August 12, 2026

Visiting Lecturer Hassan Haghighi

A successful series of guest lectures was held by Hassan Haghighi from the University of Aix-Marseille on the topic “Intelligence in Mobile Connected Robotics”.

This course introduced fundamental and practical aspects of intelligence in mobile and connected robotic systems. It covered key topics such as perception (image processing and sensor data), decision-making using artificial intelligence methods, and control of mobile robots.

Students were introduced to Python-based AI libraries and MATLAB tools for robotics applications. The course also addressed communication and networking aspects in connected robotic systems. Practical sessions involved hands-on experiments using mobile robots and simple drones, focusing on implementation of control algorithms, real-time data processing, and autonomous behaviors.

August 11, 2026

Is Data Privacy at Risk?

Cybersecurity expert Dimitrios Simos criticizes the proposed EU regulation and warns of consequences for data privacy and encryption.

Cybersecurity expert Dimitrios Simos of the University of Salzburg warns of the potential consequences of the planned EU regulation “Chat Control 2.” In his view, mandatory age verification, AI-powered message analysis, and interference with encrypted communications could jeopardize data protection, freedom of information, and fundamental digital rights.

The European Parliament has extended the temporary exemption from the ePrivacy rules - known as Chat Control 1.0—until April 3, 2028. The regulation allows the automated scanning of digital communications to detect child sexual abuse online.

June 10, 2026

Marie Andeßner Awards and Scholarships 2026

Diversity, Innovation, and Excellence

The Marie Andeßner Awards and Scholarships are presented annually to recognize outstanding research achievements by early-career female researchers and to support promising dissertation projects. The program highlights academic excellence, provides targeted career support for early-career female researchers, and strengthens innovative research projects in the long term.

The 2026 call for applications once again generated a strong response: numerous applicants from various disciplines submitted outstanding work. The high quality and thematic diversity presented the interdisciplinary jury with a particularly challenging selection process.

June 2, 2026

Tijn de Vos was awarded the “Heinz Zemanek Prize 2026”

He impressed the jury with his outstanding dissertation: “Graph Sparsification in Distributed and Dynamic Settings".

The Heinz Zemanek Prize is a prestigious award from the Austrian Computer Society (OCG), named after the Austrian computer science pioneer (developer of the “Mailüfterl”). It honors exceptional scientific work and is typically awarded every two years in two categories:

• Category A (Dissertations): Honors outstanding doctoral theses. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and may be shared between two nominees.

December 19, 2025

Antonis Skarlatos Successfully Defends PhD at University of Salzburg

On December 16, 2025, Antonis Skarlatos successfully defended his dissertation,

under supervision of Univ.-Prof. Sebastian Forster at the department of Computer Science, University of Salzburg. His dissertation is titled “Dynamic k-Clustering and Shortest Paths”.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Skarlatos on this achievement!

Foto: © privat

December 17, 2025

Daniel Schmitt honored with the Young Investigators Award of the University of Salzburg

On the Day of Teaching, at the end of November 2025, Dipl.-Ing. BSc Daniel Ulrich Schmitt, one of our Ph.D. students, was honored with the University of Salzburg’s Young Investigators Award.

With this award, the University recognizes outstanding dissertation projects and sends a strong signal in support of emerging scholars and researchers.

The prize is awarded in six categories. These categories correspond to the six faculties and thus cover the broad spectrum of research at the University of Salzburg. From a total of 35 submissions, the juries selected first-, second-, and third-place winners in each thematic group.