While the total cost of the week-long program is more than €100,000, the participant fee covers only a small portion. Thanks to the continued trust and support of our partners—and their belief in the importance of this unique, high-quality, and cross-border initiative—we are able to offer participants an exceptional experience: including housing, meals, a full technical and social program, at a highly accessible rate.
This PhD school would not be possible without the generous financial support of our sponsoring partners. Since its inception in 2018, the event has been kindly supported by the Deutsch-Französische Hochschule / Université Franco-Allemande (DFH/UFA) and the German-French Academy for the Industry of the Future (GFA). In past years, Siemens has also significantly contributed as a co-sponsor. Many companies have sponsored by providing staff and knowledge.
To secure this funding, a formal proposal was submitted and positively evaluated, highlighting the scientific and educational quality of the initiative. We are proud and fortunate that the school has been recognized as an excellent event by these highly respected stakeholders.
Our academic and industry partners play a vital role by providing keynote speakers, challenge organizers, and expert staff, and in some cases, hosting the event at their institutions which results in four to five digit contributions.
We are sincerely grateful for their commitment.
Speakers & Organizers 2025
Organizers
(Foto: Andreas Heddergott)
Marc-Oliver Pahl, Ph.D., IMT Atlantique, France (Expert Cybersecurity)
Marc-Oliver Pahl is Full Professor for Cybersecurity at IMT Atlantique, one of France’s leading Grandes Écoles. He directs CyberCNI.fr, France’s largest industrial chair in cybersecurity, focusing on the protection of Critical National Infrastructures through interdisciplinary research and close industry collaboration.
He serves as President of the German Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and is a steering committee member of both the German Informatics Society (GI) and the German-French Academy for the Industry of the Future, reflecting his active role in shaping the future of digital innovation and cross-border collaboration.
Marc-Oliver’s research takes a holistic view on cybersecurity, emphasizing collaborative defense strategies. His work includes federated learning and blockchain for secure systems, side-channel-based anomaly detection, and immersive VR interfaces for cybersecurity operations, bridging cutting-edge technologies with real-world challenges.
A multi-award-winning educator and recognized eLearning pioneer, he is known for his engaging teaching style and innovative formats. He regularly curates high-impact public events, including the TALK.CYBERCNI.fr Speaker Series and the international Future-IoT PhD School Series, making complex cybersecurity topics accessible and inspiring to broad audiences.
(Foto: Andreas Heddergott)
Sebastian Steinhorst, PhD, Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany
Sebastian Steinhorst is professor for Embedded Systems and Internet of Things at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of TUM. The research of Prof. Steinhorst centers around design methodology and the hardware/software co-design of distributed embedded systems for use in Internet of Things, automotive and smart energy applications.
Olivia Pahl, Project Manager Cyber Accelerator at IMT, France
Olivia Pahl is Head of Education Projects at the German-French Academy for the Industry of the Future (GFA) at IMT in France, and Project Manager for the Cyber Accelerator, a national program supporting the internationalization of French cybersecurity startups. Before moving to France, she led the communications department at the Institute for Societal Development (FGW) in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Speakers and Challenge Providers (alphabetical given name)
Mohammad Hamad, Technical University of Munich
Mohammad Hamad is a Research Group Leader for Security for IoT and Automotive Systems at the Associate Professorship of Embedded Systems and Internet of Things at the Technical University of Munich.
Marc-Oliver Pahl, Ph.D., IMT Atlantique, France (Expert Cybersecurity)
Prof. Dr. Marc-Oliver Pahl heads the industrial Chair Cybersecurity for Critical Networked Infrastructures (cyberCNI.fr) at IMT Atlantique Rennes, France. The chair hosts 18 professors, 9 PhDs, 4 PostDocs, and multiple engineers and interns. Marc-Oliver is an adjunct professor of Carleton University in Canada. Marc-Oliver is Vice President of the German Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (germany.acm.org). He heads the Future Education activities of the German-French Academy for the Industry of the Future (future-industry.org). Marc-Oliver’s research focuses on a holistic approach to cybersecurity with an emphasis on collaborative approaches including VR-based cybersecurity interfaces and federated learning. He is an experienced teacher and an eLearning pioneer, holding several teaching awards. He continuously hosts events for larger audience such as the TALK.CYBERcni.fr speaker series and the future-iot.org PhD school series.
Laurent Toutain, IMT Atlantique and Co-Founder of Acklio, France
Laurent Toutain is a Professor with the IMT Atlantique Graduate Engineering School and a Co-founder and a Scientific Advisor of Acklio. He worked for several years on IPv6 and participated in the creation of the G6 group, which has been gathering researchers and industrialists around IPv6 since 1995. His current research focuses on protocols and architectures specific to IoT’s needs. From 2011 to 2015, he managed the Smart Grid competence center shared by Télécom Bretagne, Texas Instruments, and ITRON. He is the author of several books on networks.
Communication
Samira Franzel, Science Communication Specialist at Einstein Center Digital Future, Germany
Samira Franzel has been responsible for science communication at the Einstein Center Digital Future since 2021. She studied American Studies and Political Science at the University of Mannheim, the Free University of Berlin, and the University of Copenhagen. In recent years, she has worked at the Graduate School for North American Studies at the Free University of Berlin, the Goethe Institute, and the Sarah Wiener Foundation, among others.
Staff
Erkin Kirdan, M.Sc., TU München, Germany
Research Associate at the IOT Smart Space Team at TU München.
Rachelle Incama