Ulm University and the Ulm University of Applied Sciences are launching a joint doctoral programme entitled “Data Science and Analytics: Trust in and Control of Algorithms”. The joint doctoral programme addresses an innovative and interdisciplinary topic in the fields of data science, data analytics and artificial intelligence. Starting in October, twelve PhD students will receive guidance and support in the joint doctoral programme for a period of three years.
Data science - the extraction of knowledge and information from large volumes of data - is of paramount importance for science, society and the economy. It can help us with things like automatic recognition of a covid-19 infection from an x-ray image of the lungs or intelligent control of electrical energy storage systems in order to stabilise grids. Despite all the opportunities that go along with this future technology, however, we cannot afford to overlook the risks and challenges. They can only be overcome if both the methods of data science and their application can be thoroughly understood. The fact that these methods form the basis for taking decisions with far-reaching consequences makes a profound understanding particularly relevant.
The joint doctoral programme (Kooperatives Promotionskolleg, KPK) “Data Science and Analytics” addresses precisely this issue, training experts in the fields of data science and analytics. The KPK research programme focuses on the aspects of “trust” and “control” with respect to the methods of data science and analytics. “The focus of the joint doctoral programme is on comprehensibility and explicability, but also security, reliability and verifiability of the used methods”, explains Professor Karsten Urban, spokesperson for the KPK and head of the Institute of Numerical Mathematics at Ulm University.
The doctoral students benefit from the dynamic environment of both universities, characterised by various joint projects and initiatives, including the Transfer Centre for Digitalisation, Analytics and Data Science Ulm (DASU), which has been jointly founded by Ulm University and the Ulm University of Applied Sciences. The joint doctoral programme combines basic and application-based research with a structured approach. KPK spokesperson Professor Kathrin Stucke-Straub from the Ulm University of Applied Sciences (Technische Hochschule Ulm, THU) adds, “The growing significance of data science in science, the economy and society is opening up fantastic opportunities for the doctoral students”.
The doctoral students benefit from a tandem advising team made up of members of Ulm University and THU. Various seminars and an annual doctoral student symposium complement the programme.
Text and mediacontact: Daniela Stang
Translation: Kate Gaugler