The IntCDC Status Seminar 2026, held on 24 April at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, offered a forward-looking perspective on the upcoming second funding phase of the Cluster of Excellence. The event highlighted 16 new research projects and the interdisciplinary teams behind them, while also recognizing outstanding academic work through the IntCDC Master’s Thesis Award. Alongside the seminar, cluster members came together for key internal gatherings, including the Early Career Retreat, the Advisory Board Meeting, and the General Assembly.
Status Seminar 2026: Advancing Interdisciplinary Research and Supporting Early Career Scholars
The Status Seminar 2026 underscored IntCDC’s ongoing commitment to advancing interdisciplinary research while fostering a collaborative and inclusive academic environment. In her keynote address, “Building an Interdisciplinary Research Community – Expectations and Opportunities,” Cordula Kropp emphasized the importance of sustainable structures and a supportive working culture as foundational elements for successful interdisciplinary collaboration.
Following an overview of the IntCDC Supporting Measures, Anja Lauer chaired the session featuring presentations by the newly formed interdisciplinary research teams. These presentations introduced a range of innovative research projects that reflect the cluster’s integrative approach across disciplines. The accompanying “Market Place” provided a forum for in-depth exchange on institutional support mechanisms, collaboration opportunities with partner institutions, and the activities of the Advance AEC Network.
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© IntCDC
© IntCDC
Election of the new IntCDC Early Career Board
The early-career researchers had already met that morning for a dedicated retreat to review the activities of the IntCDC Early Career Board and to elect its new members. As an integral component of the IntCDC governance framework, the Board plays a key role in representing the interests of early career researchers and contributing to the strategic development of the cluster.
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Award Ceremony for the IntCDC Master's Thesis Awards 2025
The seminar concluded with the presentation of the IntCDC Master’s Thesis Awards 2025, which recognize exceptional scholarly work at the master’s level and aim to encourage emerging researchers in pursuing academic careers.
The IntCDC Master’s Thesis Grant 2025 was awarded to Emil Röhm for the thesis “Collaborative trajectory generation for a group of mobile manipulators: Distributed optimization, RRT-based algorithm and online collision avoidance,” supervised by Alice Hierholz under the direction of Oliver Sawodny (ISYS).
In addition, Alfiia Shakurianova and Juan David Frank Spinel were recognized for their joint thesis, “Copilot for constraint-driven generation of architectural design evaluations and suggestions.” The work was supervised by Anni Dai and Tobias Schwinn (ICD), under the direction of Achim Menges and Thomas Wortmann (ICD/CA).
The cluster extends its sincere congratulations to all award recipients for their outstanding academic contributions!
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© IntCDC