News & Awards

Empirical Inference News 23-04-2025 Zhijing Jin Selected Young Researcher for the Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2025 Tübingen – Zhijing Jin, who is an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto starting in Fall 2025, and currently a postdoc in the Empirical Inference Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, has been selected to attend the prestigious Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2025. The invitation comes a year after Zhijing attended the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in June 2024. Zhijing Jin

Empirical Inference News 06-03-2025 Neural network deciphers gravitational waves from merging neutron stars in a second Machine learning method could revolutionize multi-messenger astronomy Binary neutron star mergers emit gravitational waves followed by light. To fully exploit these observations and avoid missing key signals, speed is crucial. In a study to be published in Nature on March 5, 2025, an interdisciplinary team of researchers presents a novel machine learning method that can analyze gravitational waves emitted by neutron star collisions almost instantaneously – even before the merger is fully observed. A neural network processes the data and enables a fast search for visible light and other electromagnetic signals emitted during the collisions. This new method could be instrumental in preparing the field for the next generation of observatories. Maximilian Dax Bernhard Schölkopf Jakob Macke

Empirical Inference News 15-07-2024 Siyuan Guo wins 2024 MPI-IS Outstanding Female Doctoral Student Prize Rachael Bevill Burns, Marilyn Keller and Cansu Sancaktar receive honorable mentions Siyuan Guo Marilyn Keller Rachael Burns Cansu Sancaktar Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Bernhard Schölkopf Leila Masri Florian Hartmann Alona Shagan

Empirical Inference News 01-01-2024 Zhijing Jin receives three Rising Star Awards Ph.D. student Zhijing Jin receives the EECS Rising Star, Rising Star in Data Science, and Rising Star in Machine Learning award. Her research focuses on socially responsible NLP by causal inference. Zhijing Jin Bernhard Schölkopf

Learning and Dynamical Systems Embodied Vision Empirical Inference News 06-10-2023 Roboter entdecken die Welt Forschende vermitteln Robotern eine Art Körpergefühl Roboter können den Menschen heute bereits bei manchen alltäglichen Aufgaben unterstützen. Doch unbekannte Umgebungen oder auch kleine Abweichungen in den Aufgaben, auf die sie trainiert sind, überfordern sie. Damit sie rascher lernen, sich auf Neues einzustellen, entwickeln die Forschungsgruppen von Michael Mühlebach und Jörg Stückler am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Tübingen neue Trainingsmethoden für die Maschinen. Ihre Roboter müssen sich dabei auch im Pingpong oder Bodyflying bewähren. Michael Muehlebach Jörg Stückler Dieter Büchler Hao Ma

Empirical Inference News 05-07-2023 Computer scientist Zeynep Akata Schulz receives the €1 million Alfried Krupp Prize 2023 The 37-year-old researcher specializes in machine learning at the University of Tübingen Zeynep Akata

Empirical Inference News 03-05-2023 Bernhard Schölkopf receives the 2022 ACM - AAAI Allen Newell Award for his groundbreaking research in the field of artificial intelligence One of the world's most important prizes in the research field of AI goes for the first time to a scientist from the Max Planck Society, to Europe for the fourth time. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 27-04-2023 Casting a safety net: a reliable machine learning approach for analyzing coalescing black holes Self-checking algorithm interprets gravitational-wave data An interdisciplinary team from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics has developed an algorithm that immediately checks its own calculations of merging black holes’ properties and corrects its result if necessary – inexpensively and rapidly. The machine learning method provides very accurate information about the observed gravitational waves and will be ready for use when the global network of gravitational-wave detectors starts its next observing run in May. Maximilian Dax Jonas Wildberger Jakob Macke Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 18-10-2022 Bundeswettbewerb Künstliche Intelligenz zeichnet Schülerteams aus Deutschlands KI-Nachwuchs begeisterte beim Finale des führenden Wettbewerbs rund um Künstliche Intelligenz. Ziel aller Teilnehmenden: Mithilfe von KI-Anwendungen die Welt verbessern Bernhard Schölkopf Wieland Brendel

Empirical Inference News 02-05-2022 BLOG - Three Max-Planck Institutes join forces to develop a next generation contact tracing system A blog post by Heiner Kremer, Ph.D. student in the Empirical Inference Department at MPI-IS In a recent work published at Nature Scientific Reports, researchers from the Max-Planck Institutes for Intelligent Systems, Software Systems, and Security and Privacy as well as other institutions joined forces to devise PanCast, a novel privacy-preserving and inclusive system for epidemic risk assessment and notification. Heiner Kremer Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 08-12-2021 Machine Learning decodes Tremors of the Universe Neural network analyzes gravitational waves in real-time Researchers train a neural network to estimate – in just a few seconds – the precise characteristics of merging black holes based on their gravitational-wave emissions. The network determines the masses and spins of the black holes, where in the sky, at what angle, and how far away from Earth the merger took place. Bernhard Schölkopf Maximilian Dax Jakob Macke

Empirical Inference News 04-10-2021 Youtuber Doktor Whatson und MPI-IS erklären gemeinsam KI Video-Serie über Künstliche Intelligenz gestartet Folge 1 beschäftigt sich mit Generativen Modellen, Folge 2 mit Kausalität, Folge 3 mit Fairness und Folge 4, die wir vor Ort in Tübingen gedreht haben, mit Reinforcement Learning. Annika Buchholz Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 20-09-2021 Bernhard Schölkopf receives Frontiers of Knowledge Award At an award ceremony in Bilbao, the BBVA Foundation recognizes Schölkopf for his work that has advanced the field of artificial intelligence by teaching machines the human skill of classifying data. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 24-06-2021 Gary Bécigneul awarded the Max Planck Society’s “Youngest Ph.D.” award Gary Bécigneul completed his doctoral studies at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems in July 2020, and has since continued to build the start-up he founded after completing his doctoral studies. Gary Becigneul Bernhard Schölkopf Sarah Danes Valerie Callaghan

Empirical Inference News 12-03-2021 Teilnehmende für COVID-19 Studie gesucht Künstliche Intelligenz soll Früherkennung eines schweren Krankheitsverlaufs ermöglichen Bernhard Schölkopf Annika Buchholz Stefan Bauer

Empirical Inference News 16-02-2021 Artificial intelligence supports medical prognoses Using COVID-19 as an example, a machine learning method predicts patients' individual mortality risk Estimating the risk of patients dying is arguably one of the most difficult and stressful challenges physicians face. This has been especially true in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with doctors around the world repeatedly confronted with difficult decisions. In the best of cases, they have been able to adjust treatments and save lives. In the worst case scenario, however, physicians have to allocate scarce beds and life-saving machines in intensive care units. An international team led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent System has now developed an algorithm and trained it with machine learning methods to help medical professionals with mortality predictions. The algorithm can also be trained to predict mortality risk for other diseases, and thus support physicians in decision-making processes. Stefan Bauer Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan

Empirical Inference News 15-01-2021 Progress in the field of Brain-Computer Interaction: scientists take BCI research out of the lab and into the real world Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen and the University of Vienna have introduced MYND, an open-source software that allows people to participate in brain-computer interaction (BCI) research from home, without expert supervision. Their research could take the field a decisive step forward: MYND can complement laboratory-based basic research with human-computer interaction experiments in a range of real-life environments. The researchers are confident their approach will provide a viable basis for further research on accessible use of BCI in daily life. Matthias Hohmann Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan

Perceiving Systems Autonomous Vision Empirical Inference Probabilistic Numerics Probabilistic Learning Group News 10-09-2020 ELLIS PhD Program: Call for Applications The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems offers an interdisciplinary PhD program. The ELLIS PhD program is a key element of the ELLIS initiative and its goal is to foster and educate the best talent in machine learning related research areas by pairing outstanding students with leading academic and industrial researchers in Europe. The program supports excellent PhDs across Europe by giving them access to leading research through boot camps, summer schools and workshops of the ELLIS programs. Every PhD student is supervised by one ELLIS fellow/scholar and one ELLIS member from a different country and conducts a 1 year exchange at the other location.

Empirical Inference News 13-08-2020 Stefan Bauer elected CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar The research group leader at the MPI-IS is one of thirteen early-career researchers that have been elected. He will join the “Learning in Machines & Brains“ CIFAR research program. Stefan Bauer

Empirical Inference News 28-07-2020 From picking up a cube to writing with a pen – learning dexterous manipulation skills on real-world robotic systems MPI-IS in Tübingen is hosting a challenge that aims to advance the state of the art in robotic manipulation and make the field more accessible to a greater number of researchers From August 3, researchers around the world are invited to take part in a challenge where each team can run its algorithm on standardized robotic platforms. The tasks range from manipulating a cube to writing with a pen. Participants can advance research, demonstrate that their algorithm works best not only in simulation but also on a real-world task, and win prizes. Stefan Bauer Manuel Wüthrich Bernhard Schölkopf Felix Widmaier / Kloss Vaibhav Agrawal Ossama Ahmed Ann-Sophie Bähr Annika Buchholz Lieya Duong Jonathan Fiene Walter Gasparetto Anirudh Goyal Felix Grimminger Felix Grüninger Bilal Hammoud Shruti Joshi Georg Martius Heiko Ott Ludovic Righetti Sebastian Stark Naomi Tashiro Frederik Träuble Ruben Werbke Jonathan Williams

Empirical Inference News 20-05-2020 Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI) invites scientists to join the fight against COVID-19 The JEDI Billion Molecules against Covid-19 Grand Challenge was launched at the beginning May. The call for submissions is open until June 6. Using supercomputing and AI, participating teams will screen enormous molecular libraries against the virus's protein targets. Results will be cross-correlated to determine a “high potential” list of unprecedented quality, allowing a fast track to clinical testing. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 07-05-2020 Recent MPI graduate and his team win Causality 4 Climate NeurIPS competition Sebastian Weichwald is part of the winning team of a competition that tried to tackle the climate change challenges from a data and causal structure learning perspective Sebastian Weichwald Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 30-10-2019 Bernhard Schölkopf meets French President Emmanuel Macron The Machine Learning scientist is in Paris to attend the Global Forum on AI for Humanity which brings together many of the world’s leading AI experts who together work on promoting and protecting a human-centric and ethical approach to AI, grounded in human rights. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 04-09-2019 Verleihung des Körber-Preises 2019 Bernhard Schölkopf erhält am 13. September den Körber-Preis im Hamburger Rathaus - im Gespräch mit Ranga Yogeshwar Hamburg, 2. September 2019. Den mit 1.000.000 Euro dotierten Körber-Preis für die Europäische Wissenschaft 2019 erhält der deutsche Physiker, Mathematiker und Informatiker Bernhard Schölkopf. Der Forscher am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Tübingen hat mathematische Verfahren entwickelt, die maßgeblich dazu beitrugen, der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) zu ihren jüngsten Höhenflügen zu verhelfen. Weltweites Renommee erlangte Schölkopf mit sogenannten Support-Vektor-Maschinen. Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan

Empirical Inference News 03-07-2019 NeurIPS2019 Disentanglement Challenge kicks off - Bringing Disentanglement to the Real World Registration opened on June 28 and the Challenge runs until September 24. The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, GoogleAI, and MILA Montreal have launched the Disentanglement Challenge. Registration is now open: sign up now and bring disentangled representations to the REAL world - with 20,000 euros in prize money and best paper awards! Joel Bessekon Akpo Stefan Bauer Karin Bierig Muhammad Waleed Gondal Arash Mehrjou Bernhard Schölkopf Valentin Volchkov Francesco Locatello Manuel Wüthrich Djordje Miladinovic

Empirical Inference News 26-06-2019 Körber Prize 2019 goes to Bernhard Schölkopf The Körber Foundation honors the MPI-IS Director and Cyber Valley Scientist for his ground-breaking research in mathematical methods that have made a significant contribution to helping artificial intelligence reach its most recent heights. Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan

Empirical Inference News 11-06-2019 MPI for Intelligent Systems Scientists among the winning team at world’s leading AI conference Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, and Google Research Zurich receive the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML). Francesco Locatello Stefan Bauer Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan

Empirical Inference News 28-05-2019 Bernhard Schölkopf honoured as one of the leading minds in German AI research The Director of the Empirical Inference Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, one of the world's leading researchers in the field of machine learning, has been named among the top ten influential minds in the history of German AI. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 28-01-2019 Schlüsseltechnologie der digitalen Revolution Wissenschaftspreis der Hector Stiftung geht an Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf erhält in diesem Jahr den mit 150.000 Euro dotierten Wissenschaftspreis der Hector Stiftung. Die Jury würdigt damit seine herausragenden Leistungen in der Grundlagenforschung zum maschinellen Lernen und der Künstlichen Intelligenz, die als Schlüsseltechnologien der digitalen Revolution gelten. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 23-01-2019 Helping to memorize information more efficiently using AI Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems develop algorithms which optimize the well-known spaced repetition method used for memorizing educational material. By using optimal spacing time, the learning process becomes as efficient as possible. Their findings were published in the prestigious journal PNAS on Tuesday. Behzad Tabibian Bernhard Schölkopf Manuel Gomez Rodriguez

Empirical Inference News 10-12-2018 Bernhard Schölkopf erhält Landesforschungspreis 2018 Der Direktor der Abteilung für Empirische Inferenz am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Tübingen erhält den diesjährigen Landesforschungspreis Baden-Württemberg. Die Auszeichnung ist mit 100.000 Euro dotiert. Theresia Bauer, Ministerin für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, hat den Experten für Maschinelles Lernen im Rahmen eines Festakts in der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart geehrt. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 09-11-2018 Bernhard Schölkopf at the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin The International Conference on Future - Breakthroughs in Science and Society Prof. Bernhard Schölkopf, Director of the department "Empirical Inference", is talking about Artificial Intelligence. Friday, November 9, 4:45 p.m, Berlin, Radialsystem V, Holzmarktstraße 33. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 05-06-2018 Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine Dept. Empirical Inference is part of this new scientific network The Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine" is funded by the European Commission with 3.6 Mio € for four years (2019-2022). It is coordinated by Professor Karsten Borgwardt from the Machine Learning and Computational Biology Lab of ETH Zurich. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 24-04-2018 Initiative to establish a European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems Warnung vor der Konkurrenz aus USA und China Warning about the competition from the USA and China - appeal to politics Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 19-03-2018 Award Ceremony of 2018 Leibniz Prize Bernhard Schölkopf receives one of the Leibniz Prizes in Berlin - short video about his and his team´s research on machine learning (in German) "I am very pleased about the Leibniz Prize", says Director Bernhard Schölkopf. "I see it as an award for all my employees and for the research field of machine learning, and it should benefit both in the future. We are only at the beginning, and want to investigate further how computers and living beings can learn to better understand the organizational principles of intelligent behavior." Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 16-03-2018 Süddeutsche Zeitung publiziert Meinungsbeitrag von Bernhard Schölkopf Der Direktor der Abteilung für Empirische Inferenz veröffentlicht einen Gastbeitrag über Künstliche Intelligenz auf Seite 2 der Süddeutschen Zeitung. Thema ist die Kybernetische Revolution und dass Europa dafür die besten Köpfe braucht. Bernhard Schölkopf Claudia Daefler

Empirical Inference News 19-12-2017 The Question is Why Algorithms learn a Sense of Fairness Only if Artificial Intelligence interprets and applies fairness in the same way as humans do, will society accept it. That is why scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen look at the causal reasoning behind data – because it matters how data comes about. Only when self-learning machines satisfy our ethical and legal requirements will the public accept them as just and fair. Niki Kilbertus

Empirical Inference News 14-12-2017 Bernhard Schölkopf receives Leibniz Prize 2018 Germany's most prestigious research funding prize - €2.5 million each for outstanding research work The latest recipients of Germany's most prestigious research funding prize have been announced. The Joint Committee of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) chose ten researchers, three women and seven men, to receive the 2018 Leibniz Prize. The prizes will be awarded on 19th March 2018 in Berlin. Bernhard Schölkopf Claudia Daefler

Empirical Inference News 11-12-2017 Bernhard Schölkopf elected ACM Fellow (2017) for his contributions to the theory and practice of machine learning ACM's most prestigious member grade recognizes the top 1% of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 27-11-2017 Artificial Intelligence to the rescue in finishing off Fake News An algorithm jointly developed by researchers of the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and for Software Systems in Kaiserslautern promises to optimize which doubtful news stories to send for fact checking and when to do so, helping to prevent fake news from spreading on Social Media. Manuel Gomez Rodriguez

Empirical Inference News 26-10-2017 From small to not so pixel-perfect large The Algorithm EnhanceNet-PAT is OK not being perfect – but shows a better result (Talk at ICCV 2017, Venice) Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen utilize the Artificial Intelligence of a software to create a high definition version of a low resolution image. While the pixel-perfectness is being sacrificed, the reward is a better result. Bernhard Schölkopf Mehdi S. M. Sajjadi Michael Hirsch Claudia Daefler

Empirical Inference News 19-06-2017 The Machine Learning Summer School 2017 is back in Tübingen! For the fifth time, the MLSS takes place in Tübingen

Empirical Inference News 01-02-2017 How Can We Use Machine Learning in the Search for Exoplanets? Bernhard Schölkopf joined the initiative "Latest Thinking" Exoplanets are planets beyond our own solar system. Since they do not emit much light and moreover are very close to their parent stars they are difficult to detect directly. When searching for exoplanets, astronomers use telescopes to monitor the brightness of the parent star under investigation: Changes in brightness can point to a passing planet that obstructs part of the star’s surface. The recorded signal, however, contains not only the physical signal of the star but also systematic errors caused by the instrument. As Bernhard Schölkopf explains in this video, this noise can be removed by comparing the signal of the star of interest to those of a large number of other stars. Commonalities in their signals might be due to confounding effects of the instrument. Using machine learning, these observations can be used to train a system to predict the errors and correct the light curves. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 08-10-2016 The Paralympics are over - the Cybathlon starts! CYBATHLON Championship for Athletes with Disabilities Zürich. On October 8, 2016, a collaboration of the research group "Brain-Computer-Interfaces" at the MPI-IS and the "Autonomous Systems Lab" at the TU Darmstadt will send a joint team into the Brain-computer-Interface Race at the Cybathlon 2016 in Zurich. The so called Athena-Minerva team consists mainly of computer science students of bachelor and master-level at the Technical University Darmstadt. They are interested in "Machine Learning", signal processing and especially for Brain-Computer-Interfaces (BCI). The team is headed by Moritz Grosse-Wentrup from MPI-IS and by Jan Peters, TU Darmstadt. The pilot is Sebastian Reul. Moritz Grosse-Wentrup

Empirical Inference News 18-07-2016 Bernhard Schölkopf has been elected member of the "Leopoldina" Leopoldina - National Academy of Sciences Founded in 1652, the Leopoldina is one of the oldest academies of science in the world. It is dedicated to the advancement of science for the benefit of humankind and to the goal of shaping a better future. With some 1,500 members, the Leopoldina brings together outstanding scientists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and many other countries. Bernhard Schölkopf

Empirical Inference News 11-07-2016 Matthias Hohmann in portrait #thatsmyscience Matthias Hohmann, PhD Student Max Placnk Institute For Intelligent Sysytems, IMPRS for cognitice and systems neuroscience Matthias Hohmann

Empirical Inference News 13-06-2016 Jonas Peters New Member of the German "Young Academy" Young, excellent and motivated - Jonas Peters has been elected as one of ten new members to the "Junge Akademie" and will contribute to the interdisciplinary work of this organization. Congratulations! Jonas Peters

Empirical Inference News 12-12-2015 Best Paper Award @ NIPS Workshop 2015 for Ruth Urner at the NIPS 2015 Workshop on "Transfer and Multitask Learning: Trends and New Perspectives". Ruth Urner

Empirical Inference News 09-12-2015 Köppen Award 2015 for Machine Learning in Climate Research Excellent doctoral dissertation Dr. Jakob Zscheischler is to receive this year’s Wladimir Peter Köppen Award. The Cluster of Excellence CliSAP selected the mathematician for his excellent doctoral dissertation submitted at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) in 2014. His work was rated trendsetting by the jurors who found its thematic and methodical approach particularly original. Jakob Zscheischler completed his dissertation in Germany at the German Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen. Jakob Zscheischler

Empirical Inference News 03-11-2015 One of the best science videos of the year! 2nd prize at the "Fast Forward Science 2015" Competition The movie "Light gets on your nerves" was financed and coordinated by the Max Planck Society and pictures the research of the Brain-Computer-Interfaces group at our institute. Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Bernhard Schölkopf Tatiana Fomina Sebastian Weichwald Timm Meyer