Institute of Computer Science
Heidelberg University
Im Neuenheimer Feld 205
69120 Heidelberg
Germany
Room 1/309
Michael Gertz has been a professor at the Institute of Computer Science at Heidelberg University since August 2008, where he leads the Data Science research group. In the 80s, he studied Computer Science at the TU Dortmund University. After earning his doctorate in Computer Science from Leibniz University Hannover in 1996 and spending one more year in Hannover as a postdoc, he held a professorship at the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis (USA), from 1997 until 2008.
His interdisciplinary research focuses on data science, information retrieval, chatbots, and conversational AI—often within the context of projects in medicine or law. From 2018 to 2025, he served as co-spokesperson for the Helmholtz Information & Data Science School for Health (HIDSS4Health). Since March 2025, he has been a member of the Expert Commission for the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) at the German Research Foundation (DFG). He has also served on Heidelberg University’s Knowledge and Technology Transfer Advisory Board since 2025. He is a co-founder of the AI startup kmapp.io (established in 2022), which focuses on knowledge management for companies across various industries.
Recent Talks
- June 22, 2026: Clinical Reasoning und Conversational AI: Methoden, Grenzen und Chancen im medizinischen Kontext. Psychologisches Institut der Universität Heidelberg.
- April 10, 2026: AI Looks Like the Cure. It May Also Spread the Disease. M-NIPS Workshop — Misinformation Narrative Identification and Prevention of Spread Thematic Research Network.
- September 9, 2025: Conversational AI in Medicine — The Role of Reasoning and Attribution in Large Language Models. International Marsilius Academy 2025 “AI and Human Values”.
- March 25, 2025: Conversational AI in Medicine: The Role of Reasoning and Attribution in Large Language Models. Emerging Technologies in Medicine 2025.
- October 23, 2024: Large Language Models: Technische Grundlagen, Potenziale und Grenzen im Zusammenhang mit juristischen Anwendungen. Legal Tech Day Konstanz 2024.
Search for Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Michael Gertz's papers on the Publications page