Currently, I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Advanced Computing Sciences (former DKE), at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands.

I am coordinating the Cognitive Systems Group (former Affective and Visual Computing lab). My research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Visual Computing, automated, data-driven behavior recognition.

You can find my detailed CV here

My latest research grant initiatives, as Principal Investigator for the University of Maastricht, are following EU Horizon2020 projects:

  • 2022-2025: VOX (€4.8m euro)  HORIZON-CL4-2021-HUMAN-01 Research and Innovation Project. Voice driven interaction in eXtended Reality spaces.

  • 2020-2022: ProCare4Life (€6.8m euro) Horizon2020-H2020-SC1-DTH-2019 Innovation project.  Large Scale pilots of personalised & outcome based integrated care using Artificial Intelligence and smart sensors.
  • 2016-2019: MaTHiSiS (€7.6m euro) Horizon2020-ICT-20-2015 Innovation project will develop innovative tools for learning in formal and informal settings, placing learner’s emotion in the core of the learning procedure and applying cutting-edge learning analytics and AI tecniques for efficient, personalized learning.
  • 2016-2019: ICT4Life (€3.4m euro) Horizon2020-PHC-25-2015 Research & Innovation project will develop ambient-assisted living instruments and smart interfaces for the elderly and their caregivers and will mainly focus on persons with Dementia, Alzheimer and Parkinson’s.

Courses taught

Bachelor (2015-16): Data and Image Analysis, Period 3.2

Bachelor (2015-now): Human-Computer Interaction and Affective Computing, Period 2.4

Bachelor in University College Maastricht (2019-now): Artificial Intelligence, Period 1.2

Master in AI (2017-now): Computer Vision, Period 1.5

Students and researchers advised/mentored:

Postdoctoral Researchers

2021-                   Dr Esam Ghaleb: Multimodal Fusion of sensorial data in Ambient Assisted Living

2021-                   Dr Yusuf Can Semerci: Human Behavior Recognition in Ambient Assisted Living Environments

2016-2020           Dr Mirela Popa: Large-scale data for activity recognition in indoor environments and personalized interfaces for the elderly.

2016-2019           Dr Enrique Hortal: User modelling in learning environments with robots and interactive devices

Past PhD candidates

2016- 2021                         (promotor). Mr Dario Dotti: Human behaviour recognition making use of motion features

2016- 2021                         (promotor). Mr Esam Ghaleb: Emotion recognition using multiple sensorial data

2007-2017                          (co-promotor with Prof. Dr. B.M. Jansma and Dr. A. A. Vaessen). Dr. Gonny Willems: The development of literacy acquisition in children at familial risk of dyslexia.

Current PhD candidates

2016- 2021 (est.)               (promotor). Mr Christos Athanasiadis: Transfer Learning between audio and video modalities in emotion-rich video sequences

2020-2023(est.)                 (promotor). Mr Bulat Khaertdinov: Multimodal human activity recognition

2020-2023(est.)                 (promotor). Mr Alexandros Doumanoglou: Explainable AI in human-machine interaction settings

Research assistants

2016-2017           Dimitrios Koutsoukos. Research assistant in Robots, Agents and Interaction laboratory

2017-2018           Matteo Amestoy. Research assistant in Robots, Agents and Interaction laboratory

MSc students

2016                    Joris Bukala. Heart Rate estimation using computer vision techniques

2017                    Stefan Selzer. Evaluation and Prediction of the capacity utilization of a university’s learning spaces

                             using Machine Learning Techniques

2017                    Justus Schwan. Emotion recognition in the wild in HRI applications

2018                    Maximilian Knobloch. Detecting Normal and Abnormal Behaviour using Trajectory Information, Aimed for People with Dementia

2020                    Jan Lucas: Multimodal fusion for emotion recognition

2020                    Frederik Calsius: Object recognition using deep learning for distinguishing crops

2021                    Thanos Sakelliou: Detection of potential welding seams and acquisition of structural information

                             within a 3D space

2021                    Georgios Patsiaouras: Extraction Of Deep Features In Multimodal Human Activity Recognition

2021                    Andre Mertens: Explainable and Interpretable Features in Expressively Rich Video Sequences

2021                    Nikitas Sourdakos: Priors for Generative Models based on Group Symmetries

2021                    Razvan-Stefan Brinzea: Self-Supervised Learning in The Context Of Multi-Modal Human Activity Recognition

Bachelor Students

2016                    Florens von Bulwaldt: Implementation of smart homes using reed sensors for activity analysis

2016                    Sharon Hallmans: Optimizing, in real-time, interactive environments through user emotion

2016                    Carmen Zarco: Re-usable and adaptable serious gaming in education

2016                    Ramy Al Sarif: Bachelor thesis on ‘ Spatio-temporal facial analysis modelling engagement in real-time interactive environments’

2016                    Bartosz Czaszyński: Bachelor thesis on ‘Human activity recognition in Human-Robot interactions’

2017                    Evangelos Trikoupis: AI-driven adaptation of collaborative learning games for engagement maximization

2019                    Frederik Calsius: Personality-driven generated poses using gererative autoencoders

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