertations are entitled to submit a nomination.

Required nomination package (PDF)

1. The full dissertation.
2. One‑page abstract.
3. All dissertation reviews/examiners’ reports.
4. Curriculum vitae of the PhD candidate.
5. A maximum one‑page recommendation letter from the supervisor explaining the nomination.

Submission
Send the complete PDF package by e‑mail to the jury chair, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Rumpe (rumpe@se‑rwth.de).

Deadline – 15 May 2026.

External Events

External Open Calls

DFG Call for proposals: Emmy Noether Groups “Methods in Artificial Intelligence”

Who may apply – Early‑career researchers who develop AI methods. Eligible applicants are post‑doctoral scholars and holders of temporary junior or equivalent qualification professorships (W1/W2), even on a tenure‑track, who are still in the early stage of their academic career. Applicants who have already passed an interim evaluation or hold comparable permanent qualifications are ineligible, as are those whose interim evaluation coincides with the DFG review period.

Research scope – Projects that develop or significantly advance AI methods, covering theory, analysis and evaluation. “AI methods” is interpreted broadly and includes, for example, machine learning, optimisation, logic and reasoning, algorithmics, data analytics and mining, knowledge representation, knowledge‑based systems, mathematical and formal foundations, and statistical learning.

Applicant profile – Candidates must hold an above‑average doctorate and demonstrate substantial preliminary work, such as high‑impact publications in internationally recognised venues or relevant industrial research in the listed AI areas. International experience is required and may be shown through research stays abroad, international collaborations, or work in an international environment.

Submission deadline to the DFG by 10/06/2026 here.

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