In Meet the Team series we introduce our audience to the brilliant people working at MediaFutures. Get to know us better by discovering who we are and what we do.
This week we are interviewing Ayoub El Majjodi, PhD candidate in Work Package 2 – User Modeling, Personalization & Engagement.
Can you give an introduction of yourself and your scientific background?
Hi, my name is Ayoub, I was born in a small village called Agbalou in Marocco, and I am currently PhD candidate at MediaFutures. I obtained MSc in Data Science and Big Data at the National Advanced School of Computer Science and System Analysis in Morocco. In my master thesis, together with the Decision support, personalization, and recommender systems’ research group at the Free University of Bozen- Bolzano, I introduced the country’ first recommender system that supports users, based on their personal preferences, in finding a better country to live in. After completing my master studies, I worked as a research assistant at Tampere University in Finland and was involved in developing and deploying applications in edge and cloud computing without operating systems.
Tell us about your research at MediaFutures and your role in Work Package 2.
Work Package 2 is focusing on user modelling, personalization and engagement and my role in it is to investigate the use of personalization technologies combined with nudges to support users in making informed decisions in an online platform. Deciding in digital environment turned out to be more challenging in the era of big data. Recommender systems has been proven to mitigate the information overload problem by making the information more precise and individual for each user by analysing our preferences. On the other hand, nudging mechanisms have been steering and supporting users to make better decisions within a choice environment. Using both principles, I will try to develop and evaluate a theoretical and practical framework for better decision-making processes.
Things about MediaFutures you appreciate the most?
I truly believe that chosing MediaFutures as employer is one of the best decisions I have made in my life so far. I enjoy how multi-cultural the team is – this alone broadens one’s horizons and strengthens creativity. I also appreciate the guidance and support I get from my supervisors – Prof. Christoph Trattner and Assoc. Prof. Alain Starke. Lastly, MediaFutures offers excellent working facilities – great office space and quality equipment.