Women in AI Meetup #12 – Styria Edition AI in Science: Unlocking New Frontiers

Women in AI Austria Meetup #12 – Styria Edition

AI in Science: Unlocking New Frontiers

➡️ Meet the AI researchers advancing the future of science!

🗓 Wednesday, 17 June 2026
⏰ 6:00 PM
📍 Inffeldgasse 25/D, Erdgeschoß, Hs i3

Sponsored by BilAI

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Speaker: Univ.-Prof. Dr. techn. Elisabeth Lex (Institute of Human-Centred Computing, TU Graz)

Title: Bilateral AI for Human-Centered Personalization

Abstract: Personalization technologies increasingly shape how people access information, products, and services. Developing effective personalized systems requires not only advances in machine learning, but also a deeper understanding of human behavior and preferences. In this talk, Elisabeth Lex presents recent research on human-centered personalization and user modeling within the context of Bilateral AI. She discusses how machine learning can be combined with knowledge graphs and cognitive models to create personalized systems that better reflect human needs, support user understanding, and provide a foundation for trustworthy AI.

Bio: Elisabeth Lex is Full Professor of Human Computer Interfaces and Inclusive Technologies at TU Graz and heads the AI for Society Lab. Her research focuses on human-centred AI, recommender systems, and user modeling, combining machine learning with knowledge graphs and cognitive models to develop personalized AI systems. She is a key researcher in the Austrian Cluster of Excellence Bilateral AI and a work package lead in the FFG-funded project HybridAIR on hybrid intelligent recommender systems.

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Speaker: Ass. Prof. Dr. techn. Bettina Könighofer (Institute of Information Security, TU Graz)

Title: BilAI Approaches for Trustworthy Autonomous Intelligence

Abstract: We explore approaches for combining deep reinforcement learning with symbolic AI to solve complex sequential decision-making tasks.
The goal is to enable AI agents to learn optimal behavior while adhering to complex requirements, such as legal and ethical rules, as well as advanced safety constraints.

Bio: Bettina Könighofer is an Assistant Professor at TU Graz and leads the TrustedAI group at the institute for Information security. Her research expertise lies in runtime verification, probabilistic model checking, and reinforcement learning. Her work on shielding was among the first to provide formal safety guarantees for deep learning systems.
Her current research focuses on ensuring that the decisions of AI agents are fair, ethical, and explainable. Bettina received her PhD from TU Graz in 2020. Before joining the faculty in 2023, she was a senior researcher at LAMARR Security Research.

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👉 For better planning, please sign up in advance.

Please note that photos will be taken during the event and may be shared on our social media channels. If you prefer not to appear in any photos, please let the organizers know - we will, of course, respect your wishes.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming many interested participants and engaging in a lively discussion with you.

Let’s continue bringing all minds together! 🧡

Your WAI Styria Regional Team,
Claudia Kumpitsch , Suchita Kulkarni , Isabella Danda , Jelena Saric