Prof. Dr. Sarah Rachut received her doctorate from the Technical University of Munich with her dissertation on “Grundrechtsverwirklichung in digitalen Kontexten”. The thesis deals with questions of the responsible and public welfare-oriented use of artificial intelligence, its regulation in the context of schools and universities, and the weighing of possible risks and potentials.

Dr. Karolina Stańczak’s dissertation “A Multilingual Perspective on Probing Gender Bias” was written at the University of Copenhagen and addresses the question of how gender bias is expressed in both natural language and language technologies. Of particular note here is the multilingual, multicultural, and historical approach used to examine gender bias and its context.

Winner in the thesis category: Britta Leonhard

In her bachelor's thesis “Modellierung von Diversity Personas für den Digitalen Learning Campus – Konzeption und technische Umsetzung in einem Chatbot-Prototyp” written at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Lübeck, Britta Leonhard deals with fictional, data-based characters in chatbots to represent diverse perspectives of use and, in connection with this, more inclusive educational offerings.

Winner in the startups category: Dr. Hadeel Naeem

Dr. Hadeel Naeem, Research Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, was recognized for her project “IV Tutor”. The app, which is powered by generative AI, is designed to help elementary school children develop intellectual skills and values such as open-mindedness and creativity. The aim is to support learners and transform education for the AI age by aligning teaching methods with generative AI in such a way that they correspond to the actual educational goals: helping learners develop a strong intellectual character.

Claudia Nemat presented the award to the two winners in attendance, Prof. Dr. Sarah Rachut and Dr. Hadeel Naeem, and in her laudatory speech emphasized not only the responsible use of AI and potential risks, but also the potential and transformative possibilities and relevance of new technologies, as well as the contribution made by the winners in this regard.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the winners for presenting their exciting work and for their commitment, as well as to Claudia Nemat and the Deutsche Telekom for supporting the award.

Many thanks also to ARRTI Debuty Director for Research Prof. Dr. Marcus Popplow, who welcomed the winners and Claudia Neman.