The Team: The People Behind AIMS
AIMS is carried out by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in education, AI and data science, computer engineering, philosophy and ethics, sociology and project management. Below you will find the key people at each partner university.
TU Dresden
Dr. Sandra Hummel, Project Coordinator. Head of the Early-Career Research Group “Situating AI-based Mentoring” at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. Areas of expertise: higher education pedagogy, AI in education, digital learning innovation. Connects AI research with educational research and ensures that the AI Mentor is pedagogically sound and inclusive. (ORCID 0000-0001-5272-9811)
Mana-Teresa Donner, MSc MA – doctoral candidate in Educational Science. Areas of expertise: AI-supported education, learning analytics, self-regulated learning. Contributes to the design and validation of AI-supported mentoring pathways, with a focus on the psychological aspects of AI-based learning. (ORCID 0000-0002-9694-5150)
Gitanjali Wadhwa, MSc – doctoral student in AI and data science. Areas of expertise:
machine learning, deep learning, data-driven mentoring technologies. Contributes to the
development of the AI Mentor. (ORCID 0000-0002-3189-695X)
Syed Hur Abbas, MSc – Areas of expertise: machine learning, data analysis, AI model deployment. Supports the design, training, and optimisation of the AI Mentor.
University of Graz
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Egger – Director of the Center for Teaching Competence, Professor of Educational Science. Areas of expertise: higher education pedagogy, digital learning, STEAM education. Leads the development of the AIMS pedagogical framework. (ORCID 0000-0003-2843-2393)
Anneliese Pirs – Expert in EU project management. Responsible for administrative
coordination and financial oversight, compliance with Erasmus+ guidelines, and efficient
resource management.
Carina Koch is a Research Associate on the AIMS project. She brings her expertise in educational science and her teacher training in German and ethics to the project.
Middle East Technical University
Prof. Dr. Halil Turan – Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Applied Ethics. Areas of expertise: ethics, philosophy and ethics of technology, history of modern philosophy, phenomenology. Leads the METU team in the AIMS project and connects AI research with normative theories and social implications of emerging technologies.
Dr. Gülizar Karahan Balya – Researcher at the Center for Applied Ethics. Areas of expertise: philosophy and ethics of technology, ethics education, science and technology studies (STS). Contributes to the ethical design of AI-supported mentoring, with a focus on educational AI mentoring and the responsible use of AI in higher education.
Dr. Büşra Akkökler Karatekeli – Research assistant at the Department of Philosophy and member of the Center for Applied Ethics. Areas of expertise: philosophy and ethics of technology, case-based teaching materials in ethics education. Contributes to the ethical design of AI-supported mentoring including principles of trustworthiness, transparency, accountability, human oversight, reliability and epistemic responsibility.
Assoc. Prof. Ezgi Pehlivanlı – Faculty member at the Department of Sociology. Areas of expertise: media sociology, digital sociology, science and technology studies (STS), social theory, political sociology. Brings her expertise in gender studies and gendered engineering cultures for the inclusivity and accessibility of AI-supported mentoring.
Hüseyin Aydın – Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Engineering. Areas of expertise: reinforcement learning, hybrid human-AI intelligence, data privacy, responsible AI. Brings expertise in privacy and responsible AI to the project.