DITES - Projects of the Research Centre
In our projects, we at DITES research and develop jointly and interdisciplinary from multiple professional perspectives.
Recent Projects

The InTraHealth project developed an interactive knowledge portal to raise awareness among healthcare professionals for the professional healthcare of intersex and transgender people. Inter\* and trans people often experience discrimination and structural disadvantage, which can have a negative impact on their health. While international studies show deficits in medical care, there is still a lack of corresponding data for German-speaking countries.

BOTschafft Inklusion promoted access to the labor market for carers. An accessible AI-based chatbot had been developed as a prototype web application. It aimed to support the promotion and maintenance of caregivers' professional activities and their social participation.

INTIA (Inclusive technology ideas for everyday life) - this project was piloting participatory methods for the development of digital aids to help children and young people with special needs cope with everyday life.

“Ecosystems for innovation in social work: cross-organizational and cross-sector perspectives” was a DITES research project tasked with theoretically and empirically exploring the perspectives and interests of different stakeholder groups in mediatized living and working environments for the targeted initiation of innovation processes as open innovation concepts in the context of social work in Germany.

Pflegeschätze - Discovering and passing on inventions and ideas from everyday life with children in need of care: Identifying, visualizing and transferring family innovations from everyday life with children in need of care.

The ZukunftsLabor (FutureLab) is an innovative collaboration between the City of Cologne and the Köln International School of Design (KISD). It serves as a flexible, experimental space where city employees and citizens co-create user-centered administrative solutions, with a strong emphasis on accessibility, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student involvement.
Ongoing research activities
Science communication on TikTok
Establishment of a research network to promote the networking of scientists active on TikTok and to enable them to conduct science communication on TikTok themselves. Identification of best practices for science communication on TikTok, e.g. through the creation and publication of guidelines and recommendations for the scientific use of social media. Accompanied by an interdisciplinary teaching research project in Sose 2025, the results of which will be incorporated into the project.
DITES contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
Teaching and learning platform for the collaborative development of software architecture - also as a basis for student projects, Bachelor's and Master's theses.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Stefan Bente
BOTschafft Inclusion
BOTschafft Inklusion promotes access to the labor market for carers. An accessible AI-based chatbot is being developed as a prototype web application. It aims to support the promotion and maintenance of caregivers' professional activities and their social participation.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
ELSI-by-Design in Agile Development of Digital Products
Integration of ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) directly into agile development processes in order to counteract negative effects during the development process.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Stefan Bente
Design patterns for hybrid education
Development of a design pattern language to overcome barriers between analog and digital forms of learning - to promote collaborative learning processes.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Description: Playful access to programming through the use of games and interactive elements that make it easier to get started with coding.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Design of innovation spaces for co-creation
Description: Researching and setting up digitally supported innovation and collaboration spaces that enable new teaching and learning concepts.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
MAEWIN - Machine decision support in welfare state institutions
Investigation of AI-supported decision-making processes in social institutions to optimize and legitimize decisions while respecting democratic principles.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
Research into social agents - in collaboration with business partners - to improve the modeling of interactions in mediatized contexts.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Natural Hair Values. Identity formation with digitalization
Investigation of how digitization processes can contribute to the visualization and transformation of identity values (using the example of the “Natural Hair” movement).
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Pflegeschätze
Digitization and platforming of the experience knowledge of families who are active in informal care - to support and network new caregivers.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
Step2EthiX
Development of digital applications to strengthen the ethical and moral reflection skills of people in decision-intensive professional contexts.
DITES - Participants: Prof. Dr. Carmen Kaminsky, Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls and Prof. Dr. Petra Werner
Future laboratories of the city of Cologne
Establishment of an innovative space with flexible furniture and future-oriented technologies that promotes agile working methods and cross-departmental collaboration between administration and citizens.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Birgit Mager, Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Completed research activities
Seizing AI: Dynamic Seizing Capabilities in Emerging Technology Markets. The case of Artificial Intelligence Adoption by German Influencer Marketing Agencies"
Investigation into how agencies and service providers involved in influencer marketing can recognize, seize and adapt to the opportunities opened up by AI. The results show that the companies are in the early stages of seizing and pursuing a decentralized and agile approach with high flexibility in practical use cases that offer specific advantages for agencies as intermediaries in a highly competitive environment.
Project duration: 2024 - 2025
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
Strategic social media influencer communication in non-profit organizations
Investigation of how the processes in non-profit organizations differ from those in for-profit companies. The results showed that there are differences with regard to the special communicative requirements of NPOs, which require the specific design and weighting of the individual steps. The study also showed that the perspective of influencers as independent strategic actors deserves attention in further research.
Project duration: 2023 - 2024
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
Teaching project “Conception and development of AI influencers”
Teaching project in cooperation with the agency Styleranking GmbH, in which the students developed three AI-generated influencers and their social media profiles for real use cases. Among other things, the students work with LLMs, stable diffusion technologies, test technical limits and ethical challenges of AI and reflect on these in the development process.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
The Human Default: Modeling the human in the digital and social realm
Interdisciplinary publication that brings together different scientific perspectives on modeling human action in digital and social systems.
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner, Prof. Dr. Stefan Bente, Prof. Dr. Claus Richter, Prof. Dr. Babette Brinkmann, Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz, Prof. Dr. Carmen Kaminsky, Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls, Prof. Dr. Petra Werner, Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
INTIA - Inclusive technology ideas for everyday life
Development of inclusive technologies and digital modular systems to facilitate access to the digital world for people in educational and integration aids
Project duration: 01.05.2019 - 31.07.2023
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn, Prof. Dr. Stefan Bente, Prof. Birgit Mager and Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
InTraHealth - Improving access to healthcare for intersex and transgender people
Development of a knowledge portal and an interactive web platform to raise awareness among professionals regarding healthcare for intersex and transgender people
Project duration: 01.09.2019 - 28.02.2023
DITES - Mitwirkende: Prof. Dr. Petra Werner, Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Ecosystems for innovation in social work
Theoretical and empirical analysis of innovation dynamics in social work - with a focus on open innovation concepts and stakeholder interests
Project duration: completed in 2023
DITES - Contributors: Baptiste Egelhaaf, Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn, Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
PAGAnInI - Personalized Augmented Guidance for the Autonomy of People with Intellectual Impairments
Development of an adaptive learning and training system to help people with disabilities achieve greater independence and safe mobility
Project duration: 01.09.2019 - 31.08.2023
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
Stationary telepresence counseling in rural areas (STellaR)
Expansion of existing infrastructures (e.g. in family centers) to include specially equipped rooms for video counseling to ensure counseling in rural areas as well.
Project duration: 01.09.2020 - 31.08.2024
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
Expansion through innovative video formats to make teaching more flexible.
Projektlaufzeit: 01/2017–09/2018
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Digitalization of the finance function
Investigation of digitization in the financial sector by means of surveys & interviews.
Project duration: 01/10/2019 - 08/04/2020
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Investigation of digitization using the case study of the Diözesan-Caritasverband Köln.
Project duration: 2019
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
DUAL - Digital support for relatives and caregivers
Development of digital aids for the everyday life of dementia patients.
Project duration: 01.03.2018 - 31.08.2019
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Stefan Bente
Digital services to promote the mental health of young people with and without a migration background.
Project duration: 01.01.2019 - 30.06.2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls and Prof. Dr. Petra Werner
Open educational space in the Gummersbach Forum
Public research & technology presentation in a shopping center.
Project duration: 01.04.2018 - 30.09.2018
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
IDiT - Inclusion through digital media in vocational training
Promoting digital media skills for people with disabilities.
Project duration: 01.10.2018 - 30.09.2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
Influencers in road safety communication: concept development and pilot application
Analyzing the potential of influencers for road safety campaigns.
Project duration: 01.05.2020 - 30.04.2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
Inclusive digitalization in higher education & social work
Development of inclusive digital education concepts.
Projektlaufzeit: 01/2017–12/2017
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
Intervention program with smartphone app to combat school failure among young people with mental health problems in Cologne
Development of an app to support young people with school problems
Project duration: 01/2016 - 07/2019
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls
Development of a web magazine on AI through BarCamps & interactive formats.
Project duration: 01.04.2019 - 31.12.2019
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz
Researching the role of social robots in early childhood language education.
Project duration: 01.01.2018 - 31.12.2022
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
Models of the human being from an interdisciplinary perspective
Book project on the role of human models in digital technology development.
Project duration: 01.10.2019 - 01.06.2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner, Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn, Prof. Birgit Mager, Prof. Dr. Christian Kohls, Prof. Dr. Carmen Kaminsky, Prof. Dr. Babette Brinkmann, Prof. Dr. C
Process individualization through Digital Identity Tracker in workshops for people with disabilities
Analysis of digital identity solutions to optimize workshop processes for people with disabilities.
Project duration: 12/2016 - 02/2017
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Simulation service for housing and living arrangements
Development of simulation models for age-appropriate living
Project duration:10.12.2018 - 12.12.2020
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Strengthening the “S” in ESG
Development of social ESG criteria for better evaluation by investors
Project duration: 01.06.2020 - 01.04.2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Lindner
Development of AI-supported systems to promote fair political discourse
Project duration: Duration not specified
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
How inclusive is “digital school” in COVID times from the perspective of school social workers?
A quantitative survey on inclusion opportunities and exclusion risks of digital school education from the perspective of social work
Project duration: 05/2021 - 12/2021
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Isabel Zorn
Scientific monitoring and evaluation of the “Treffpunkt U25” project
Monitoring and evaluation of the “Treffpunkt U25” project, which supports hard-to-reach young people between the ages of 18 and 25 and guides them back into existing support services and vocational orientation measures.
Project duration: 2016 - 2018
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Udo Seelmeyer
Target group-oriented road safety communication via influencers in social media
Survey of the state of research and development of recommendations for action to address target groups in road safety communication via influencers
Project duration: Completed since 30.11.2019
DITES - Contributors: Prof. Dr. Amelie Duckwitz