Winter Semester 2026/27

Project Group "Practice of Research"

Announcements:

Slides containing general information on Practice of Research (from last year)

Research Groups Offering Topics in Winter Semester 2026/27

The research groups participating in Winter Semester 2026/27 are:

The following list provides an overview of the topics offered this semester. If you are interested in a topic or have questions about it, you can contact the relevant staff member. This list will be expanded. The final list of offered topics will be announced at the information event and topic presentation at the beginning of the semester (see above) and can subsequently be found in the published slides.

Note: Experience has shown that it is worthwhile to contact the relevant staff members in advance in order to avoid disappointment at the topic presentation. If you are interested in carrying out a project as part of Practice of Research, but your preferred topic is not listed here, then in exceptional cases additional topics may still be submitted until the end of the first week of lectures. Please contact the relevant staff members or research groups (whose topics interest you) early to agree on a topic, and ask them to contact us as soon as possible (if interested).

List of Projects for Winter Semester 2026/27

Offered Available Projects

#	Project	Research Group(s)	Supervising Staff

Students have already been found for some of the topics who will work on them (see the notes in the tooltip). Since "Practice of Research" can also be completed in a group of 2-3 students, it may still be possible to participate in a project. This must be discussed with the supervisor(s).

Offered Assigned Projects

Participants for these projects have already been found in advance.

#	Project	Research Group(s)	Supervising Staff
1.	Understanding Long-Range Dependencies in Hypergraph Neural NetworksGraph neural networks (GNNs) often struggle to capture long-range dependencies. Their limitations include oversquashing, where information from many nodes is compressed into fixed-size embeddings, and rank collapse, which reduces the diversity of node representations and can lead to oversmoothing. More generally, propagation dynamics can cause signals to vanish or grow uncontrollably across layers. This project investigates how these limitations arise in hypergraph neural networks within a topological deep learning framework. Unlike ordinary graphs, hypergraphs represent interactions among multiple nodes, raising questions about how higher-order connectivity affects information flow. The work will combine a review of existing approaches with theoretical analysis and controlled experiments on tasks requiring long-range propagation. It aims to identify the roles of hypergraph structure and model dynamics, and explore architectural principles that preserve information over long distances. Bemerkung: Für das Projekt ist/sind bereits 1 (oder mehr) Stud. registriert.	IAR Neumann	Tai Hoang
2.	Input Models for Data ProfilingData profiling is the extraction of metadata from relational databases. This metadata includes multi-column dependencies like e.g. unique column combinations (UCCs) or functional dependencies (FDs). There are several algorithms known that discover all minimal UCCs/FDs of a database in time that is much faster than worst-case asymptotic analysis can currently explain. This project aims to design and analyze a more realistic input model for real-world databases that arise in data profiling.	ITI Bläsius	Thomas Bläsius Martin Schirneck

Events and Dates

The methodology events are expected to take place according to the following schedule. Participation in the first event is, among other things, a prerequisite for participating in Practice of Research; important organizational information will be provided there.

Information Event

See PdF main page

First Semester

Date	Time	Mode	Event	Location	Lecturer	Notes
2026-10-29	12:30 – 14:00	Open	Information Event + Topic PresentationOpen information event where the PdF procedures are explained, questions can be asked. There will be a session where the advisors present their PdF topics.	tba (prob Info bib)	Mattias Ulbrich
2026-11-30	08:00 – 12:00	Workshop	Project management I	SR Forum (bldg. 30.95)	Markus Lorenz
2026-12-14 – 2026-12-22		Individual	Presentations "State-of-the-Art"Einzeln: 20 Min Vortrag + 10 Min Fragen 2er-Gruppe: 25 Min Vortrag + 12 Min Fragen 3/4er-Gruppe: 30 Min Vortrag + 15 Min Fragen		students
2026-12-14 – 2027-02-19		Individual	Seminar paper submission		(students)	after State-of-the-art presentation, deadline set by / coordinated with advisor
2026-12-14	08:00 – 12:00	Workshop	Project management II	SR Forum (bldg. 30.95)	Markus Lorenz
2027-01-14	14:00 – 16:00	All	Erkenntnistheorie(*) Non-German alternative will be provided.	SR 010 (bldg 50.34)	Prof. G. Snelting	In German (*)
2027-01-22	14:00 – 17:15	All	Workshop Research Question	t.b.a.	Ulbrich
2027-01-25 – 2027-01-28			Wissenschaftstheorie	t.b.a.	N.N.	1 block, date t.b.a.
2027-02-05	14:00 – 15:30	All	Writing Proposals	SR 010 (Geb. 50.34)	Ulbrich

Second Semester

Week	Duration	Event
Lecture week 1	1.5 hours	Kick-off and documentation of scientific progress
Lecture week 4	1.5 hours	Statistical evaluation
Lecture week 5	2.0 hours	Writing papers
Lecture week 9	5.0 hours	Writing workshop I: models and techniques for academic writing
Lecture week 11	6.0 hours	Writing workshop II: writing abstracts and precise formulations

As part of Practice of Research, there are also presentation dates (three in the first semester and two in the second). In addition, the content of each semester is assessed in an oral examination.
Further dates, details, and possible changes can be found in ILIAS. Please enrol there.

Events and dates from previous years can be found in the archive.