Collaborative research group CAEDHET
Contents and Mission
Welcome to CAEDHET
CAEDHET is a pilot project that includes research and scientific infrastructure between the University of Heidelberg, the Heidelberg University of Education and the Heidelberg School of Education. It deals with the research fields of artificial intelligence, which it wants to expand with an application-oriented perspective of the humanities. As an interdisciplinary association of scientists, we want to engage in content and technical exchange and rely on a network for mutual support and collaboration.
Our mission
CAEDHET sees itself as a research hub and scientific infrastructure project at the interface between AI engineering, digital humanities, educational transfer and the associated ethical implications. The aim is to strengthen these areas in Heidelberg in 2025 with the help of this planned group, its composition and networking.
Who we are
The project was initiated by Dr. Florian Nieser together with Dr. Thomas Renkert. The scientific coordination is Dr. Florian Nieser. CAEDHET brings together experts from various disciplines:
- Digital Humanities & Educational Sciences: Focus on moralization, media education and AI competence
- AI Engineering: Language modeling, MLLM models and data analysis
- Ethical Reflection: Orientation for guidelines and ethical discourses
Our team consists of (this information is continuously being updated):
Dr. Florian Nieser
Dr. Florian Nieser studied German Studies and Theology at the University of Tübingen, where he continued his education in the field of "Digital Humanities". He also completed his doctorate in the field of hero semiotics in Middle High German and Old French texts in Tübingen and he was a visiting scholar in the context of the hero theme at the University of Freiburg in 2023.
Since 2022 he has been the managing director of the Heidelberg Center for Digital Humanities, where he previously worked as founder and scientific coordinator of the Digital Humanities Forum from 2020. At the HCDH, he deals with the topics of transmediality and digital humanities (computational analysis of texts and LLM-based research areas), among others.
At CAEDHET he is the scientific coordinator of the project group.
Dr. Thomas Renkert
Dr. Thomas Renkert is a research assistant to the directorate at the Heidelberg School of Education and works in the area of services and project support.
Jonathan Gaede
Jonathan Gaede studied German Studies and Digital Humanities at the JMU Würzburg and supports the HCDH as a research assistant in the conception and implementation of workshops on DH topics and in communication with the research community. His interdisciplinary dissertation project examines the role of astrological-alchemical secret symbols and "special characters" in the scientific literature of the early modern period.
As part of the CAEDHET project, he is interested in AI in the public and its recognizability.
Dr. Maria Becker
maria.becker@gs.uni-heidelberg.de
Mayumi Ohta
Mayumi Ohta obtained her Bachelor's and Master's degree in Computational Linguistics at Heidelberg University. Her Master thesis received a distinction and also a special mention in the best paper award of the 6th International Conference on Machine Learning, Optimization, and Data Science (LOD). After her graduation, she gathered professional experience as a machine learning expert both in industry and academia in the field of Natural Language Processing. Her current research interests lie in Language Modeling with a special focus on explainability.
Since October 2024, she is a research assistant of SFB 1671 “Heimat(en): Phänomene, Praktiken, Darstellungen”, and working on IT-administarion and AI-applications.
Jonas Braun
Jonas Braun completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems at the University of Mannheim in 2015 and his Master's in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam in 2019. He worked as an AI/Data Science Consultant from 2019 to 2024. He is currently employed as a research assistant in the MINT-ProNeD project and is part of CAEDHET.
As the Chair of Computer Science Didactics under Prof. Claudia Hildebrandt, he develops teacher training courses and web apps on the subject of data literacy and artificial intelligence. The aim is to convey a basic understanding of data science to teachers and students through a data-based perspective and associated interactive visualizations and locally running machine learning algorithms. His main areas of focus are educational transfer and AI engineering.
Stefan Pietrusky
After successfully completing his secondary school teaching degree in biology and chemistry at the University of Koblenz-Landau (Master of Education), Stefan Pietrusky completed a second degree at the Heidelberg University of Education in 2020, which he completed with a Master of Arts in 2022. His research focuses on digital education, in particular the adaptability of digital teaching and learning media, the promotion of data literacy, self-directed learning, the automated generation of learning environments through AI, the development of digital learning games and applications in the field of augmented reality. He is currently working on projects on machine learning, neural networks and deep learning applications.
In addition to his academic work, Stefan Pietrusky founded the EdTech start-up "Learning Level Up/Down Church Studios" and trained as a graphic designer. At CAEDHET, he works in the areas of AI engineering, educational transfer and ethical reflection.
pietrusky@ph-heidelberg.de
Dr. Nicole Flindt
Frederick Riemenschneider
