Alina Roitberg Full Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Hildesheim
roitberg [at] uni-hildesheim.de

Research

Welcome! I am a full professor at the University of Hildesheim, where I am building the new Intelligent Assistive Systems (IAS) group. Our work spans both theoretical/methodological and application-driven research in deep learning, computer vision and multimodal recognition. On the methodological side, we develop new learning principles and algorithms for resource- and data-efficient deep learning, including uncertainty/OOD handling, incremental learning in open-world settings and multimodal fusion. We are also very interested in Parameter-efficient Adaptation (PEFT) of foundation models. On the applied side, we develop methods for impactful real-world problems in assistive systems, autonomous driving, robotics, and industrial (and increasingly medical) scenarios. Before joining Hildesheim, I was assistant professor at the University of Stuttgart. I am also a member of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). Core topics include:

• Deep Learning, Computer Vision and Multimodal Recognition
• Multimodal and Multiscale Perception of Humans (Activities, Intentions, Emotions and Beyond)
• Uncertainty-aware and Interpretable Recognition
• Open Set and Open Domain Recognition, OOD Settings
• Resource- and Data-efficient Recognition
• Simulation- and Knowledge-enhanced Learning
• Parameter-efficient Adaptation of Foundation Models
• Applications for Intelligent Vehicles, Robotics, Human Assistance (e.g., Computer Vision for the Blind), Health Monitoring, Physiological Analysis and Medical Diagnostics

Short CV

• Since September 2025: Full Professor (W3) of Machine Learning, University of Hildesheim. Head of the Intelligent Assistive Systems group.
• Since August 2023: Faculty member of the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS).
• June 2023 – August 2025: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor – Autonomous Sensing and Perception Group, University of Stuttgart.
• April 2023 – May 2023: Visiting Researcher – Chair for Sustainable Transport Logistics 4.0, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
• April 2021 – May 2023: Postdoctoral Researcher – Lead of the Activity Recognition Group at CV:HCI.
• PhD: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (summa cum laude), April 2017 – April 2021. Topic: "Uncertainty-aware Models for Deep Learning-based Human Activity Recognition and Applications in Intelligent Vehicles." Referents: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stiefelhagen (KIT, IAR) and Prof. Dr. Mohan Trivedi (University of San Diego). IEEE ITSS Best Dissertation Award 2021 (second prize). Manuscript available upon request.
• PhD internship: Facebook Zurich – Computer Vision for AR/VR, September 2020 – November 2020.
• Consultant: MHP – A Porsche Company, Big Data & Analytics, 2016 – 2017.
• M.Sc. in Computer Science: Technical University Munich, 2013 – 2015.
• Student Assistant: fortiss GmbH, developing human-robot interfaces for industrial robotics, 2014 – 2015.
• Erasmus studies: Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2012 – 2013.
• B.Sc. in Computer Science: Technical University Munich, 2009 – 2012.

Scholarships & Awards

• Elite program for PostDocs of the BW Foundation (accepted for 2023) – Baden-Württemberg Foundation, Dec 2022.
• Best Dissertation Award (first prize) – IEEE ITSS Germany PhD Dissertation Award, June 2022.
• Best Dissertation Prize – KIT Faculty of Computer Science, donated by the Erika and Dr. Wolfgang Eichelberger Foundation, June 2022.
• Helmholtz Doctoral Award – yearly Helmholtz Doctoral Prize for mission-oriented research in the field "Information", Apr 2022.
• KIT Doctoral Award – yearly prize awarded by KIT to outstanding doctoral researchers, Dec 2021.
• Best Dissertation Award 2021 (second prize) – IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS), Sep 2021.
• Best Student Paper First Runner Up Award – Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (Paper: "Open Set Driver Activity Recognition"), Jan 2020.
• ECCV Women in Computer Vision Travel Grant for the presentation "Towards Human Activity Recognition in Autonomous Vehicles", 2018.
• Deutschlandstipendium – German national scholarship for talented students, 2014.
• Google Summer of Code (Point Cloud Library project), 2014.
• School-time – multiple awards at the Ukrainian Mathematical Olympiads (7th and 8th grade).

Funded Projects

• Smart Villages – Visual Recognition of Trees. Funding: LGL Baden-Württemberg. May 2024 – April 2025.
• SFB "Kreislauffabrik für das ewige Produkt", Sub-project "Visual Perception of the Human". Funding: DFG. Apr 2024 – Dec 2027.
• EXC 2120 IntCDC: "Visual Semantic Scene Understanding for Collaborative IntCDC Wood Building System". Funding: DFG, IntCDC. Jan 2024 – Dec 2025.
• EXC 2075 SIMTECH: "Resource-efficient Domain Adaptation and Simulation-Enhanced Learning in Spatiotemporal Data". Funding: DFG, Cluster of Excellence SIMTECH. Jan 2024 – Dec 2025.
• PRIDRIVE: Driver monitoring under privacy constraints. Funding: BW Foundation Elite Program for PostDocs. Jul 2023 – Dec 2025.

Past Projects (as Member)

• SmartAge – Untersuchung intelligenter Formen von Selbstregulation und Ko‑Regulation unter Realbedingungen (Carl‑Zeiss‑Stiftung, 2021 – ongoing). Role: team member; co‑supervision of a PhD student; technical coordination of the video-based human observation work package. Web: www.smartage-heidelberg.com.
• JuBot – Jung bleiben mit Robotern (Carl‑Zeiss‑Stiftung, since 2020). Role: team member; co‑supervision of a PhD student. Web: www.kcist.kit.edu/deutsch/123_1205.php.
• CC‑King – Competence Center KI‑Engineering (2020 – 2022). Role: team member; technical coordination of the learning‑from‑simulations work package. Web: www.ki-engineering.eu.
• ESKIMO – Mit künstlicher Intelligenz die Baustelle genau im Blick (BMBF, 2020 – 2022). Role: team member; technical coordination of the computer vision work packages. Web: www.eskimo-projekt.de.
• PAKoS – Personalisierte, adaptive kooperative Systeme für automatisierte Fahrzeuge (BMBF, 2017 – 2021). Role: team member; project implementation (human observation for driver assistance). Web: www.projekt-pakos.de.