Lab Team and Initiators

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

DFKI was founded in 1988 as a non-profit public-private partnership. It has several research facilities throughout Germany, a project office and our Open Source Lab in Berlin. In the field of innovative commercial software technology using Artificial Intelligence, DFKI is the leading research centre in Germany. Research and development projects are conducted in eighteen research departments, ten competence centres and seven living labs. Funding is received through grants from public funding agencies as well as from cooperation with industrial partners.

Members of the Open Source Lab Team

 

Tina Gallico

Senior Researcher

Tina is a transdisciplinary researcher having delivered policy, research and projects for governments, consultancies and startups in Australia, the UK and Germany. She is a DAAD Alumni and has degrees in urban planning and regeneration and a PhD on urban innovation for sustainability.

Eleftherios Avramidis

Senior Researcher

Lefteris is a senior researcher specialized on artificial intelligence and machine learning, holding a PhD from the Univetsity of Saarland. He is currently supporting the Open Source Lab with the development of open source tools related to the use of machine learning in order to take advantage of mobility data.

Olya Bazilevich

Student Assistant

Olya has just completed her BA in graphic design at Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin.

Aylin Cornelius

Student Assistant

Aylin studies Linguistics and English at the University of Potsdam and supports the team for events and administration.

Analía Flavia Valderrama-Meiner

Student Assistant

Analía holds a Master degree in law from the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman in Argentina. She is an international PhD student at the University of Potsdam and her research focuses on Governance of Natural Resources.

Alumni

David Borgwardt

Researcher

Tiago Martins

Researcher

Julia Ebert

Project Manager

Julia has a background in communication science and economics. Her focus is on the conception and realization of projects in the field of open knowledge, open access and digital education.

Susanne Ritzmann

Head of Research

Susanne is a design researcher with a strong focus on concepts and strategies of sustainability. She gained her PhD at the University of the Arts Berlin on the relation of trash and design, inquiring on sustainability in design education.

Initiators

Volkswagen Sustainability Council

For guidance and assistance on strategic topics of sustainability and social responsibility, the Volkswagen Group appointed an international Sustainability Council in September 2016 and opened a window of opportunity for novel and unconventional approaches to critical topics relevant to the largest automotive manufacturer on the globe.

A dedicated group of internationally renowned experts from politics, science and research advise Volkswagen on the topics of sustainable mobility, environmental protection, and social responsibility as well as integrity, the future of work, and digitization. The Council acts independently, not obliged to follow instructions and is equipped with far-reaching information and consultation rights, as well as rights to operate on its own initiative and to launch projects of its own. The Open Source Lab  is funded by the Volkswagen Sustainability Council, independent in its research agenda and obliged to share all research  and results that is gained, in public and in person.

 

Members of the Sustainability Council