Prof. Dr. Ali Sunyaev

  • Kaiserstr. 89
    76133 Karlsruhe

Ali Sunyaev is Director of the Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods (AIFB) and Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Before joining KIT he was Professor at the University of Kassel and the University of Cologne. Ali Sunyaev received his PhD in Information Systems in 2010 and his master`s degree (diploma) in Computer Science in 2005; he received both degrees from the Technische Universität München (TUM). Ali Sunyaev was a visiting faculty member at Harvard University and Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (Russian Academy of Sciences).

His research interests are reliable and de:centralized information systems within the scope of critical infrastructures, enterprise information systems, cloud computing services, information security solutions, trustworthy AI, commercial application of AI algorithms, auditing/certification of IT, and innovative health IT applications. By using theory-driven design, development methods, computational tools, and empirical research, his research work employs a new and interesting perspective to generate insights into the complex process of future digital systems and their dependability and application in real-world settings. His research work accounts for the multifaceted use contexts of digital technologies with research on human behavior affecting IT applications and vice versa. Ali devotes himself to the advancement of theory and applications in this area.

His research appeared in journals including Information Systems Research (ISR), ACM Computing Surveys (ACM CSUR), Journal of Information Technology (JIT), Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS), Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA), Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS), Communications of the ACM (CACM), IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (IEEE TSE), IEEE Software, IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing (IEEE TCC), ACM Journal of Data and Information Quality (ACM JDIQ), ACM SIGMIS Database, IEEE Computer, Electronic Markets (EM), Communications of the AIS (CAIS), and Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE) along with publications in the proceedings of key international computer science/information systems/medical informatics conferences (e.g., ICIS, USENIX, Pervasive Health, CAiSE, ECIS, HICSS, GMDS, INFORMATIK).

His research work has been appreciated numerous times (e.g., University Prize, University of Cologne / Nominations for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, several Best Paper Awards (HICSS, ICIS, ECIS conferences), the Innovation Award of the Federal State North Rhine-Westphalia and the McKinsey Business Technology Award) and is featured in a variety of media outlets (e.g., Newsweek, Zeit). He also received the faculty teaching award for economics and management at KIT. Ali has been awarded research grants from the DFG, BMBF, BMWI, BMJV, and industry (e.g., SAP AG, EnBW AG, SQS AG, ConVista Consulting AG). He has several editorial responsibilities (e.g., JAIS, JMIS, JIT, CAIS), works closely in research and executive education for a number of organizations (e.g., Business School of University of Cologne, HECTOR School of Engineering and Management at KIT, Executive School HSG - University of St. Gallen, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management), and acts as mentor of several start-ups. Further activities:

  • Member of the Scientific Council of the DFG (German Research Foundation)
  • Board of Directors, German Informatics Society (GI)
  • Member KD²Lab - DFG-funded Karlsruhe Decision & Design Lab (KD²Lab)
  • Spokesperson of the “BISE” division in the German Informatics Society (GI)
  • Scientific Committee Member, ETH Library Lab, ETH Zurich
  • Member of the Project “Compliance of Federation Services for GAIA-X”
  • Faculty Board Member, Department of Economics and Management at the KIT
  • Founder and former Spokesperson of the “Digital Health” section in the German Informatics Society (GI)
  • Conference Committee of the ICIS 2019 - Ancillary Meeting (Workshop) Chair
  • Chairman of the examination board for the course of studies “Information Systems” at the KIT
  • Management representative of the German NSC – KIT – EIT Digital
  • Member of the scientific advisory council, Fujitsu NEXT e.V.
  • Former director of the Research Center for IS Design (ITEG) at the University of Kassel
  • Auditor of the German Informatics Society (GI), 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020
  • Jury Member - Eco Cloud Award since 2018
  • Member at the German Informatics Society (GI), IEEE Society, ACM, German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS), Association for Information Systems (AIS), Wissenschaftliche Kommission für Wirtschaftsinformatik (WKWI)
  • Member of the Bloxberg Consortium (Blockchain Infrastructure for Scientific Research), Max Planck Digital Library
  • Mentor of several start-ups

At KIT Ali Sunyaev is leading the CII lab.

Internet Computing

Principles of Distributed Systems and Emerging Internet-Based Technologies

The cii research group in a Nutshell