At this year’s Fraunhofer ICT Dissertation Award, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD received first prize. Dr.-Ing. Lena Cibulski was honored for her dissertation “Visual Analysis for Multi-Attribute Choice,” which she wrote at Fraunhofer IGD. The award was presented on January 27, 2026, during the New Year’s reception of the German Informatics Society (GI) and the Fraunhofer ICT Technology Alliance in Berlin.

Although Lena Cibulski is now working at the University of Rostock, the award-winning work was completed during her time at Fraunhofer IGD. With this award, the jury recognizes an interdisciplinary research achievement at the intersection of visual analytics, decision theory, and cognitive science, setting new standards for data-driven decision-making processes.

Visualization as an Active Component of Complex Decisions

In her dissertation, Lena Cibulski investigates how analytical results from large, multidimensional datasets can be meaningfully combined with the subjective preferences of decision-makers. The goal is to provide targeted support for experts—such as in engineering—when making complex decisions involving many criteria.

Based on application-oriented field research and close collaboration with experts, she developed new concepts for real-world decision-making processes as well as innovative visualization tools. At the core of the work are the two tools PAVED and COMPO*SED, which provide compact overviews of decision alternatives, support preference formation, and make complex combinations—such as mechatronic components—analyzable.

The jury particularly emphasized that the work demonstrates how visualization can substantially improve the quality, transparency, and robustness of expert decisions in practice.

Contribution to Responsible, Human-Centered Decision Support

Against the backdrop of increasing automation and the growing use of artificial intelligence, the dissertation addresses a key aspect of modern decision-making: the deliberate interplay between algorithmic analysis and human expertise. The work therefore makes an important contribution to transparent, comprehensible, and responsible decision support in data-intensive application areas.

Additional Award Winners from the Fraunhofer Alliance

In addition to Fraunhofer IGD, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS was also honored. Second prize went to Dr. Sc. (Tech) Iñigo Cortés Vidal for his dissertation on robust adaptive control algorithms for GNSS receivers. Third prize was awarded to Dr. Friedrich Wagner, whose work focused on optimization methods for quantum computing.

The Fraunhofer ICT Dissertation Award is presented annually by the Fraunhofer ICT Technology Alliance and recognizes outstanding dissertations in the fields of computer science, mathematics, and related disciplines.