2022: Hector Foundation supports founding of ELLIS Institute Tübingen

This month, we’re looking back to 2022, when the Hector Foundation announced that it would support the establishment of the ELLIS Institute Tübingen with 100 million euros. The Institute was created to attract the world’s best machine learning talent to Baden-Württemberg by offering them outstanding conditions for undertaking pioneering AI research. Celestine Mendler-Dünner was among the first group leaders recruited to join the ELLIS Institute. In the following interview, she explains what it was like to play a crucial role at the ELLIS Institute from its beginning and how it has advanced her research and career.

Why did you want to join the ELLIS Institute? What advantages did you see it offering?

As the first institute of its kind, the ELLIS Institute Tübingen promised to be something very special and I did not want to miss the opportunity of being part of it. And this turned out to be an incredible journey. The ELLIS Institute offers a unique environment for research with full academic freedom and the financial means to pursue impactful research. This is hard to find elsewhere. Centered within the striving Tübingen AI ecosystem, it offered a strong reason for me personally to continue my research career in Europe.

How would you describe the experience of being among the first PIs (group leaders) shaping the Institute in its formative phase?

It was an exciting opportunity to help shape a new institute as one of the first PIs. Many things still had to be built, from office space, to outreach, to internal processes which was very enjoyable with a team that was committed to making things possible as efficiently as possible. I am very proud of how the institute has grown and the visibility it has gained globally.

ELLIS places strong emphasis on building AI that is aligned with social values. How does the institute support this mission?

The institute and the Tübingen AI community play a leading role in building the technical foundations for addressing social questions in AI. With the flexibility we have here to pursue research that does not immediately create economic value we can center objectives, such as social values and the common good, in our core efforts, which I am very thankful for.

How has the ELLIS Institute supported your career and what are the next steps?

It allowed me to push the frontiers of research with minimal distraction, and benefit from close collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, as well as the Tübingen AI Center and the ELLIS Network more broadly. This was an invaluable asset at a pivotal stage of my career. This fall I will move on to take up a professorship at ETH Zurich and I am very excited about the next chapter. I will deeply miss Tübingen and I look forward to staying connected with the wonderful people I have met here.

To celebrate Cyber Valley's ten-year anniversary, we'll be sharing a variety of content across our website and social media channels reflecting on milestones from the last decade. Stay tuned for the next installments!