Prof. Niclas Böhmer's professional year in fast forward (in the truest sense of the word) could now be experienced at his inaugural lecture at the HPI. A public presentation in which the tenure-track professor presented his research area, his work to date, and his future plans. Anyone interested in attending the event in the lecture hall on Campus II could register in advance. According to Prof. Niclas Böhmer's assistant Svenja Fenn: "All seats in the lecture hall were reserved [...] and even more people came today." It soon becomes clear that some things have remained unchanged since his first day. The junior professor still speaks as fast as if someone had set his words to double speed.
But much has also changed since September 2024. The HPI is now the 27-year-old's academic home, and as he mentions at the beginning of the evening, many people have already visited him in his new "home". "I basically forced everyone I know to visit me here. And my most recent victims in this regard were my grandparents." In keeping with this, the audience sees a picture of his grandparents on the presentation screen – a personal insight: "And then at some point, the question popped up, what is your research about again? [...] And every time I give this answer or version of this answer, I'm dissatisfied and unhappy afterwards about it, because it's super generic […]. [Today] I have an exciting opportunity coming up, where I can give a 50-minute answer to this question. So welcome to my 50-minute answer."
Prof. Niclas Böhmer deals with collective decision-making processes – in other words, how groups can arrive at fair and transparent decisions when the participants have different interests. His focus is on developing algorithms and procedures that work efficiently and behave fairly – by giving all participants equal influence on the outcome. He applies these methods to various areas, such as elections and civic participation. Together with his team, he develops mathematical and algorithmic methods that ensure that decisions are made proportionally and transparently, rather than automatically allowing majorities to override minorities.
For example, he has investigated how, in participatory budgeting not only the majority but also smaller groups can be taken into account in the distribution of subsidies, so that as many different interests as possible are heard. During his lecture, he also took a look at internal votes at the HPI, such as the election of the institute council, to see how theoretical concepts can be put into practice.
In the future, Prof. Niclas Böhmer and his team would like to develop fair algorithms, especially for AI models. How can algorithms be designed for language models (LLMs) in such a way that they reflect the diversity of human opinions and values? That they do not primarily favor one perspective, but respond in a balanced and differentiated manner. "I don't think echo chambers are the solution to anything. I think it's probably the worst thing you can do to just give users what they want," emphasizes Prof. Niclas Böhmer in the subsequent open Q&A session with the audience.
Among the audience were old friends from his studies in Aachen and Berlin, students from HPI, family, and colleagues — all of whom he warmly acknowledged. Speaking about the fortunate coincidence that Prof. Helene Kretzmer (Head of Computational Genomics) joined HPI at almost the same time as he did, and that a friendship grew from it, he remarked: “I think it's one of the luckiest coincidences that happened." He addressed his team, who stand by his side, with humble words: "I hope and am hopeful that I'm worthy of the faith that you put in me." Prof. Niclas Böhmer's parents were also particularly moved by their son's words: "To this day, I consider them my greatest gift and privilege in life."
This feeling of humanity and gratitude also permeates the get-together that follows. Over snacks and drinks, his closest family members recount that his mother's first reaction was: "Computer scientist! That doesn't suit my son at all!" A thought that everyone can now laugh about together after Prof. Niclas Böhmer's official inaugural lecture at HPI.
Watch Prof. Niclas Böhmer's inaugural lecture here: https://www.tele-task.de/series/1573/
