Prof. Christoph Heitz, PhD

Work at ZHAW

Position

• Head of Research Group Maintenance, Mobility, AI & Society
• Member of Board, Institute for Data Science (since 2001)
• Management board SCRAI Swiss Centre for Responsible AI
• Member core team of ZHAW Digital: Pushing Innovation around digitization (since 2020)

Focus

• Algorithmic Fairness
• Ethics of AI
• Value co-creation in data-based services
• Data-based decision making

Teaching

• Algorithmic Fairness (BSc Computer Science, BSc Data Science, different CAS)
• Responsible AI (BSc, Continued Education programs)
• Service Operations Management (MSc)

Professional development teaching

• CAS Instandhaltungsmanagement
• CAS Safe and Secure AI – Standards, Methods and Best Practices
• CAS KI verstehen und anwenden: No-Code Lösungen für die betriebliche Praxis
• MAS Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen
• CAS Advanced Machine Learning and Machine Learning Operations

Education and Continuing education

Education

• PhD / Theoretical Physics
  University of Freiburg, Germany
  08 / 1992 - 06 / 1996
• Diploma / Physics
  University of Freiburg, Germany
  09 / 1986 - 07 / 1992

Network

Membership of networks

• data innovation alliance, Co-Founder and President, Academic Lead Expert Group Data Ethics (since 2017)
• European Association for Algorithmic Fairness, Co-Founder and President (since 2023)
• Swiss Institute of Service Science: Co-Founder and president (2007-2017)

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6683-4150

Media presence

Interview Netzwoche 14.10.2026: Controlling AI effectively

Projects

• COMPASS – Co-creating Meaningful, Positive Scenarios for Swiss Society with AI / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• SCRAI – A Think-and-Do-Tank for Responsible Development and Societal Alignment of Artificial Intelligence Systems / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• AI for REAL-world NETwork operation / Team member / ongoing
• Stability of self-organizing net fragments as inductive bias for next-generation deep learning / Team member / completed
• User-based redistribution for free-floating car sharing / Project leader / completed
• Machine learning and algorithms in social work / Team member / completed
• Algorithmic Fairness in data-based decision making: Combining ethics and technology / Project leader / completed
• Socially acceptable AI and fairness trade-offs in predictive analytics / Project leader / completed
• Data-based analytics and predictions to increase overall wind plant revenues under market conditions / Project leader / completed
• Development of a freefloating e-bike sharing service with user co-production / Project leader / completed
• Risk Based Maintenance for safety equipment of Swiss National roads / Project leader / completed
• Business Models for Remote Services / Project leader / completed
• Development of a method for optimized fleet management / Project leader / completed
• System for an Integral Data-based strategic Asset Controlling of Real Estates / Project leader / completed
• Predicting customer behavior by combining freetext information with structured customer data / Project leader / completed
• Optimum asset management of infrastructure networks / Project leader / completed
• Optimized product-service bundle for a new heating system based on fuel cells / Project leader / completed
• Set up your ERP with a questionnaire and without manual / Team member / completed
• Planning and Optimization of marketing campaigns under dyanamical customer behavior / Project leader / completed
• Pegasus – Development of a standardized enterprise resource planning system especially for airline and rail catering companies / Team member / completed

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