Dr. Jessica Szczuka is the head of the Junior Research Group INTITEC (Intimacy with and through Technologies) at the University of Duisburg-Essen and a leading researcher in the field of digitized intimacy. Her research integrates media, social, and communication psychology with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to explore the impact of digitalization on concepts of love and sexuality.

She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Applied Cognitive and Media Science from the University of Duisburg-Essen, where she also earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology with a focus on Media and Communication. During her postdoctoral phase, she led the psychological research component of the interdisciplinary IMPACT project, investigating how individuals communicate with AI systems, build relationships, and develop an understanding of them throughout their lifespan.

Even during her doctoral studies, Dr. Szczuka focused on the empirical exploration of digital intimacy, particularly how people integrate digital technologies into romantic and sexual contexts. Her primary goal is to establish a solid scientific foundation for this emerging field and to shape public debates on digital intimacy based on empirical evidence.

Through her research group INTITEC, she pursues two core research directions:

• • The human perspective: What makes us unique in our interaction with machines? What fosters emotional closeness with artificial systems? Which aspects of intimacy and social connection remain irreplicable by technology?
• • The technological perspective: What ethical and societal frameworks are needed to ensure the responsible development and use of digital intimacy technologies?

Additionally, she sees it as her responsibility to empirically address potential risks, including privacy concerns in intimate chat communication, the societal impact of digital intimacy technologies, and the inclusion of vulnerable user groups.

Lisa is a research associate in the SENTIMENT project within the psychology division and a Ph.D. candidate in the INTITEC junior research group at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Media and Business Psychology and a master’s degree in Applied Cognitive and Media Science, an interdisciplinary program bridging computer science, psychology, and human-computer interaction. Her master’s thesis explored the potential use of sexualized technologies for neurodiverse individuals and individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Before starting her Ph.D., Lisa worked as a research associate and project manager on various interdisciplinary research projects in the fields of affective computing, speech emotion recognition, UX, and HCI. Additionally, she worked as a scientific-technical project manager on two BMBF-funded research projects at Rheinische Hochschule Cologne, focusing on the application of social robots in therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder and the AI-based diagnosis of PTSD using speech emotion recognition.

As part of SENTIMENT, her doctoral research investigates intimate communication with natural language dialogue systems and the ways users engage in self-disclosure with them. Her first study examines the role of communication modality (text vs. voice) and the perception-behavior gap in information sharing across these contexts. The second study explores voice-based interactions in personalized dialogues, analyzing the topics users disclose and how their behavior evolves over time. Both studies investigate longitudinal changes in user interaction patterns.

Anna is a student assistant in the SENTIMENT project and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Cognitive and Media Sciences at the University of Duisburg-Essen

Prof. Dr. Veelasha Moonsamy is a Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), where she leads the Chair for Security and Privacy of Ubiquitous Systems. She is also a member of the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security and a Principal Investigator in the Excellence Cluster CASA. Previously, she was affiliated with Radboud University and Utrecht University - both in The Netherlands, and obtained her PhD from Deakin University in Australia. Her research interests include IoT/mobile/embedded systems, data privacy and applications of machine learning for security and privacy. She currently serves as Dean of Graduate School in the Excellence Cluster CASA, and was Track Chair for ACM CCS 2023. She is also the recipient of a Google Faculty Award and Meta Research Award.

Ramya Kandula is a PhD student at the Chair for Security and Privacy of Ubiquitous Systems (UbiSys) at Ruhr University Bochum. She obtained her Master’s degree in Interactive Media Technologies at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Her focus in the SENTIMENT project is on the exploration of self disclosure tendencies in human-chatbot interactions using privacy and user-centric lenses. Using privacy-by-design mechanisms and HCI methods, she aims to combine computational and psychological aspects of chatbot interactions to develop secure self disclosure strategies.

Prof. Joel Baumann is Professor of New Media at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. In the SENTIMENT project, he examines processes of self-disclosure in human-machine interaction from a critical-artistic perspective, with a particular focus on the societal and ethical implications of digital intimacy.

Prof. Baumann is known for his work at the intersection of research and artistic mediation. His curatorial practice—exemplified by projects such as Privacy Arena—employs exhibition formats as dialogical spaces in which scientific knowledge becomes sensually and emotionally accessible. These formats enable the translation of complex, interdisciplinary research into public discourse, fostering collective reflection and engagement.

Through the integration of arts-based methodologies into empirical research, Prof. Baumann advances new forms of knowledge production and transfer. His work contributes to the development of innovative mediation strategies that connect technology, ethics, and aesthetics, enabling broader societal understanding of digital transformation and its impact on human communication.

Maxi is a researcher in the Research Center for Information Systems Design (ITeG) at the University of Kassel. She completed her PhD thesis under Prof. Dr. Alexander Roßnagel on privacy protection in social networks. She has many years of experience in interdisciplinary research projects and conducts research on topics in the fields of data (protection) law, technology law and artificial intelligence. She is the author of numerous publications. Detailed information is available at https://goto.uni-kassel.de/go/dr-maxi-nebel.

Christian is a private lecturer for Public Law and Law of the Digital Society at the University of Kassel. He is also active as a consultant for ministries, non-profit organizations as well as large and small companies, and principal investigator in several third-party funded research projects. Overall, his research interests focus on fundamental rights, comparative law, data protection and governance as well as technology law. Detailed information is available at https://www.uni-kassel.de/go/geminn