Organizers

Dr. Sina Shafaei is a senior AI researcher and technology strategist with a strong background in artificial intelligence. He holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the Technical University of Munich and obtained his M.Sc. in Computer Science. Currently, Sina is a Senior AI & 6G Strategist at Vodafone Group Services GmbH in the Network Strategy and Engineering Department. In this role, he contributes to scientific research to advance AI in 6G. Before Vodafone, Sina founded and directed Deus Ex Machina (DeM) LLC, a consultancy firm focused on developing innovative strategies for contextual risk analysis and liability assessment in Iran. Sina has extensive experience in project management and research initiatives, having led numerous R&D projects in robotics and AI as a postdoctoral researcher and project manager at the Technical University of Munich from 2017 to 2022. This includes evaluating robotic applications for the ESMERA initiative (EU/Horizon-2020), leading the development of an automated robotic platform for the AURORA project (BMBF), and integrating machine learning techniques into E/E automotive platforms for BMW AG’s OSBORNE project.

Dr. Riccardo Trivisonno (Senior Member, IEEE) received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunications engineering from the University of Bologna in 2000 and 2005, respectively. He joined Huawei Technologies in 2011. He currently serves as the Head of Network Architecture – Research and Standardization — for the Advanced Wireless Technologies Laboratory, Munich Research Center. Over the past ten years, he has been a leading contributor to the definition and the standardization of 5G network architecture and technologies, delivering to 3GPP Releases 15, 16, 17, and 18 – in the areas of architecture modularization, network slicing, network analytics, and QoS – filing 100+ Standard Essential Patent applications. His research focus has shifted to 6G enabling technologies in 2020. He has been the Chairman of 6G-IA Pre-standardization WG since 2020, a Member of the Board of one6G Association since its foundation in 2021, and was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of one6G Association in 2023.

Dr. Guenter Klas is currently heading the research activities in Vodafone’s central innovation team called “Group R&D” related to AI and Quantum. Current AI topics include, among others, genAI, AI in 6G, and Synthetic Data. The focus on Quantum relates to migration to Quantum Safety via the introduction of Post Quantum Cryptography and to quantum applications and algorithms for use cases in telecommunications. Previously, Guenter spearheaded the development of edge cloud computing for mobile networks in Vodafone and the wider industry. He occupied several different roles in the telecoms industry ranging from corporate research, systems engineering, product development, management of standardization and industry alliance activities to product management. Guenter has a PhD in Computer Science from the Technical University Munich in Germany and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Vienna.

Dr. Simone Mangiante received his PhD in Computer Networks in 2013 from the University of Genoa in Italy, working on Carrier Ethernet management using the SDN paradigm. He then spent three years with Dell EMC in Ireland as a senior research scientist, where he managed European projects focusing on SDN and network transport. He led the design and deployment of a virtualised industrial IoT testbed and he contributed to several H2020 EU proposals. He is currently a research and standards specialist in Vodafone Group, UK. His main research interests are AI/ML, edge computing, and distributed cloud. He focuses on machine learning for synthetic data generation, edge cloud to public/private cloud integration, and 5G/6G distributed cloud technologies.

Dr. Philipp Schulz received the M.Sc. degree in mathematics and the Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) degree in electrical engineering from Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, in 2014 and 2020, respectively. He was a Research Assistant with Technische Universität Dresden in the field of numerical mathematics, modeling, and simulation, where he joined the Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications Systems in 2015 and became a member of the System-Level Group. After more than one year at the Barkhausen Institut, Dresden, Germany, where he studied rateless codes in multi-connectivity, he is currently the Research Group Leader with the Vodafone Chair. He focuses on the resilience of wireless communications systems. His research interests include flow-level modeling and the application of queuing theory on communications systems to ultra-reliable, low-latency communications.

Muhammad Qurratulain Khan received an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan, in 2019. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree with the Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications Systems, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. From 2019 to 2022, he was an Algorithm Lead at the Center for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE) Pvt. Ltd. Islamabad, Pakistan, where he worked on the design of multi-carrier and multi-antenna waveforms suitable for tactical communications. Since 2022, he has been an ESR at National Instruments Corporation, Dresden, in the Marie Skodowska-Curie ITN SEMANTIC Project framework.

Mohammad Parvini received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran, in 2019 and the M.Sc. degree in communication systems from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, in 2021, respectively. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in communication systems with the Vodafone Chair of Mobile Communications Systems at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. His research includes wireless communication systems, signal processing, and machine learning for wireless communications.