GENAI-X Kick-off Event, Public Opening

We were delighted to welcome researchers, students, partners, and guests from academia, industry, and public institutions to the public launch event of GENAI-X Project – AI Generalizability in Non-stationary Environmental Regimes: The Case of Hydro-climatic Extremes.

The event was opened with welcome addresses by Prof. Dr. Andreas Marx, President of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and Dr. Thomas Nitzsche, Lord Mayor of Jena. The audience then gained insights into the vision and objectives of GENAI-X through presentations by Prof. Dr. Alexander Brenning (FSU Jena), Prof. Dr. Joachim Denzler (FSU Jena), Prof. Dr. Markus Reichstein (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry), and Prof. Dr. Christine Römermann (FSU Jena & Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function & German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig).

The scientific program further featured inspiring talks and discussions with keynote speeches from Dr. Monique Kuglitsch (Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, Chair of ITU/WMO/UNEP Global Intiative on Resilience to Natural Hazards through AI Solutions), Prof. Dr. Michael Habeck (Jena University Hospital), Prof. Dr. Alexander Binder (Leipzig Univeristy), Dr. Aishwarya Venkataramanan (FSU Jena), and Dr. Shijie Jiang (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry), highlighting the challenges and opportunities of developing AI systems that remain reliable in dynamically changing environments.

Out of the members of the ELLIS Unit Jena who are part of the ELLIS – European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent SystemsExternal link and funded by the Carl-Zeiss-StiftungExternal link through its CZS Breakthroughs programme, GENAI-X brings together researchers from Friedrich Schiller University JenaExternal link, the Max Planck Institute for BiogeochemistryExternal link, Jena University HospitalExternal link, and the Senckenberg Nature ResearchExternal link Institute for Plant Form and Function. The project aims to advance trustworthy AI methods and apply them to pressing environmental challenges such as floods, droughts, and landslides.

A special thank you to all speakers, participants, the organizer Bettina BöhmExternal link and Gyulsen Yordanova AkkayaExternal link and Christin Sehmsdorf from the multimedia team of the Friedrich Schiller University JenaExternal link for making the kick-off event such a success. We are excited to see the collaborations, innovations, and scientific discoveries that will emerge from GENAI-X over the coming five years.

Author: Dr. Conrad Philipp