SNN-Unit

At the first Saarland Digital Health Congress, we had the opportunity to present our project Digital Scrubs and join more than 100 experts in discussing what healthcare could look like in 2030. We gained valuable insights through workshops on topics like the electronic patient record, user-centered design, and digitalization barriers. A true highlight: the keynote by Dr. Tobias Grandt – a passionate call for courage and progress in healthcare. An inspiring day full of exchange, future visions, and a shared goal: driving digital health forward in Saarland!

Yesterday, we were honored to welcome Mr. Milde from the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space (BMBFTR), along with Ms. Kriewald from the Ministry of Science of Saarland. The visit provided an excellent opportunity for in-depth discussions on the current landscape of research at German universities of applied sciences. During the exchange, we presented several of our ongoing projects in various research fields, showcasing the interdisciplinary work driving innovation in the field. We are grateful for the visit and the productive dialogue, and we look forward to continued collaboration at both the federal and state levels.

Dr. Farah Corona-Strauss recently visited several partner universities in Mexico to present ongoing research conducted in our laboratory and to introduce students to the international Master’s program in Neural Engineering offered in Germany.
During her trip, Dr. Corona-Strauss had the pleasure of visiting the Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida, where she met with the university president, Dr. José Antonio Esquivel. She also returned to her alma mater, the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, strengthening ties with her academic roots.
The presentations were met with great interest, highlighting the strong enthusiasm for research collaboration and international study opportunities. We are pleased to continue fostering close connections with our colleagues and academic partners in Mexico.
We sincerely thank our hosts for their warm welcome and generous invitation!

On May 9, we had the opportunity to present our EU-funded project Multi Immerse at Europe Day in Saarbrücken. The project focuses on enhancing the sense of human closeness through multisensory optimization of immersive virtual visits to seriously ill children. Together with our partners from UKS, EmRoLab, ZeMa, and DFKI, we showcased various components of the project, including our contactless camera system for detecting microexpressions and a robot designed to virtually transmit human touch.

This year, together with htw Saar, we had the honour of serving as a hosting institution for the br41n.io hackathon 2025, which forms an integral part of the g.tec spring school. Over the course of 24 hours, four teams developed brain–computer-interface (BCI) projects. Altogether, 95 teams from 80 countries competed, underscoring the truly global scope of this event. We even had a small kids-team from the local Marienschule that took first place in the childrens Gaming section.

The projects ranged from generating music in response to EEG-derived emotional states, to controlling video games through ear-muscle signals, to enabling a collaborative robot to adjust its behaviour based on the user’s stress levels. Each concept demonstrated remarkable technical sophistication and a forward-looking spirit.

We are particularly proud that one of our teams secured second place in the “BCI Programming & Arts Projects” category—congratulations to the team for this outstanding achievement. A brief report on the Hackathon also aired on local television; you can view it here: https://www.sr.de/sr/mediathek/video/FS_AB_11446.html

Prof. Dr. Dr. Daniel J. Strauss was invited to participate as a speaker in a panel discussion on Automotive Health at the Health Tech Hub Styria in Graz last week. The conference was aimed at advancing medical research projects in vehicle, among other things, and further networking clinics and industry. We were also invited to present our research vehicle as well as research results on passenger monitoring.
Thank you for having us!

Engineering students and faculty at Universidad Anáhuac Mayab hosted a week-long event featuring over 60 activities, including keynotes, workshops, and company visits. The event brought together experts from academia and industry to explore the future of engineering. Keynote speakers addressed topics like Industry 5.0, Human-Machine Interaction, AI trends, and Cybersecurity. SNNU participated by presenting ongoing research in Industry 5.0 and Neuroergonomics in human-robot systems.

This week we presented some of our latest research on the 52. Erlangen Colloquium for audiological research and development, hosted by WSAudiology. Thank you for having us and see you next time!

Projekt ,Digital Scrubs’: The Saarland University Hospital in Homburg is testing an attention assistance system with AI support. In modern operating theatres, surgical teams are faced with the challenge of having to process a large amount of information and at the same time focus their full attention on the complex and often vital procedures. Stress and fatigue, i.e. both mental-neuroergonomic and physical-ergonomic factors, can impair concentration and increase the risk of errors. This topic and more can be found in the full article published in Krankenhaus Technik + Management (KTM) issue 10/24 (p. 49-51).

IPG Automotive GmbH is hosting an event to facilitate discussions on driving simulation technologies. We will be present to engage in dialogue on the latest advancements, share insights, and explore innovations. Our goal is to ensure that our driving simulators remain state-of-the-art and continuously evolve with the industry’s cutting-edge developments.