News Archive
Quantum computers can do some things better than classical computers—but many things they still cannot. Researchers at Saarland University are now working together with industry partners BMW, Infineon, and the quantum computing start-up planqc to combine both worlds. A quantum computer is intended to help classical computers tackle highly complex optimization challenges from everyday industrial practice. The project is funded with €2.3 million by the German Federal Ministry of Research.
Max Planck researchers investigate “quantum neural networks” as a building block for more efficient visual-computing models. The “4D Quantum Computer Vision” research group at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany, is investigating the potential of quantum computing for computer-based image processing, also known as visual computing. A new hybrid model, developed together with partners from the University of Udine and the University of Naples Federico II, [...]
The new graduate school will develop advanced AI methods for basic life sciences research. The school will focus on deepening understanding of biological systems by combining modern biomedical technologies with innovative approaches to artificial intelligence. The aim is to train a new generation of scientists who will develop algorithms that can learn, explain, and predict the principles of living systems and use these findings for molecular design.
Artificial intelligence today is largely based on statistical methods that search for patterns in large amounts of data. So far, AI cannot recognise causalities, meaning it cannot understand how cause and effect are related in the same way that humans can. Computer science researcher Sara Magliacane wants to change that. Saarland University has now appointed her Professor of Machine Learning.
The Harlan D. Mills Award is the most important international distinction in the field of software engineering, honoring scientists for their lifetime achievements. Andreas Zeller has now received this honor—only the second German to do so. He is a researcher at the Helmholtz Center for IT Security (CISPA) and a professor of software engineering at Saarland University.
In space research, crewed missions to the Moon and, in the medium term, to Mars are planned. How longer stays in space affect the human organism is therefore being studied aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A team led by bioinformatician Andreas Keller at Saarland University, together with colleagues from Stanford University, has investigated how spaceflight alters the exchange of genetic information inside cells.
With the 2nd Trusted AI Day, Saarbrücken has once again positioned itself as a central meeting place for discourse on trustworthy artificial intelligence. Representatives from research, business, and politics gathered at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) to discuss current developments, key challenges, and concrete solutions in the field of trusted AI.
The paper Tree Borrows (authored by Neven Villani, Johannes Hostert, Derek Dreyer, and Ralf Jung), not only received a Distinguished Paper Award at PLDI’25, but in the year 2025 it was the single most downloaded article from all issues of the entire PACMPL (the ACM journal publishing the proceedings of POPL, PLDI, ICFP, and OOPSLA). Although the paper was only published in June 2025, it has already been downloaded over 9000 times!
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) have authored a total of 5 papers accepted to POPL 2026. This is the ninth year in a row that MPI-SWS researchers [...]
Sven Apel has been appointed an ACM Fellow. With this distinction, the professor of computer science is being honored for developing theories and methods that enable people to understand, construct, and optimize software systems. Sven Apel is thus one of eleven researchers at the Saarland Informatics Campus to whom this honor has been awarded. Nationwide, only 31 people in Germany currently belong to the Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The ACM is the largest and most important [...]
Andreas Zeller, a researcher at the Helmholtz Center for Information Security (CISPA) and Professor of Software Engineering at Saarland University, has been inducted into the ranks of IEEE Fellows. Fellow is the highest grade of membership of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest professional organization for electrical engineering, computer science, and related technical disciplines. Fewer than 0.1% of voting IEEE members receive this prestigious recognition [...]
Humboldt Professor Ingmar Weber has been elected a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He was honored for his significant contributions to AI for social good and for the application of AI in computational social science.
Alexander Koller has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the world’s largest professional society for computational linguistics. Among the eleven new ACL Fellows this year, the Saarbrücken professor of computational linguistics is the only European.
How do we create AI systems that facilitate learning rather than dictating it? Meet Saarland University’s LaLa Lab. Directed by Professor Tomohiro Nagashima, LaLa Lab explores how we learn, how AI can improve learning, and how to make sure learners keep their agency in a society where automated learning is starting to become the status quo. To achieve this, the lab stands at the intersection of human-computer Interaction, the learning sciences, cognitive science, and psychology.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics develop techniques for creating photorealistic, three-dimensional full-body and head avatars. Realistic digital avatars are becoming increasingly relevant, for example in virtual and augmented reality applications, video conferencing, films and computer games, or in medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany, are now presenting two novel methods at two of the world’s leading computer graphics [...]
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