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If you are interested in research, theses, seminar, or else - please feel free to e-mail me!

Research Focus

My research examines how modern technologies impact productivity and well-being in the work context. Despite technological progress, we observe a paradox: emotional and cognitive overload cases are increasing, leading to burnout and reduced well-being, particularly in remote and hybrid work environments. Understanding these dynamics is essential for designing technology that genuinely supports rather than overwhelms us. This work focuses on three interconnected areas:

Individual experiences in knowledge work: I investigate optimal mental workload and flow states during creative tasks like programming, writing, designing, and planning. My research uses both laboratory and field studies to understand these phenomena and develop interventions that promote flow while mitigating stress and overwork, particularly in remote work settings.

• Schick et al. 2025 – Mental readiness and fatigue at work
• Knierim et al. 2025 – Flow detection in real knowledge work
• Nadj et al. 2023 – What Disrupts Flow in Office Work?

Collaborative team dynamics: I examine emotional intelligence in virtual collaboration, exploring how technology can facilitate emotion recognition and regulation in distributed teams. Current work addresses challenges like meeting fatigue and creative deficits in virtual collaboration environments.

• Krisam et al. 2025 – Temporal Dynamics of Mental Workload in Remote Meetings
• Benke et al. 2020 – Chatbot-based Emotion Management for Distributed Teams
• Knierim et al. 2019 – Flow in Knowledge Work Groups

Human-AI interaction at work: I study how AI systems like large language models affect user experience during work tasks. Research shows that AI can unintentionally increase cognitive demands when misaligned with user understanding, motivating deeper investigation into the affective and cognitive dimensions of human-AI interaction.

• Schulz & Knierim 2024 – Cognitive Load Dynamics in Generative AI-Assistance
• Knierm & del Puppo 2023 – Do Generative AI Tools Foster Positive Experiences in Knowledge Work?

Methodological Approach

My methodological approach centers on biosignals and wearable neurotechnology. A critical limitation of laboratory-only research is that real problems occur in real-world contexts – at home, in the office, during actual work. To bridge this gap, I develop open-source neural wearables adapted for everyday use, enabling naturalistic data collection where it matters most. These include ear-based ExG systems (brain, heart, eye, and muscle signals) that have been integrated into commercial open-source hardware portfolios (OpenBCI, NY, USA):

• Knierim et al. (2025) – Advancing Wearable BCI: Headphone EEG for Cognitive Load Detection in Lab and Field
• Stingl & Knierim (2024) – OpenBCI Meets the Web: A Scalable, Customizable Platform for Open-Source EEG Data Collection
• Knierim et al. (2023) – OpenBCI+3D-Printed Headphones=Open ExG Headphones
• Knierim, Berger, & Reali (2021) – Open-source concealed EEG data collection for Brain-computer-interfaces

Besides the technology, my research presently focuses a lot on conducting naturalistic studies (real tasks in lab settings or field studies) to generate the critical amounts of data needed for building a better understanding of phenomena that influence our productivity and health at work. This expansion of scope represents a critical research contribution, as comparable prior work or publicly available datasets of this kind are currently lacking.

Machine learning is indispensable in this work for extracting latent information from the complex (bio-)data, paving the way for adaptive systems that can respond to our psychological and physiological needs. So if you are interested in combining ML method advancements with these novel types of data, I’d like to talk to you!

Collaboration & Partnerships

Research advances through community. I'm grateful to work alongside talented doctoral researchers, students, and collaborators who bring fresh energy and perspectives to our projects. My work connects researchers across KIT, the KD2School Research Training Group, and international partners at University of Nottingham, Politecnico di Milano, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, and various academic institutions in Germany. Industry collaborations with Mercedes-Benz, ABB, Bosch, and sensor manufacturers like OpenBCI and Mendi Innovations help bridge academic innovation with real-world impact.

Activities in the Research System

I am actively engaged in the research communities of Information Systems (IS), Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), and related disciplines. Since July 2024, I have served as an Associate Chair at the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems and, since March 2025, as a Technical Program Committee member of the International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC). In addition, I have been a member of the Technical Program Committee of the International Workshop on Open Wearable Computers (part of UbiComp/ISWC) since June 2024 and of the Program Committee of the International Retreat on Neuro-Information Systems (NeuroIS) since 2023. From 2023 to 2024, I also served as Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of the Springer journal Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE).

Furthermore, I regularly review for leading journals (e.g., Information Systems Journal, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Group Decision & Negotiation, International Journal of Human–Computer Studies, Applied Ergonomics, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Brain–Computer Interfaces) and conferences (e.g., ICIS, ECIS, CHI, ISWC, Group Decision & Negotiation, IEEE International Humanitarian Technologies Conference).

Recognitions

My research and academic service have been recognized through multiple international awards and nominations. I received the Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on Wearable Computing Systems (ISWC) in 2025 and an Honorable Mention Award (top 5% of 5,014 submissions) at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in the same year. Earlier in my career, I received the Best Prototype Paper Award at the Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST) conference (2017) and was nominated for Best Paper Awards at the Group Decision and Negotiation conference (2017) and the International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems (2018).

In recognition of my contributions to the academic community, I have also received several Outstanding Reviewer Recognitions, including from ACM CHI (2024, 2025, 2026), ACM IMWUT (2025), and UbiComp/ISWC (2025).

Current Teaching

Winter:

• Lecture: Experimental Economics (Experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung)
• Lecture: Platform Economics (Plattformökonomie)

Every Semester:

• Seminar: Positive Information Systems
• Seminar: Biosignals in Information Systems & Marketing (International Collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano)