2025 News
Here you will find content related to digital transformation: new publications and projects, vacancies, grant and funding announcements and much more.
News list
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Welcome, Esra
We are pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Esra Suel as DSI Professor. Esra is Professor of Urban Analytics at the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich, where she is establishing a new research group within the GIScience Center.
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Job offers at the Dynamic and Distributed Information Systems Group
The Dynamic and Distributed Information Systems Group at the Department of Informatics at the University of Zurich (UZH) is looking for doctoral students for two AI projects.
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DSI Newsletter – #2 2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also central to the second DSI News of the year. For example, with our column on predictive policing and AI, with research on sustainability discourses around AI, with our media workshop on AI in healthcare, or with various events on the topic.
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DSI Insights: Policing with AI – a challenge for the justice system
In the second DSI Insights of the year, Sarah Summers, director of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI), explains why predictive policing using artificial intelligence (AI) poses a challenge for the justice system.
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Participants wanted for FIDO study
The University of Zurich is looking for healthy participants for a study exploring how smartphones and wearables can be used to measure fatigue and monitor health status.
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DSI Infrastructures & Labs: Completed projects
DSI Infrastructures & Labs are collaborative infrastructures or structural vessels for the creation of collaborative research environments related to the digital transformation. The first projects in the series were completed in the past few weeks and months.
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Call for Abstracts for two events
The organizers of two DSI events are calling for abstracts: for a PhD Summer School on the topic «Legal, Ethical and Implementation Challenges of AI in Healthcare» and for the «International Conference on Inferentialism».
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DIZH call for proposals: Founder Call
In the second Founder Call, the Digitalization Initiative of the Zurich Higher Education Institutions (DIZH) is seeking proof-of-concept projects by students and employees of DIZH universities. The submission deadline is August 21, 2025.
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Media workshop on AI in healthcare
The fifth edition of the DSI media workshop offered media professionals the opportunity to learn about current developments in the field of healthcare and artificial intelligence (AI).
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3 Questions about STAG – project in the «DSI Infrastructures & Labs» series
DSI Infrastructures & Labs are shareable infrastructures or structural vessels for creating collaborative research environments related to digital transformation. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bernard briefly introduces STAG, one of the projects in this series.
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Digital MasterClass Geneva - A successful conclusion of crossing the Röstigraben
The Geneva Digital MasterClass came to a close with two events at the end of March 2025 in Geneva and Zurich. It was planned and held jointly with the University of Geneva, a strategic partner of the University of Zurich.
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«AI Buddy»: Help wanted
The Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at the University of Zurich is looking for two interns to work as an «LLM Multi-Agent System Developer 40–80 %» on the «AI Buddy» project, which aims to create an AI system that accompanies UZH students throughout their studies.
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Megan Rollerson joins the DSI Community Sustainability as DSI Fellow
Megan Rollerson, an outstanding graduate from Lund University with a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication, will join the DSI Community Sustainability as DSI Fellow from April 2 to June 30, 2025. During her fellowship, Megan, in collaboration with Prof. Nadine Strauß, will focus on developing her research on the sustainability discourses surrounding AI.
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CYREN ZH Summer School 2025
CYREN ZH, a project of the DSI Community Cybersecurity, is organizing a summer school on «Human Factors in Cybersecurity and Privacy: Interdisciplinary Research Methods» in July 2025. Registrations are possible until 30.04.2025.
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Call for poster presentations: DSI Community Education Conference
Under the title «Smart Education: Effective Learning and Instruction with Digital Technologies», the DSI Community Education is holding its first conference. Master’s and PhD students are invited to present their research on digital education through a competitive poster session.
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Completion of the Digital MasterClass for the Zurich Cantonal Council
The Digital MasterClass 2024/25 for the Zurich Cantonal Council ended on March 10 with an event entitled «Digital Healthcare? Current Insights». The participants expressed an interest in further educational events on digital topics.
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Call for Chapter Abstracts – A Global Perspective on Trust in Health Systems
Two DSI members issue a call for chapter abstracts for a planned edited volume entitled «A Global Perspective on Trust in Health Systems». The submission deadline is April 7, 2025.
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Job offers at the IVDA Group
The Interactive Visual Data Analysis (IVDA) Group at the University of Zurich (UZH) is seeking a Ph.D. and a Post-Doc (m/f/d) at the intersection of visual analytics, interactive ML, and human-centered AI.
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Welcome, Ivan.
We are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Ivan De Oliveira Nunes as DSI Professor. Ivan is Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at the Institute of Computer Science (IfI) at the University of Zurich (UZH).
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DSI Newsletter – #1 2025
In our first DSI News of the year, we focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Our newest DSI Community carries AI in its name and is researching the impact of AI on life as a citizen in the 21st century. We show how AI can be of help in crisis situations and present a DSI project that aims to make AI more reliable.
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3 Questions about RAI – project in the «DSI Infrastructures & Labs» series
DSI Infrastructures & Labs are shareable infrastructures or structural vessels for creating collaborative research environments related to digital transformation. Prof. Dr. Christof Seiler briefly introduces RAI, one of the projects in this series.
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DSI Podcast «Genial digital?» – Episode 2
The DSI podcast «Genial digital?» provides answers on topics related to digital transformation. In the first episodes, which were created in collaboration with the DSI Community Work, the podcast focuses on the future of work. The second episode deals with the effects of digitalization on managers.
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DSI Community Health is looking for participants in SOLIDERA workshop
The DSI Community Health is conducting a SOLIDERA workshop from April 16 to 17 and is looking for PhD students or early postdocs to participate.
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DSI Insights: How AI technology is helping refugees and recognizing propaganda
In our first DSI Insights 2025, Kilian Sprenkamp, PhD student at the Digital Society Initiative (DSI), uses concrete examples to show how Large Language Models (LLMs) can help with rapid information processing and effective communication in crisis situations.
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DIZH call for proposals: Rapid Action Call Smart Spaces
In the fourth Rapid Action Call, the Digitalization Initiative of the Zurich Higher Education Institutions (DIZH) is seeking digitally-based solutions for residential, cultural, working and educational spaces. The submission deadline is April 7, 2025.
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New Paper by the DSI Community Health published
The DSI Community Health published a new paper with a set of tools and recommendations to facilitate interdisciplinary education and collaboration.
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Paper by DSI members on societal acceptance of urban drones published in «Science and Public Policy»
The paper «‘We Need Time...’: An Expert Survey on Societal Acceptance of Urban Drones» by Dr. Ning Wang, Dr. Nico Mutzner, and Prof. Dr. Karl Blanchet was published in the current issue of the journal «Science and Public Policy».
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New course: Storytelling for Digital Transformation
In the new course «Storytelling for Digital Transformation», students learn how to communicate complex digital topics to different target groups in an effective and engaging way. The course is designed and implemented by CYREN ZH, a project of the DSI Community Cybersecurity.
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DSI Minor Digital Skills – application window now open
From now until 25 May 2025, interested students at UZH can apply for the Master's Minor program DSI Minor Digital Skills starting in the Fall Semester 2025 (HS 25). A Liberal Arts Option (LAO) is now also offered to students at the Faculty of Law (RWF).
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DSI Community AI, Culture & Society: a warm welcome
We are pleased to welcome the fourteenth DSI Community to our ranks. The members of the DSI Community AI (Artificial Intelligence), Culture & Society explore the implications of living as a citizen in the 21st century.
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Paper by DSI member published in «Journal of Medical Internet Research»
The paper «From Theory to Practice: Viewpoint on Economic Indicators for Trust in Digital Health» by DSI member Felix Gille was published in the current issue of the «Journal of Medical Internet Research».
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DSI Excellence Program for PhD students: Apply now
Those interested can still apply to join the DSI Excellence Program, which starts in September 2025.