This semester, the Department of Information Systems once again had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Nathalie Mitev as part of the Visiting International Professor (VIP) Program of the School of Business and Economics. Since 2015, she has been an integral part of our international academic community and has been coming to Münster twice a year to teach doctoral seminars.

This semester, she led the seminar “Qualitative Research Methods,” in which participants explored various qualitative research methods as well as approaches to data collection and were able to apply them to their own dissertation projects.

Dr. Nathalie Mitev is currently affiliated with Université Paris Dauphine – PSL in France. She teaches master’s and doctoral students at universities around the world, particularly in the areas of qualitative research methods and academic writing. Her research focuses on information systems management and digital organizational change.

At the end of the seminar, the doctoral students took the opportunity to thank Dr. Mitev for her great commitment. Despite high temperatures and considerable travel delays, she once again made the journey to Münster to share her expertise with the participants. Dr. Mitev said she was “very touched” by the gesture. With the gift, the doctoral students expressed their appreciation for her many years of dedication and her committed teaching.

From June 15 to 17, several members of the Department of Information Systems participated in the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2026 in Milan. Under the conference theme “Reimagining Digital Technology for Business, Management, and Society”, they presented their current research on topics such as digital sustainability, artificial intelligence, process mining, human-AI collaboration, and digital transformation.

In total, the department was represented with eight papers:

• Navigating The Twin Transition: A Paradox Perspective On Concurrent Digital and Sustainability Change – Daria Stumkat, Jan Stockhinger
• Actor-Networks In Corporate Digital Sustainability Initiatives – David Stanlein, Lea Püchel, Enni Juntunen, Tobias Brandt
• Non-Profits Digital Transformation: Understanding Organisational Identity Dynamics – Maria Julia Torres, Lea Püchel, Markus P. Zimmer, Tobias Brandt
• Unpacking The Role Of Individuals In Process Mining: A Literature Review and Research Framework – Julian Dyong, Sandro Franzoi, Jan vom Brocke
• Schnitzel-Prediction: Designing Human-AI Collaboration For Cafeteria Demand Forecasting – Justus Cappel, Timo Strohmann, Mara Burger, Dr. Marleen Voß, Jan vom Brocke
• How Generative AI Drives Field-Level Change In Management Consulting – Robin Killewald, Thomas Haskamp
• When We Cannot Stop The Data Flow: The Emotional Life Of Data In A Children’s Daycare Center – Lea Püchel, Tobias Brandt
• The AI-Enabled Circular Economy: Extracting and Synthesizing Design Knowledge – Linda Sagnier Eckert, Christoph Hoppe, Timo Strohmann, Anne Ixmeier, Daniel Heinz

In addition, Shariga Sivanathan moderated the panel “Pathways to a Resilient IS Community: Are We There Yet?”

Particularly noteworthy were the awards received by Miriam Herding and Jan Stockhinger as Best Reviewers, as well as Lea Püchel as Best Associate Editor.

Members of the department were also actively involved in the conference organization: Jan vom Brocke served as Conference Co-Chair, Lea Püchel contributed to the ECIS Sustainability Initiative, and Katrin Bergener supported the conference as Social Media Communication Co-Chair.

Beyond the academic exchange, ECIS 2026 also offered numerous networking opportunities, including the traditional ERCIS@ECIS reception.

To support the development of high-resolution global biomass maps, the AI4Forest project has been granted access to the computing resources of JUPITER at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer. In total, the project will have access to 120,000 GPU hours, which will be used to process large volumes of Earth observation data.

AI4Forest is a German-French research cooperation that investigates how cutting-edge artificial intelligence methods can help to better understand, monitor, and respond to the stresses on forest ecosystems caused by climate change. The project is coordinated by Philippe Ciais (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Université Paris), Alexandre d’Aspremont (Department of Computer Science, École Normale Supérieure), Fabian Gieseke (Department of Information Systems, University of Münster), Sebastian Pokutta (Zuse Institute Berlin), and Cornelius Senf (Earth Observation for Ecosystem Management, Technical University of Munich).

The goal of the proposal for computing resources is to create a global aboveground biomass (AGB) map that builds on the research group’s previous work: ECHOSAT; European satellites (Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2); Japanese satellites (ALOS Palsar-2); American sensors (GEDI); and German satellites (Tandem-X DEM).

Above-ground biomass comprises the plant biomass above the soil surface. AI4Forest focuses in particular on trees, as they store large amounts of CO₂ and are simultaneously increasingly exposed to various threats such as drought, heat, fires, or pest infestations.

Traditionally, biomass has been primarily measured or estimated through on-site field surveys. AI4Forest aims to improve such estimates on a global scale using satellite data and artificial intelligence, and to make them available more efficiently.

Creating such maps requires a great deal of computational power. Access to high-performance computing resources is crucial for processing large amounts of data and training complex AI models. The research group is especially pleased to be able to rely on JUPITER for this work.

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AI4Forest

Supercomputer JUPITER

As part of the 11th Tech-Kalinen Meetup, titled “From idea to career: Women in STEM share their journeys,” three different career paths in STEM fields were presented. The goal of the event was to highlight the diversity of career opportunities in STEM and to shed light on both the differences and similarities among these career paths.

The event was organized by the Tech-Kalinen network together with the Women+ in Information Systems initiative at the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster. The student initiative Women do IT from Department 10 (Mathematics and Computer Science) also presented itself

Among the speakers were Dr. Beate Rottkemper (Head of Sustainability Management, UKM), as well as Dr. Lena Clever and Dr. Fumi Kurihara from the Department of Information Systems. They shared personal insights into their career paths in research, teaching, and industry, and reflected on key experiences, challenges, and pivotal moments. It became clear that career paths are rarely linear and that openness to new opportunities often leads to unexpected possibilities.

Key takeaways from the evening included the importance of individual career paths as well as the insight that technological innovation and societal impact are not mutually exclusive.

The Tech-Kalinen network connects women in tech professions in the Münsterland region, fostering exchange and increasing the visibility of women in tech as role models and contacts for early-career talent. The network focuses on current topics in the digital and technology sectors and discusses approaches to addressing the lack of diversity in the field.

From June 8 to 10, the 21st International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST) took place at Münster Castle. For three days, the conference featured engaging workshops, inspiring paper sessions, and intensive exchange within the international research community.

Under the theme “Design for better futures. Beyond the science of the artificial.”, participants discussed how design science can go beyond the purely artificial to contribute to a vibrant, sustainable, and responsible future. This year’s conference aimed to expand the boundaries of what design science is and what it could become. In doing so, it created space for new ways of thinking, knowing, and creating that are as adaptive, entangled, and generative as the challenges we face..

The conference theme closely aligns with one of the key research areas of the Department of Information Systems. This is reflected in projects such as the Flow Factory, where responsible AI innovations are developed and put into practice.

During the Conference Dinner at A2 am Aasee, Prof. Jan vom Brocke was honored with the Design Science Research Lifetime Achievement Award. Since 2007, this award has been presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to research and the scientific community.

During the ceremony, laudator Prof. Samir Chatterjee from Claremont Graduate University praised Jan vom Brocke's significant scientific achievements, highlighting in particular his dedication to the community: "Jan has brought people together across institutions, countries, and disciplines (...) and created an environment where ideas can flourish and researchers feel welcome and supported." 

Award recipient Jan vom Brocke expressed his honor and gratitude to be part of such a "wonderful community": "Design Science has always been so close to my heart, as it provides the opportunity to conduct research of value to society." 

This year’s conference was organized by the Department of Information Systems led by Jan vom Brocke, Timo Strohmann, Hans Näscher, Fumi Kurihara, Armin Stein, Katrin Bergener, and Lea Kleinekathöfer, with the support of numerous additional contributors who contributed to the event’s success.

 Jan vom Brocke (right) with laudator Samir Chatterjee (Photo: Julian Meyer).

From May 18 to May 20, 2026, Lennart Schäpermeier and Leonard Papenmeier from the Department of Information Systems participated in the COSEAL (Configuration and Selection of Algorithms) workshop at RWTH Aachen University. 

The workshop is a premier international event bringing together researchers from academia and industry across all areas of automated artificial intelligence (AutoAI). Participants discussed current advances and trends in the automated configuration and selection of algorithms, including automated machine learning (AutoML), Bayesian optimization, neural architecture search and automated algorithm selection. The latter was celebrated with a special session highlighting 50 years of algorithm selection research.

At this edition, Lennart Schäpermeier presented BONO-Bench, based on joint work with ERCIS member Pascal Kerschke, which was recently accepted at the ACM TELO journal (SJR Q1). BONO-Bench advances the state of the art in evaluating bi-objective optimization heuristics by providing a test suite with controllable challenges and reference solutions, enabling researchers to better understand and configure their optimization heuristics.

The COSEAL workshop series originally started in 2013 at the Department of Information Systems with a workshop organized by Prof. Dr. Heike Trautmann (ERCIS member, now University of Paderborn). It is held anually in locations across Europe and attracts approximately 100 participants from dozens of research institutes. Additionally, Lennart Schäpermeier (together with André Biedenkapp, University of Freiburg, and Theresa Eimer, University of Hannover), serves as a general chair of the COSEAL network.

The next COSEAL workshop is held from May 10-12, 2027 at TU Dortmund.

For many years, Dr. Adam Widera has shaped the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster with his dedication and expertise. His academic journey at the university began early: while studying political science, philosophy, and political economy, he worked as a student assistant at the Institute for Political Science from 2002 to 2005.

Afterwards, he worked initially as a research associate at the Chair of Political Science and International/Comparative Political Economy before joining the Department of Information Systems in 2006. There, he first served as a project coordinator in the BMBF-funded project “Computer-Assisted Higher Education”, at the Chair of Information Systems and Controlling. He later supported the Chair of Information Systems and Logistics as managing director and lecturer, where he discovered his passion for humanitarian logistics and crisis management and completed his doctorate in this field.

In December 2013, Adam Widera and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Hellingrath founded the ERCIS Competence Center Crisis Management (C³M). As Managing Director, he plays a key role in shaping the center’s work and future development. Over the past years, he has successfully acquired several national and international research projects, helping C³M become an important actor within various research and practice networks. In 2020, Adam Widera additionally took on the role of Deputy Managing Director of the department and, since this year, has joined the executive board of the ERCIS Flow Factory as managing director.

On the occasion of his 25th anniversary, we asked him a few questions:

You originally studied political science, philosophy, and economic policy – how did you end up at the Department of Information Systems?

After completing my magister degree, I contributed to a study and quickly realized that I was missing a stronger practical orientation and greater research impact. At the same time, I was involved in an EU project in which the Department of Information Systems was also participating through our current director, Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke. Through this, I came across the exciting project “Computer-Assisted Higher Education,” where a position as project coordinator had become available. I did not hesitate for long and applied immediately. Information Systems quickly became my new academic home.

You have been working at the department for many years – first as a project coordinator and later as a research associate at the Chair of Information Systems and Logistics, where you also completed your doctorate. Which projects or experiences were particularly formative for you during this time?

I could name many highlights here. However, if I had to emphasize one project, it would be DRIVER+, the largest EU-funded crisis management project to date, involving more than forty partners from across Europe. The project was not only interesting because, as the competence center, we were able to test and evaluate various research results together with crisis management practitioners under realistic conditions, but also because, as the only university institution in the consortium, we were able to develop and test a novel, practice-driven evaluation approach – the Trial Guidance Methodology (TGM) – in collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. Unfortunately, the reality of research funding is often that project results are forgotten once a project ends. With TGM, however, things were very different. The methodology was adopted by many stakeholders in security research and applied in numerous initiatives and research projects. A particular highlight last year was certainly receiving the Security Innovation Award from the European Commission and DG HOME in the category “Best Open Source Innovation 2025.”

You have been Managing Director of the ERCIS Competence Center Crisis Management (C³M) since 2013. How have the center and your work there evolved over the past few years?

After initially focusing on logistical processes and information systems in international disaster management, we increasingly expanded our perspective toward European and regional challenges through successfully acquired research projects. Especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, our research has focused more strongly on national and municipal civil protection. Alongside this development, our stakeholder landscape has broadened significantly, so that in addition to international non-governmental organizations, various emergency response organizations and public authorities have become long-standing practice partners.

The entire department thanks Adam Widera for his excellent work, loyalty, and continued commitment. We look forward to many more years of successful collaboration.

In May, 38 participants took part in the windsurfing seminar in Hvide Sande, Denmark, in cooperation with the HSP Windsurf School (windsurf instructors: Jenny Weiß and Rolf Lexen). The seminar was organized by Janis Elmer and Tobias Zimmermann from the Institute for Information Systems.

Four courses participated in the seminar: the Bachelor’s course Urban Analytics and the Master’s courses Efficient Machine Learning, Flow Factory: TideStats, and Flow Factory: TideTalks.

As part of the bachelor’s seminar “Urban Analytics”, led by Ann-Kathrin Meyer and Johannes von Ivernois, students explored the fundamentals of location-based services and examined the intersection between spatial and content analysis. They worked with a large-scale dataset of georeferenced Twitter messages or with self-selected georeferenced datasets.

The master’s seminar “Efficient Machine Learning”, led by Nina Herrmann, Jorunn Mense, and Jan Pauls, provided students with an interest in machine learning with in-depth knowledge of advanced topics, particularly through the reproduction and summary of current scientific papers on topics such as efficient vision transformers, self-supervised learning, and related approaches.

The seminar “Flow Factory: TideStats”, led by Josephine Moritz, Phlipp Michels, and Tobias Zimmermann, focused on practically relevant research questions, in particular the investigation of the impact of artificial intelligence on employees. Master’s students learned and applied scientific methods, with a special focus on quantitative data analysis using R, and conducted their own research project on “AI & People”.

The master’s course “Flow Factory: TideTalks”, led by Fumi Kurihara, Paul Brützke, and Janis Elmer, addressed practically relevant research questions from the Flow Factory, in particular the investigation of the impact of artificial intelligence on users. Students learned and applied qualitative methods, with a special focus on conducting interviews, and carried out their own research project on human–AI interaction.

In addition to the final presentations, there was also time for a sports: with perfect weather, participants enjoyed windsurfing together and exchanging ideas along the Danish North Sea coast.

Jonathan Grundmann’s master’s thesis, titled “Decoding Bureaucracy: Towards a Process Mining Method for Public Administration,” has been awarded first place in the Materna Graduate Award. The Materna Graduate Award recognizes outstanding theses in the field of digitalization and supports young talents as well as innovative solutions for the digital transformation of public administration.

In his thesis, Jonathan Grundmann examines why process mining holds great potential for public administration but has rarely been used in a systematic way. The focus is organizational, technical, and structural challenges that hinder broader adoption. His analysis shows how data-driven process analysis can make administrative workflows more transparent, uncover optimization potentials, and thereby contribute to more efficient and modern administrative structures.

The thesis was supervised by Michael Räckers and Sandro Franzoi from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster.

Jonathan Grundmann is a graduate of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance (PIONEER). This interdisciplinary program is a joint degree offered by KU Leuven (Belgium), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), and the University of Münster (Germany), and combines expertise in public administration, public management, information systems, and eGovernance.

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Materna Graduate Award

Master of Science PIONEER

The School of Business and Economics at the University of Münster is once again ranked among the leading institutions for Business and Management in Germany. In the latest “Best Business and Management Universities in Germany Ranking 2026” by Research.com, it ranks 5th nationwide and is thus among the top tier of German Business Schools, alongside other renowned institutions such as the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.

Two professors from the Department of Information Systems are listed among the “Leading Scientists”: Prof. Jan vom Brocke and Prof. Jörg Becker rank 12th and 20th nationally and 348th and 585th globally. A total of 9,829 researchers specializing in business and management were analyzed for inclusion in the ranking. It is based on bibliometric data and takes into account the number of publications and citations by top researchers.

Further information on the methodology and all results of the ranking can be found here.

The latest CHE University Ranking shows that students at the School of Business and Economics are highly satisfied with the general conditions at the University of Münster. More than three quarters of the students rated their study experience with 4 or 5 out of 5 stars – in Information Systems, the figure is as high as 93.6 percent.

The School of Business and Economics performs particularly highly in supporting students at the beginning of their studies. A wide range of services specifically for prospective students and first-year students makes the transition to university life easier and places the School among the top performers in this category.

Students rated the Information Systems program with more than 4 out of 5 stars in the categories overall study situation, teaching quality, support from lecturers, academic support, library facilities, learning and working spaces, and digital learning. The program performed especially strongly in study organization, achieving a score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. In almost all categories, the program scores above the average of German universities.

The CHE University Ranking is the most comprehensive comparison of higher education institutions in the German-speaking world. This year, around 35,000 students at 265 universities and universities of applied sciences (HAW) provided feedback on their study conditions in the subjects of Law, Business Administration, economics, business studies, business informatics, industrial engineering, business psychology, business law and social work.

All the results of the ranking will be published in the ZEIT Study Guide 2026/27 and online at HeyStudium.

At this year’s Girls’Day on April 23, 2026, 19 schoolgirls gained exciting insights into the world of Information Systems. 

Staff members from various areas of the department put together an engaging program: Following an informal icebreaker game to get to know each other, participants were introduced to the field of Information Systems and potential career paths. They then experienced how software development works firsthand in a LEGO Scrum workshop. A rallye across the Leonardo Campus also gave them the opportunity to explore the surroundings. 

A particular highlight was the programming course, where participants were able to gain their first hands-on experience with Scratch. In the subsequent quiz, they had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and discover further aspects of Information Systems. 

The day concluded with a joint lunch, where participants could also try out VR headsets. In this way, Information Systems was not only explained in an accessible way but also experienced firsthand. 

Girls’Day is a nationwide orientation day in Germany that enables girls from grade 5 onwards to explore professions and fields of study in which women are still underrepresented, particularly in technology, IT, skilled trades, and the natural sciences. The aim is to break down gender-based career stereotypes and open up new perspectives for the future. 

On March 26 and 27, the Department of Information Systems, together with the Professional School, participated in data:unplugged – Europe’s largest event dedicated to data and artificial intelligence.

The event provided a central platform for exchange between academia, industry, and society. The Department of Information Systems took the opportunity to present current research projects and engage with professionals, researchers, and data enthusiasts from a wide range of disciplines. The focus was particularly on innovative approaches at the intersection of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and practical application areas.

The numerous conversations at the booth highlighted the strong interest in applied research as well as in collaboration opportunities between research and practice. The open dialogue once again highlighted the importance of connecting cutting-edge research with practical applications to drive innovation forward.