ELLIS Society Welcomes New Board
As the primary decision-making body of ELLIS, this newly appointed leadership team will play a crucial role in shaping the strategic agenda of ELLIS, working closely with Area and Program Directors to translate that vision into impactful actions for AI made in Europe.
This election also brought about a significant change: The ELLIS Board will be led by Serge Belongie (University of Copenhagen) succeeding the first President and ELLIS Co-Founder Bernhard Schölkopf (ELLIS Institute Tübingen & Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems), whose leadership established the strong foundation for ELLIS.
“Bernhard is a towering figure in machine learning, and I have admired his research since my early days as a grad student at Berkeley. When I came to learn about the effort he was leading to bring together top AI researchers across Europe, I felt inspired to learn more, and that journey eventually brought me to the position I hold in Denmark today. Bernhard’s legacy in ELLIS is rooted in excellence, scientific rigor, and a spirit of cooperation. Together with my fellow board members, I intend to build on this legacy to fulfill ELLIS’s potential during an era of significant geopolitical change,” said Serge.
We are excited to welcome the new Board and look forward to their contributions in shaping the future of ELLIS and European AI.
Meet the New Board
*️New to the Board in 2025
Serge Belongie, Board President
Affiliation: University of Copenhagen 🇩🇰
Research areas: Computer Vision and Machine Learning, including fine-grained analysis of multimodal data, self-supervised learning, 2D/3D generative models, and augmented reality
Nuria Oliver, Board Vice President
Affiliation: ELLIS Alicante Foundation 🇪🇸
Research areas: Computational models of human behavior, human computer-interaction, intelligent user interfaces, mobile computing, big data for social good
Torsten Sattler, Board Treasurer*️
Affiliation: Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) 🇨🇿
Research areas: Computer Vision, Robotics, Mixed Reality, Visual Localization, Applied Machine Learning
Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi
Affiliation: University of Milan 🇮🇹
Research areas: ML Algorithm Design (prediction, clustering, decision-making), Multiarmed Bandits (online market algorithms), Graph Analytics (social networks, bioinformatics)
Florence d’Alché-Buc
Affiliation: Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris 🇫🇷
Research areas: Statistical learning, Structured and Functional Prediction, Robustness, Operator-Valued Kernels, Bioinformatics
Samuel Kaski*️
Affiliation: ELLIS Institute Finland & Aalto University 🇫🇮
Research areas: Probabilistic modeling (Bayesian inference), Collaborative AI (decision-making and design), Interdisciplinary applications (incl. health, biology, cognitive science), Current ML challenges (distribution shifts, experimental design, generative models, human-AI interaction, privacy)
Danica Kragic*️
Affiliation: Royal Institute of Technology 🇸🇪
Research areas: Robotics with emphasis on vision systems, object grasping and manipulation
Neil Lawrence
Affiliation: University of Cambridge 🏴
Research areas: Uncertainty and machine learning methods
Oliver Stegle*️
Affiliation: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) & European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) 🇩🇪
Research areas: ML in Biology and Genomics, Computational Biology
Recognizing the Contributions of Former Board Members
The following researchers will not continue to serve as members of the Board anymore, but will still support ELLIS in various other capacities. We extend our sincere appreciation for their support and invaluable service to ELLIS.
Affiliation: University of Nova Gorica 🇸🇮
Research areas: Machine Learning, Data Mining, Inductive Logic Programming, Computational Creativity
Affiliation: Czech Technical University in Prague 🇨🇿
Research areas: Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotics, AI for protein engineering
Affiliation: ELLIS Institute Tübingen & Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems 🇩🇪
Research areas: Machine learning, statistical inference, and causal discovery
Affiliation: Johannes Kepler University Linz 🇦🇹
Research areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Long Short-Term Memory, Reinforcement Learning, Vision, Representational Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Bioinformatics (Genetics, Genomics)
The collective expertise and diverse backgrounds of the new board members will bring a dynamic and multifaceted approach to addressing upcoming challenges and opportunities. Their leadership will be crucial in guiding ELLIS towards achieving its ambitious goals and solidifying Europe's position as a global leader in AI.