University of Zurich, Department of Informatics

What does digital transformation mean for everyday life in Switzerland?

Over the past five years, 46 project teams have explored this question as part of the National Research Programme “Digital Transformation” NRP 77.

The programme brought together research on education, governance, the economy and the labour market. The results include more than 300 publications and reports, along with 12 evidence-based recommendations for shaping digital change responsibly.

💡The main takeaway: Digitalisation is not just a technological development. It is a societal process that affects us all.

Learn more about the findings, interviews and videos here: https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/Abraham-Bernstein-Digitale-Transformation-NRP77.html

Congratulations to Nimra Ahmed on receiving the Engagement Award 2026! 👏

With her commitment as PhD representative at the Institute of Informatics and as co-founder and president of the Women in Informatics Network Zurich, Nimra has made an important contribution to our IfI community.

We are happy to celebrate this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations, Nimra!

Read more in the Faculty’s news article: https://www.oec.uzh.ch/de/current/news/2026/impact-engagement-awards-2026.html

We are proud to share that four of our researchers have been honored with Services Awards at the ACM SIGMOD 2026 conference.

🏆Distinguished Reviewer Awards: Prof. Michael Böhlen, Prof. Sven Helmer, Dr. Haozhe Zhang
🏆Distinguished Associate Editor Award: Prof. Dan Olteanu

Congratulations!

Read more 👉https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/boehlen-helmer-olteanu-Zhang-acm-sigmod-awards.html

Big congratulations to Alberto Bacchelli! The Board of the University of Zurich has promoted him to Full Professor ad personam of Empirical Software Engineering (effective April 1, 2026).

We wish him continued success in his research and teaching!

👉https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/alberto-bacchelli-promotion.html

Big congratulations! 🎊“CaseCompass: Designing Sustainable, Community-Led Socio-Technical Systems for Gender-Based Violence Support Work” (authored by Nimra Ahmed, Sargam Telang, Larissa Senning, Thu An Phan, Tim Portmann, Sandra Rosch, Angelika Strohmayer, and Elaine Huang) has been honored with the Award for Research Teams with Inspirational Research Practices at the ACM CHI 2026.

The jury was particularly impressed by the project’s dedication to human-centered design and its alignment with real-world workflows at Fachstelle Zwangsheirat.

In addition to the team award, the paper also received a Best Paper Honorable Mention Award.

📖 Full story here: https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/CaseCompass-Team-Award-CHI2026.html

Burkhard Stiller, Professor of Communication Systems at the Department of Informatics, examines the implications of reducing complex political decision-making to game-theoretic frameworks.

Read the full article 👉https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/burkhard-stiller-prediction-markets.html

The Dynamic and Distributed Information Systems Group is looking for a PhD student interested in human-centered AI and human-AI collaboration.

Learn more about the position and submit your application.

👉 https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/ddis/jobs.html

An den Informatiktagen berichten Informatikstudierende live aus ihrem Studienalltag.

DAS INFORMATIKSTUDIUM AN DER UNI ZÜRICH UND ETH ZÜRICH
Für Jugendliche (ab 14 Jahren) und interessierte Eltern, Lehrpersonen, Berufsberater:innen
🗓️ Samstag, 21. März | 15:00–15.45 Uhr

👉 Jetzt anmelden: https://informatiktage.ch/uzh/das-informatikstudium-an-der-uni-zuerich-und-eth-zuerich

Es hat noch freie Plätze! 🚀
An den Informatiktagen entdecken eure Kinder spielerisch die Welt der Informatik.

👧🧑‍💻Unsere Workshops:

DIGITALE GESCHICHTEN & PFLANZEN: WIE LERNT KI?
Für Kinder und Jugendliche (10–15 Jahre)
🗓️ Mittwoch, 18. März | 14:30–17:30 Uhr
🔸 11 freie Plätze

ABENTEUER INTERNET: SICHER UNTERWEGS IM WORLD WIDE WEB
Für Kinder
🗓️ Donnerstag, 19. März | 13:00–15:00 Uhr
🗓️ Freitag, 20. März | 13:00–15:00 Uhr
🔸 je 15 freie Plätze

IPAD-WORKSHOP FÜR MÄDCHEN
Für deutschsprachige Mädchen (10–13 Jahre)
🗓️ Samstag, 21. März | 10:00–12:00 Uhr
🔸 15 freie Plätze

IPAD-WORKSHOP FOR GIRLS (ENGLISH)
For English-speaking girls (10–13 years)
🗓️ Saturday, 21 March | 14:00–16:00
🔸 19 free spots

WAS IST EIN PROGRAMM? (FÜR PRIMARSTUFE)
🗓️ Mittwoch, 18. März | 13:00–15:00 Uhr
🔸1 freier Platz für eine Schulklasse

👉 Jetzt anmelden und die letzten Plätze für eure Kinder sichern: https://informatiktage.ch/uzh

We’re happy to announce that Rico Sennrich, Head of Text Technology at the Department of Computational Linguistics, takes over dual professorship!

He will teach selected topics in natural language processing at the Department of Informatics from the spring semester of 2026.

👉Read more: https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/en/news/rico-sennrich-dual-professorship.html