Year in Review 2025

31 December 2025 6 min read News
Image credit: Igor from Pixabay.

Inspired by the end-of-year reviews of Michael Ekstrand and Matt Kelly, I wrote my first one last year: Year in Review 2024—and here is my Year in Review 2025.

As there is not official abbreviation of our university’s name (University of Salzburg), I use my own: USBG.

Similar to last year, my year was full—but in different ways. Again, with ups and downs…

My personal highlights

  • From my home country, I traveled to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy. 🚂✈️
  • It was inspiring to share a panel with no less than Josh., Scharmien Zandi, Peter Vieweger, Tamara Ofenauer-Haas, and Irene Suchy, discussing AI in the live music sector.
  • As part of a lecture series at our faculty, I had the opportunity to give a brief academic survey of my career and current interests. With my music background and focus, I had to end with a small sax 🎷 feature. It was a great honor to play a tune with Martin Losert and Gerald Seilinger. We played “The 🐔”—hihi.
  • I declared myself “Chief Tuning Officer” in the collaboration with Andrés Ferraro, Michael Ekstrand, and Samira Vaez Barenji. A delight to keep the servers busy. 🤩

Publications

  • 1 journal paper (Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour)—online now; official publication in 2026
  • 1 conference paper (INTERACT)—officially appearing in 2026
  • 1 workshop paper (BEYOND)
  • 1 Dagstuhl manifesto
  • 1 Dagstuhl report
  • 2 proceedings (MuRS, BEYOND)
  • 2 event reports (MuRS, BEYOND)
  • 2 guidelines for (meta-)reviewing for RecSys 2025

Keynotes, talks, and panels at scientific events

  • 1 keynote at Sim4IA
  • 5 invited talks
  • 2 panels (Sim4IA, RecSys Doctoral Symposium)

Teaching

  • Started teaching AI Eingangswerkstatt / Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (with Roland Kwitt) in the AI and Computer Science Bachelor programs at USBG
  • Started teaching AI Werkstatt (AI Workshop) (with Roland Kwitt and Frank Pallas) in the AI Bachelor program at USBG
  • Started teaching Academic Writing and Peer Reviewing at the PhD-level at USBG
  • Started teaching Planning and Writing of Grant (Research Project) Proposals at the PhD-level at USBG and AAU
  • Teaching Intelligent Interfaces in the AI Bachelor program at USBG
  • Teaching Recommender Systems at USBG
  • Guest lecture in the HCI program at USBG

Advising and supervising PhD researchers

  • Valdy Wiratama just started his PhD in October (USBG).
  • Finally, I am officially a co-promotor of Anouk van Kasteren (UU).
  • I continue to serve as the co-promotor of Marloes Vredenborg (UU).
  • I am the secondary supervisor of Daniele Pretolesi (AIT), who will graduate soon (fingers crossed!).

Service & organization

  • Head of the Interactive Intelligent Systems Research Group at USBG
  • Co-Lead of the focus area InterMediation. Music—Effect—Analysis at the inter-university institution Wissenschaft & Kunst, together with Martin Losert; the whole team brought a great program to life! 🙌
  • Final year as Independent Ethics Advisor of the EU project OpenMusE
  • WIMIR mentoring 2025
  • Mentor at the RecSys 2025 Doctoral Symposium
  • Activities as an expert advisor for the European Commission
  • Member of the ACM Recommender Systems Steering Committee
  • Roles in academic governance at USBG:
    • Member of the Equal Opportunities Working Group (AKG)
    • Alternate Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Digital and Analytical Sciences
    • Theoretically, I am a member of the Member of the Department Council of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Interfaces—but there has not even been a meeting yet?!
    • Curriculum Committees:
      • Member of the Curriculum Committee for the Joint Master’s Degree Program in Human-Computer Interaction at USBG and FHS
      • Alternate Member of the Curriculum Committee for the Master’s Degree Program in Applied Image and Signal Processing
      • Theoretically, I am a member of the Curriculum Committee for the Master’s Degree Program in Data Science, but there has not even been a meeting yet?!
    • WP Lead for WP2 (Third-Party Funding) of EXDIGIT
    • Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of EXDIGIT
    • Appointment committees:
      • Representative for equal opportunities in appointment committee for the Full Professorship in Zoological Ecology
      • Representative for equal opportunities in appointment committee for the Full Professorship in Plant Ecophysiology
    • Representative for equal opportunities in the habilitation committee for Ulrike Ruprecht (Venia: Botanic)
  • Co-Chairing and organization:
  • Editorial Boards:
    • Ongoing service on the Editorial Board of TOIS
    • Ongoing service on the Editorial Board of TORS
    • Ongoing service on the Editorial Board of JITT
  • Member of PhD defense committees:
  • (Meta-)Reviewing:
    • Meta-Reviewing activities for the 2025/2026 conferences RecSys, SIGIR, IUI, and UMAP
    • Reviewing activities for the 2025/2026 conferences ECAI, FAccT, ECIR, IUI, RecSys LBR, and ECIR DC
    • Reviewing activities for the journals Nature and TiiS
    • 1 international research proposal review
    • 7 MSCA fellowship proposal reviews

Third mission / outreach / media

  • 2 keynotes in the music industry
  • 4x panelist
  • 1 talk for teens
  • Co-organization of Diskurs | OPEN MIND FREQUENTLY: KI + ME, a collaboration of InterMediation. Music—Effect—Analysis and ARGEkultur Salzburg
  • Co-organization of the public lecture series Gekommen, um zu bleiben…: KI in Kunst, Forschung und Lehre
  • Continuing service with the Let’s empower Austria (LEA) initiative as a LEA Role Model.
  • 9 media mentions
  • Featured in 3 radio (and podcast) episodes
  • Member of the Advisory Board for the incubation programs FACTORY and FACTORY+ at Innovation Salzburg
  • Jury member of aws Preseed | Seedfinancing—Innovative Solutions

Building a team

  • At EXDIGIT:
    • One postdoctoral researcher left the team.
    • Valdy Wiratama joined the team as a doctoral researcher. 👋
    • Alessia Preziosa from Politecnico di Bari spent 6 months with the team as a Visiting Researcher to work on her master’s thesis—and she graduated in October. Congrats! 🥳
    • One PhD position is still open.
  • At InterMediation:
    • During my time as a Co-Lead of the focus area InterMediation, I aimed to uphold and build on the group’s established traditions and working practices—while still bringing a fresh twist. I am delighted that everyone on our eight-person team is so motivated and engaged!
    • Each team member brings their own focus and moves it forward. We put a great program into place.

Other happiness

  • After Udo K. mentioned in passing that he uses his winter break to book concert tickets for the whole year, I was inspired to do the same…
    • I enjoyed the theater play Luziwuzi with Tom Neuwirth in the leading role for a second time (with my mum!).
    • Jamiroquai live on stage again—I had a blast!
    • Mnozil Brass is touring again, and I had a great time attending their Johann Strauß special program in Salzburg.
  • When someone interrupts a meeting with, “I just want to tell you: I really enjoy working with you all!”, it gave me so much joy and motivation to keep going! I was genuinely touched. And you know what?! I enjoy working with the team too!

The downsides

  • I’ve struggled to bring a detrimental campaign against me to a tolerable close; it began last year.
  • I also faced great difficulty managing a situation involving serious allegations. Despite seeking help, I encountered repeated delays until it escalated. I’m relieved the escalation has ended, but unfortunately the broader matter remains unresolved, and the damage persists.

Wrap-up

  • I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten a thing or two—or three.
  • Thank you to those who offered support and kept their promises—not just words, but real help.
  • I made it through the year, and that’s the most important achievement!
Reflection End-of-Year Reflection Year in Review