Latest News
22.01.2026
CATALPA Lecture Series: Tanja Käser on educational technology and models of learning
Photo: CATALPA
Generalizability versus interpretability of learning models — that was the topic of Tanja Käser's presentation as part of the CATALPA Lecture Series on January 21. Modeling learners' knowledge and behavior are at the heart of educational technology, yet, they often lack either generalizability or interpretability. If and how AI can help here is yet to be discovered.
15.01.2026
Marcus Specht Appointed New Scientific Director of CATALPA
Photo: Hardy Welsch/Henrik Schipper
Change at the top of CATALPA: Prof. Dr. Marcus Specht recently took over as the research center's new Scientific Director.
27.11.2025
Berlin Symposium: AI Solutions for Tomorrow's Higher Education
Photo: Thomas Rosenthal
"No Progress Without Living Labs: Why AI in Universities Is Running Into a Dead End" - This was the title of the 2025 Berlin Symposium, organized by the CATALPA research center.
24.11.2025
Kick-off – LEAD:FUH has officially started
Photo: D3Damon/Getty Images
Full of enthusiasm, the newly formed team kicked off the LEAD:FUH project on November 19 with a launch event. The project is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching with a budget of almost seven million euros.
14.11.2025
CATALPA brings science to the stage
Photo: CATALPA
They rocked the stage! At the inaugural Science Slam organised by CATALPA and FernUni, Natalia Reich-Stiebert, Daiana Rinja, Florence Lehnert and Bernhard Schubach amazed, thrilled and entertained the 70-plus guests at the Lutz Theatre in Hagen!
13.11.2025
The Marie Kondō principle for research data in education
Photo: metamorworks/iStock-GettyImagesPlus/GettyImages
On the occasion of “Research Data Day in North Rhine-Westphalia” Dr. Niels Seidel gave an online lecture on November 18, 2025. The lecture focused on discarding and cleaning up research data.
05.11.2025
CATALPA Doctoral candidates 2025
Photo: Hardy Welsch/CATALPA
This year, Franziska Wehrhahn, Nathalie Bick, Regina Kasakowskij, and Judith Preuß completed their doctorates at CATALPA or in an associated project. The researchers will remain at the research center in various positions or at least maintain close ties with it. CATALPA would like to congratulate them once again on their degrees and look back on their achievements.
20.10.2025
Home game at the 'Innovating Higher Education' conference.
Photo: FernUniversität
At the “Innovating Higher Education” conference held at the FernUniversität campus in Hagen, the CATALPA researchers presented a wide range of interdisciplinary contributions. These included 12 presentations on topics such as negative stereotypes affecting certain student groups, AI tools for providing detailed and personalised feedback, and building resilient universities in times of crisis.
01.10.2025
From Finland straight to the Great Lakes
Photo: Hardy Welsch
As part of her project "Emerging Network Techniques to Model Educational Data," Kamila Misiejuk traveled to Finland and the US this summer to deepen her collaboration with international colleagues and advance new insights.
24.09.2025
Funding for new living lab project
Photo: Veit Mette, Privat
CATALPA researchers Niels Seidel and Slavisa Radovic have secured funding for a project to support self-regulated learning as part of the AI:edu.nrw funding program. As part of a “statewide digitization initiative,” a prototype developed according to the real-world laboratory principle is to be validated, tested, and improved for widespread use in higher education.
18.08.2025
CATALPA Graduate School: Workshops, Exchange, Symposium
Photo: CATALPA
This year saw the launch of the CATALPA College. It offers doctoral students a structured and interdisciplinary program as well as exchange with and between postdocs.
18.08.2025
LEAD:FUH – An opportunity for learning analytics research
Photo: Adobe Stock
Evidence-based learning analytics applications in a new teaching architecture: That is the goal of the new million-euro project LEAD:FUH. CATALPA is contributing crucial expertise.
