Research
My work is grounded in socio-technical systems theory and takes place at the intersection between human computer interaction, software engineering and information systems. It extends into two main areas: (1) fostering participation and sustaining outcomes of short-term collaboration and (2) fostering deviation in structured processes. I follow a mixed-method approach that combines qualitative social research methods such as interviews, questionnaires, and observations with quantitative methods such as machine learning, data mining and hypothesis testing.
I study the implications of participatory IT design in innovative and contemporary settings such as hackathons - a novel socio-technical form of collaboration. One of my goals here is to explore how the socio-technical design of hackathons can impact their sustainability. Sustainability in this case can refer to e.g. the development of innovative products, the transfer of knowledge, or the involvement of new community members. Based on the results of my research, I have developed a multi-level methodological open-source framework to help hackathon planners navigate design decisions (hackathon-planning-kit.org).
I focus on supporting individuals, teams, and organizations to improve their processes in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, user experience and purposeful use of IT through deviation. For this purpose, I have developed socio-technical heuristics that allow stakeholders to quickly assess their current state of collaboration, identify problems and develop improvements. In addition, I explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically assess the state of collaboration and automatically propose deviating suggestions to optimize process performance. In particular, I am interested in developing understandable representations of AI outputs that stakeholders trust and incorporate into their decision making.
Assistant Professor – Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Adjunct Associate Professor – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
Associate Professor – University of Tartu, Estonia
Adjunct Associate Professor – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) – University of Tartu, Estonia
Adjunct Assistant Professor – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
Hackathon consultant, facilitator and coach
Research associate – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
Postdoctoral fellow – University of Pittsburgh, USA
Adjunct faculty – University of Pittsburgh, USA
Visiting research fellow – University of Pittsburgh, USA
Temporary research programmer – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
Online tutor – EURO-FH University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
Postdoctoral research fellow – Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Visiting research fellow – Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Process management consultant and coach
Researcher and PhD student – Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Co-founder and front-end developer – RWTH Aachen University / fromatob.com, Germany
Student assistant and developer – Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Student assistant and developer – Technical University Dortmund, Germany
Publications
For a complete list of my publications please refer to my Google Scholar profile.
Teaching
LTAT.05.007 Human Computer Interaction – Lecturer
University of Tartu (Spring 2019 to 2023, sample syllabus)
INFSCI 1017 Implementation of Information Systems – Lecturer
University of Pittsburgh (Spring 2017, sample syllabus)
Project Management – Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2016)
Project Management – Co-Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2015)
Software Engineering – Co-Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2015)
Project Management – Co-Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2015)
LTAT.05.007 Human Computer Interaction – Lecturer
University of Tartu (Autumn 2018 to 2023, sample syllabus)
LTAT.05.019 Digital Product Management Industry Project – Lecturer
University of Tartu (Autumn 2018 to 2023)
LTAT.05.011 Digital Product Design Introductory Project – Lecturer
University of Tartu (Autumn 2018 to 2021)
Information Management – Online Tutor
EURO-FH University of Applied Sciences Hamburg (Winter 2016)
Business Engineering – Online Tutor
EURO-FH University of Applied Sciences Hamburg (Winter 2016)
Process Management and Innovation – Co-Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2014 to 2016)
Project Management – Co-Lecturer
Ruhr-University Bochum (Summer 2015)
Subject-driven role-guided externalization of organizational models – Co-Lecturer
JKU Linz (ERASMUS Summer School 2014, Sample slides on process modeling fundamentals)
Subject-driven role-guided externalization of organizational models – Co-Lecturer
JKU Linz (ERASMUS Summer School 2013)
Fellowships & Grants
Author and principal investigator of the Research project Socio-technical orchestration for hybrid hackathons – A pilot project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2023 to 2024).
Co-PI of the Research project Studying Hackathons & other open- innovation grassroots events to understand their role and impact in boosting entrepreneurship in cultural & creative industries funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (2023).
Co-author and Community Outreach and Engagement Director of the CISE Community Research Infrastructure project World of Code (WoC): The Development of a Curated Code Resource to Support Research in Software Engineering funded by the National Science Foundation (2021 to 2024).
Recipient of support for the Organization of the workshop series Hack the Hackathon: Shaping the Future of Hackathon Research and Practice at the Lorentz Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, December 2021, at the Flatiron Institute, New York, USA, October 2022, and at the SDG Solution Space, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2023 funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.
Co-author and senior personnel (WP lead) of the Research project Prescriptive Monitoring of Business Processes funded by the Estonian Research Council (2020 to 2025)
Co-author and senior personnel (WP lead) of the Research project Applied Research on Development of Autonomous Driving Lab for Level 4 Autonomy funded by the Estonian Research Council under the NUTIKAS program (2019 to 2021)
Recipient of a Research fellowship by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) on Supporting sustained collaboration over time in hybrid collocated and online settings at the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2017 to 2019)
Co-author and senior personnel (WP lead) of the Research project Kompetenzorientiertes Unternehmenscoaching für ein nachhaltiges Kompetenzmanagement in KMU (4C4Learn) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (2013 to 2017)
Recipient of a Scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a short term research visit to the Information Systems School at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia (February to May 2013)
Recipient of an eXist Business Start-up Grant by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) for the development of an online travel platform (fromatob.com, defunct) in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2008)