In February, the DFG research unit “Future Digital Towns” at the Department of Information Systems welcomed its Mercator Fellow, Prof. Dorothea Kleine.

Dorothea Kleine is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield (UK), Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD), and head of the research group “Digital Technologies, Data and Innovation”. Her research focuses on sustainable human development, global justice, and the role of digital technologies in advancing these goals.

Within the research unit, she contributes her expertise on the Capability Approach, which serves as a central theoretical framework for the group. In doing so, she provides important impulses for shaping digital measures in socially inclusive and public-interest-oriented ways.

Over the course of the year, Prof. Kleine will visit three times for one month each, working closely with the research unit on current and future topics.

Funded by the German Research Council (DFG), the research unit "Future Digital Towns" investigates how medium-sized towns can address the challenges of digitalization. Its aim is to develop digital tools that strengthen their liveability.

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Prof. Dorothea Kleine

Future Digital Towns

Professor Sebastian Hohenberg was presented with the American Marketing Association (AMA) Varadarajan Award for Early Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research 2025 at the AMA Winter Conference in Madrid. He is only the second professor from a German university to receive this honour. The Varadarajan Award is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of marketing strategy and honours academics whose work has made an exceptional contribution to research and practice.

Professor Sebastian Hohenberg ist bei der AMA Winter Conference in Madrid der "Varadarajan Award for Early Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research 2025" der American Marketing Association (AMA) verliehen worden. Er ist erst der zweite Professor einer deutschen Universität, der diese Ehrung erhält. Der Varadarajan Award zählt zu den renommiertesten Auszeichnungen im Bereich Marketingstrategie und ehrt Wissenschaftler:innen, deren Arbeit einen außergewöhnlichen Beitrag zu Forschung und Praxis geleistet hat.

Im Wirtschaftsdienst ist der Artikel „Europäische Flotten-CO₂-Standards: Auswirkungen auf Verbraucher und Hersteller“ von Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt und Christian Wey erschienen. Der Beitrag analysiert die industrieökonomischen und klimapolitischen Wirkungen der europäischen Flottenregulierung im Automobilsektor und macht deutlich: Die jüngsten Lockerungen der Regulierung haben deutschen Herstellern zwar milliardenschwere Strafzahlungen erspart, untergraben jedoch die Glaubwürdigkeit und Planungssicherheit der Klimapolitik.

How do forests grow in different regions of the world? With ECHOSAT, this question can now be systematically answered on a global scale and over multiple years.

While previous tree height maps only represented individual years, ECHOSAT (Estimating Canopy Height Over Space and Time) tracks forest growth, disturbances, and regrowth over multiple years, providing important data for CO₂ monitoring and climate protection efforts.

Jan Pauls, Dr. Karsten Schrödter, Sven Ligensa, and Prof. Fabian Gieseke from the Chair of Machine Learning and Data Engineering at the Department of Information Systems develop ECHOSAT together with international partners: Martin Schwartz and Philippe Ciais (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), France), Berkant Turan and Max Zimmer (Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB)), Sassan Saatchi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, USA), and Sebastian Pokutta (Technical University of Berlin).

The research team combines multi-sensor satellite data with a specialized vision transformer model. A self-supervised growth regularization ensures that the estimated tree heights follow biologically plausible growth curves, including gradual increases as well as abrupt declines due to fire or deforestation.

For example, in Les Landes (France), ECHOSAT clearly reveals the cycles of logging and regrowth, while large parts of the Amazon rainforest remain stable over the observed period. Both patterns are detected automatically, without additional post-processing.

ECHOSAT is part of the AI4Forest project, a German-French research cooperation. Recognizing the critical importance of forest ecosystems for climate and biodiversity, the initiative investigates how state-of-the-art artificial intelligence methods can be used to better understand, monitor, and respond to climate-driven environmental changes.

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Access the full paper here.

The maps are publicly available here.

More information about the AI4Forest project can be found here.

In Part 24 of the Alumni Stories, we introduce Gerd Hartwig. After studying Business Administration at the University of Münster, he began his career as an HR Officer and later as Head of Management Development at Oetker’s central administration in Bielefeld. He subsequently held positions as HR Director at Deutsche Postbank AG, member of the Executive Board of the Federal Pension Service for Post and Telecommunications, and, from 2004, as General Representative/CHRO at CLAAS, where he played a key role in shaping global HR and organizational development until his retirement in 2018. Even after retirement, Gerd Hartwig continues to serve as an advisor to CLAAS and is active on supervisory boards, employers’ associations, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the Advisory Board of the School of Business & Economics.

In Teil 24 der Alumni Stories stellen wir Gerd Hartwig vor. Nach seinem Studium der Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Universität Münster begann er seine Karriere als Personalreferent und später als Leiter Managemententwicklung bei der Oetker Zentralverwaltung in Bielefeld. Es folgten Stationen als Personaldirektor bei Deutsche Postbank AG, Vorstand der Bundes-Pensions-Service für Post und Telekommunikation e.V. und ab 2004 als Generalbevollmächtigter/CHRO bei CLAAS, wo er bis zu seinem Ruhestand 2018 die globale Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung maßgeblich prägte. Auch nach seinem Ruhestand ist Gerd Hartwig als Berater für CLAAS tätig und engagiert sich in Aufsichtsräten, Arbeitgeberverbänden, der Industrie- und Handelskammer sowie im Advisory Board der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät.

Will AI save the world? Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, Head of the Institute for Information Systems, addresses this and other questions in an interview with WELT on 15 February 2026. He describes AI as a tool with certain strengths that can make processes more efficient and assist with complex tasks, but at the same time emphasises that it should be used consciously and responsibly.

The official scholarship ceremony for the University of Münster's ‘ProTalent’ programme took place in a festive setting in the castle's auditorium. AlumniUM e.V., the alumni association of the School of Business and Economics, is once again making a special contribution this year: as a gold sponsor, the association supported the financing of six of the 315 scholarships.

Wird KI die Welt retten? Diesen und weiteren Fragen stellt sich Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, Leiter des Instituts für Wirtschaftsinformatik, in einem Gespräch mit der WELT vom 15.02.2026. Er beschreibt KI als Werkzeug mit bestimmten Stärken, das Prozesse effizienter gestalten und bei komplexen Aufgaben unterstützen kann, betont aber zugleich, dass ihre Nutzung bewusst und verantwortungsvoll erfolgen sollte.

How do we educate our students for the future so that they remain in demand on the job market despite AI? What happens when AI competes against AI? And why is this scenario a ‘Candyland’ for game theorists? These questions are answered in the short videos for the first edition of our ‘Update Wirtschaft’ format, which are now available on our YouTube channel.

Wie bilden wir unsere Studierenden für die Zukunft aus, sodass sie auf dem Arbeitsmarkt trotz KI gefragt sind? Was passiert, wenn KI gegen KI antritt? Und warum ist dieses Szenario ein "Candyland" für Spieltheoretiker:innen? Diese Fragen werden in den Kurzvideos zur ersten Ausgabe unseres Formats "Update Wirtschaft" beantwortet, die ab sofort auf unserem YouTube-Kanal zu finden sind.

In festlichem Rahmen fand in der Aula des Schlosses die offizielle Stipendienfeier des „ProTalent“-Programms der Universität Münster statt. AlumniUM e.V., der Ehemaligenverein der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät, engagiert sich auch in diesem Jahr wieder in besonderem Maße: Als Goldförderer unterstützte der Verein die Finanzierung von sechs der insgesamt 315 Stipendien.

Was hat Marketing eigentlich mit anderen betriebswirtschaftlichen Unternehmensfunktionen und -bereichen zu tun? Dieser Frage geht das Marketing Center Münster (MCM) in seiner neuen TV-Reihe "Marketing meets ...!" nach. In der ersten Episode heißt es: „Marketing meets Accounting!“ MCM-Professor Thorsten Hennig-Thurau und Martin Artz, Professor für Controlling am Accounting Center Münster, loten in diesem Gespräch die Schnittstellen ihrer Bereiche Marketing & Accounting aus. 

In mid-November, ten students of the School of Business and Economics took part in the German American Conference (GAC) at the Harvard Kennedy School. The GAC is the largest student-organized conference focusing on transatlantic relations and annually brings together students, academics, and representatives from politics, business, and society. The aim of the conference is to strengthen transatlantic dialogue and to examine current global challenges from multiple perspectives.

Participation took place as part of the interdisciplinary seminar “Leadership for Digital Entrepreneurs in a Global Society”, led by Dr. Thomas Haskamp with the involvement of Raphaela Kuhlmann, which was designed for bachelor’s and master’s students in Information Systems as well as related economics and business programs. The seminar was complemented by a cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), where David Hahn supervised the HPI students, who also participated in the seminar and the conference. As part of the academic preparation and reflection, participants visited the campuses in Münster and Potsdam. The seminar focused on a reflective engagement with the topic Leadership, which was stimulated through conducting interviews and ultimately deepened in academic seminar papers.

The highlight and central element of the reflection process was the active participation in the German American Conference itself, including involvement in the Essay Competition, participation in discussion rounds, and interactive workshops. As part of their preparation, students also visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) prior to the conference, where a lecture with a discussion component was held as part of the seminar. Under the theme “Transatlantic Relationship at a Crossroads,” the GAC began with an opening event and initial keynotes in the Harvard Yard (Memorial Church), featuring contributions by Hazel Brugger (comedian), Wendy R. Sherman (former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State), and Dmytro Kuleba (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine). Over the following two days, the main program took place at the Harvard Kennedy School, where keynotes, panels, workshops, and informal exchange formats such as Coffee Chats and Conversation Tables provided numerous opportunities for academic discussion and networking. The conference concluded with a reception at the Prudential Tower overlooking Boston.

Participation was made possible thanks to the support of Alumni e.V., the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster, and HPI Engine at the Hasso Plattner Institute under the direction of Dr. Frank Pawlitschek, Managing Director of HPI Engine.

From 9 to 19 February 2026, the ‘Ulysseus International Weeks’ will take place – a two-week online event that introduces students to the diverse exchange and learning opportunities within the European university alliance Ulysseus. We at the School of Business and Economics are also taking part!

Vom 9. bis 19. Februar 2026 finden die „Ulysseus International Weeks“ statt – ein zweiwöchiges Online-Event, das Studierenden die vielfältigen Austausch- und Lernmöglichkeiten innerhalb der europäischen Hochschulallianz Ulysseus näherbringt. Auch wir als School of Business and Economics machen mit! Die International Weeks richten sich an Bachelor- und Masterstudierende, die über einen Auslandsaufenthalt oder virtuelle Mobilität nachdenken.

Since January 2026, Marieke Schwarz has been working as Department Secretary at the Department of Information Systems, succeeding Monika Rohe. After successfully completing her vocational training as an Office Management Specialist at the University of Münster, she has now joined the department as a permanent staff member.

Marieke completed her training in a shortened period of two and a half years. During this time, she gained experience across several units of the University of Münster, including the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology, the Faculty of Law’s Dean’s Office, and the Rectorate’s Office. In addition, she worked temporarily at the Department of Information Systems, allowing her to become familiar early on with the department’s structures and processes.

In her new position, she is responsible for tasks at both department level and at the Chair of Information Systems and Business Process Management, headed by Prof. Jan vom Brocke. Her responsibilities include room bookings, catering, and financial transactions for the department, as well as the organization of appointments, travel expense reimbursements, and expense claims at the chair. She is also involved in the organizational preparation of conferences and events.

She is particularly interested in the further development and digitalization of internal processes. Among other things, she aims to promote the increased use of Confluence and contribute to the optimization of existing procurement processes. Working full-time allows her to focus on theses tasks.

“I am very happy to now be working permanently at the department after completing my training. I particularly appreciate the variety of tasks and the direct interaction with people,” says Marieke Schwarz.

The Department of Information Systems warmly welcomes Marieke Schwarz and looks forward to working with her in the future.

The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS)  is considered the oldest scientific conference in the field of information and system sciences. In its 59th edition in January 2026, it once again brought together researchers from around the world to discuss current developments and innovative research.

The Department of Information Systems was represented at the conference with three research contributions:

• Marie Griesbach presented her paper “Towards Simulating User Behavior for Automating Usability Tests by Employing Large Language Models” (co-authors: Janina Lütke Stockdiek, Hendrik Winkelmann, and Christian Grimme) in the Human-Computer Interaction track. The paper examines the usability testing capabilities of LLMs by employing it to autonomously navigate and interact with applications in order to complete tasks. The generated streams of thought are then compared with human think-aloud protocols.
• Mara Burger presented her paper “Designing Explainable AI: The Case of Dashboard Design for Fraud Detection in Public Transport Ticketing Systems” (co-authors: Hans-Henning Näscher, Gregor Kipping, Michael Gau, and Jan vom Brocke), which focuses on the design of an algorithm for fraud detection in public transport ticketing systems.
• The paper “Law Meets GenAI: Using Artificial Intelligence to Derive Conceptual Models from Legal Regulations” by Binh An Patrick Nguyen, Hendrik Scholta, David Roth-Isigkeit, Christian Djeffal, and Friedrich Chasin examines the use of generative AI to derive conceptual models from by administration lawyers. Notably, the German word “doch (but)” prompted the AIs to perform actions that, according to their statements, had not previously been possible, such as creating process models. 

At the beginning of January, around 35 students took part in this year’s ski seminar at a mountain hut in the Kleinwalsertal (Austria). The ski seminar was held in cooperation with the University of Koblenz and was organized by Prof. Patrick Delfmann (University of Koblenz), with support from Prof. Dennis Riehle (University of Koblenz) and Janis Elmer from the Department of Information Systems (University of Münster).

Four seminars from Münster participated: “Flow Factory: Processes & AI” as both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s seminar, “Digital Enablers of the Circular Economy”, and “Ski Seminar on Vision Transformer”.

As part of the Bachelor’s seminar “Flow Factory: Processes & AI”, led by Prof. Jan vom Brocke, Janis Elmer, Sandro Franzoi, and Tobias Zimmermann, students explored the use of artificial intelligence for analyzing, controlling, and optimizing business processes. After an introduction to the fundamentals of scientific research methods, they worked in small groups on current research projects at the Flow Factory. The aim was to gain new insights at the intersection of processes and AI and to prepare these findings scientifically.

In the seminar “Digital Enablers of the Circular Economy”, Master’s students investigated how information systems can support the transition toward a circular economy under the supervision of Dr. Michael Koddebusch, Celine Poppe, and David Stanlein. They developed research questions on topics such as Green IT/IS, digital platforms, and circular product design and completed a full academic conference cycle – from preparing a research paper and receiving peer reviews to presenting and revising their work. In doing so, they deepened both their subject-matter knowledge of the circular economy and their academic research and writing skills.

In the Master’s seminar “Vision Transformer”, led by Jan Pauls and Dr. Karsten Schrödter, students deepened their understanding of transformer architectures and examined current vision transformer models for semantic segmentation. They implemented the models using PyTorch and discussed different architectures as well as their current applications in computer vision, gaining insights into modern research trends and application areas of vision transformers.

In the Master’s seminar “Flow Factory: Processes & AI”, led by Prof. Jan vom Brocke, Janis Elmer, Sandro Franzoi, and Tobias Zimmermann, students examined the use of artificial intelligence in business process management. After learning advanced research methods, they investigated how human–AI collaboration can improve process efficiency, how predictive analytics can anticipate bottlenecks, and which ethical and practical challenges arise when implementing AI in complex process landscapes.

In addition to engaging final presentations, the seminar also offered ample opportunities for sporting activities: under excellent weather conditions, participants enjoyed skiing together and exchanging ideas in an alpine setting.