Abstract
We live in an era in which the number of smart devices is now greater than the number of humans living on Earth. Such smart devices include smart phones and wearables but also the myriad of IoT devices that are integrated into the very built environment we live in. As such, the field of mobile and ubiquitous computing is transforming many—if not all—areas of our lives. This overall transformation has great potential for many application areas. Most prominently, it is now possible to continuously and unobtrusively record rich behavior data that can inform objective health assessments thereby serving as basis for improved care and treatment, and thus wellbeing.
The basis for effective health assessments are robust and reliable methods for human activity recognition — more generally referred to as sensor-based Computational Behavior Analysis (CBA). From a technical perspective the analysis task translates into a time-series assessment problem, yet with a number of domain-specific constraints and requirements. In response to challenges such as noisy sensor data, ambiguous ground truth annotation, and typically limited size sample datasets CBA researchers have developed and validated sensor data analysis and machine learning methods that focus on these domain specifics and thus enable effective operation. In this talk I will give an overview of where the broader field of Computational Behavior Analysis is today before I focus on current and next frontiers specifically related to smart sensor data analysis. I will illustrate how the constraints and requirements of real-world application scenarios force pushing boundaries of core sensor data analysis research as well as real-world dployments.

About the speaker
Thomas Ploetz is a Computer Scientist with expertise and almost two decades of experience in Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning research (PhD from Bielefeld University, Germany). His research agenda focuses on applied machine learning, that is developing systems and innovative sensor data analysis methods for real world applications. Primary application domain for his work is computational behaviour analysis where he develops methods for automated and objective behaviour assessments in naturalistic environments, thereby making opportunistic use of ubiquitous and wearable sensing methods. Main driving functions for his work are "in the wild" deployments and as such the development of systems and methods that have a real impact on people's lives.
In 2017, Dr. Ploetz joined the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA where he works as an Associate Professor of Computing. Prior to this he was an academic at the School of Computing Science at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, where he was a Reader (Assoc. Prof.) for "Computational Behaviour Analysis" affiliated with Open Lab, Newcastle's interdisciplinary research centre for cross-disciplinary research in digital technologies.

Abstract
With the ubiquitous deployment of Wi-Fi/4G/5G infrastructure in the world, RF-based contactless sensing has become a very attractive way for long-term human and environment monitoring in many application domains. In this talk, I will introduce the Fresnel zone model as a new theoretic basis for device-free and contactless human sensing with Wi-Fi/4G/5G signals. The Fresnel-zone based sensing theory not only reveals the relationship among the WiFi CSI signal, the distance between two WiFi transceivers, the sensing target's relative location and orientation with respect to WiFi transceivers, and the environment, but also sheds light on the sensing limit of Wi-Fi/4G/5G signals. Building on the Fresnel zone model and the frequency diversity of WiFi signals, millimeter-scale human activity sensing could be achieved. By exploiting MIMO technology, we further propose new ways to increase the signal to noise ratio and push the range limit of WiFi-based device-free sensing. I will use human respiration detection and other application examples to demonstrate the power of the proposed theory and techniques.

About the speaker
Daqing Zhang is a Professor with Telecom SudParis, France and Peking University, China. His research interests include ubiquitous computing, context-aware computing, big data analytics and Intelligent IoT. He has published more than 280 technical papers in leading conferences and journals, where his work on context model and WiFi-based sensing theory is widely accepted by pervasive computing, mobile computing and service computing communities. His research work got over 22,700 citations with an H-index of 76 (according to Google Scholar). He is the winner of the Ten Years CoMoRea Impact Paper Award at IEEE PerCom 2013 and Ten Years Most Influential Paper Award at IEEE UIC 2019, the Distinguished Paper Award of IMWUT (Ubicomp 2021), Honorable Mention Award at ACM UbiComp 2015 and 2016, etc.. He served as the general or program chair for more than a dozen of international conferences, and in the editorial board of IEEE Pervasive Computing, ACM TIST and ACM IMWUT. Daqing Zhang is a Fellow of IEEE and Member of Academy of Europe, he obtained his Ph.D. from University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy in 1996.

Abstract
From the soundscape of Italian historical bells to the influence of French operas on traditional Dutch music, European cultural heritage hides a goldmine of unknown encounters, influences and practices that can transport us to experience the past, understand the music we love, and imagine the soundtrack of our future.
This talk is about the Polifonia Ecosystem, a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort to develop computing approaches for facilitating access and discovery of European Musical Heritage knowledge and to enable its creative reuse at-scale, connecting both the tangible heritage (instruments, theaters..) and intangible, and connecting previously unconnected data. Through semantic web technologies, artificial intelligence and data analysis the ambition of Polifonia is to provoke a paradigm shift in Musical Heritage preservation policies, management practice, research methodologies, interaction means and promotion strategies.

About the speaker
Valentina Presutti is an Associate Professor at University of Bologna. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies of CNR and coordinator of STLab. She received her Ph.D in Computer Science at University of Bologna (2006). Her research interests include AI, Semantic Web and Linked Data, Knowledge Extraction, Empirical Semantics, Social Robotics, Ontology and Knowledge Engineering. She coordinates the EUH2020 project Polifonia (2021-2024). She was responsible for several national and EU projects (e.g. MARIO, IKS, ArCo). During her post-doc she worked in NeOn and created ontologydesignpatterns.org and the series WOP, reference resources for semantic web researchers. She has +150 articles in international journals/ conferences/workshops. She is editorial board member of J. of Web Semantics (Elsevier), Data Intelligence (MIT Press), JASIST (Wiley), Intelligenza Artificiale (IOS Press), and of "Semantic Web Studies" (IOS Press). She is co- director of International Semantic Web Research Summer School (ISWS)and has served in organisational and scientific roles for several events.

Abstract
The high bandwidth available at millimeter-wave frequencies allows for very high data rates, but at the same time enables highly accurate localization and environment sensing. In this talk, we discuss how to implement low overhead location and sensing systems. As an example, we present results on the location accuracy that can be achieved with simple millimeter-wave commercial off-the-shelf communication devices. We also discuss how to use communication hardware (rather than dedicated radars) to perform zero-cost monitoring of human movement and activities in indoor spaces, by extracting micro-Doppler effects caused by human motion from the access points. We will specifically focus on the practical implementation aspects, testbed design and experimental results with such systems.

About the speaker
Joerg Widmer is Research Professor and Research Director of IMDEA Networks in Madrid, Spain. Before, he held positions at DOCOMO Euro-Labs in Munich, Germany and EPFL, Switzerland. He was a visiting researcher at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, USA, University College London, UK, and TU Darmstadt, Germany. His research focuses on wireless networks, ranging from extremely high frequency millimeter-wave communication and MAC layer design to mobile network architectures. Joerg Widmer authored more than 200 conference and journal papers and three IETF RFCs, and holds 14 patents. He was awarded an ERC consolidator grant, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a Mercator Fellowship of the German Research Foundation, a Spanish Ramon y Cajal grant, as well as nine best paper awards. He is an IEEE Fellow and Distinguished Member of the ACM.

Abstract
LOCUS is an ongoing EU Horizon 2020 funded collaborative R&D project started in 2019 focused on the localization and analytics in new 5G applications. Core technical work covers use cases, system architecture and proof of concepts based on the novel localization enablers and localization and analytics mechanisms for Smart Network Management and new services e.g. Network-assisted Self-Driving Objects and People Mobility and Flow Monitoring. The project consortium includes partners from the academia and the industry and this talk will illustrate the perspective of one of the industrial partners and will provide an overview of its main research activities. Finally, Samsung technical contributions to different work packages will be presented including their links to standardization.

About the speaker
Tomasz Mach holds PhD degree in mobile communications from the University of Surrey UK with almost twenty years of experience in various technical and leadership roles in the wireless industry. Those include 3G protocol software development, 4G small cells and SON architecture and systems engineering, technical marketing and pre-sales, research and mobile communications standards development including his work in various 3GPP, ETSI, 5GAA and O-RAN Alliance groups. Before joining Samsung in 2015, he worked at Orange, Motorola, Thales, Nokia, Blackberry and Cisco. Recently, he contributed to and coordinated various EU funded international 5G R&D activities including LOCUS project. He is a co-author of "5G System Design: Architectural and Functional Considerations and Long Term Research" book and also authored many patent applications, standards contributions and research papers. Among others, his current interest includes beyond 5G systems and V2X.

Abstract
In today's fast-paced telecom industry, it is very important to have access to the up-to-date research questions, concerns and problems timely. Standardization fora are the platforms in which these problems would be tackled and while not always the solutions are the best and the most optimum ones, they are basically the result of consensus among many different sectors and players in this field. LOCUS has the muscles in terms of engaged partners to monitor, identify and impact on the problems and solutions brought up in the positioning field of these standardization fora such as 3GPP and ETSI. These engagements are the sources of standard related IPRs as well as platforms initiating global solutions that would be adopted in all devices, networks in future releases in a wide aspect. Ericsson, as one of the LOCUS partners, is actively engaged in 3GPP in all levels of SA, CT and RAN, and is an active contributor in terms of positioning standardization topic since its start from LTE Release 9. The LOCUS project time frame was aligned with Release 17 RAN standardization and the start of Release 18, and the project has been monitoring, reviewing, and contributing to the enhancement of the positioning solutions during its time frame.

About the speaker
Sara Modarres Razavi has recently become the Innovation Program Manager for Ericsson Cloud RAN. Before that she was Master Researcher and the project manager of 5G and 5G-Advanced 3GPP RAN standardization project at Ericsson. She holds a Ph.D. in Infra-Informatics from Linköping University (2014) and MSc. in Hardware for Wireless Communication from Chalmers University of Technology (2008), Sweden. Her research focus has been on 4G, 5G and now 5G-Advanced cellular networks positioning, radio resource optimization and tracking area management. She contributes to several EU funded international 5G R&D projects including LOCUS and ESA funded project called HOP-5G. Sara Modarres Razavi has more than 15 years’ experience in the R&D within the area of wireless communication and networks and her published contributions include 30+ peer reviewed articles and 100+ filed patents mainly in the area of positioning in wireless networks.

Abstract
In this talk, we will share and discuss our experience from entering academia and industry, the challenges that we confronted, the solutions that we found, and how we managed to step out of our comfort zone. Dr. Tsiropoulou will share her technical and women-in-engineering experience, presenting her diverse research portfolio, evolving from theory to practice.

About the speaker
Dr. Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico. She received her Diploma in ECE, MBA in techno-economics, and PhD in ECE from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2008, 2010, and 2014, respectively. Her main research interests lie in the area of cyber-physical social systems and wireless heterogeneous networks, with emphasis on network modeling and optimization, resource orchestration in interdependent systems, reinforcement learning, game theory, network economics, and Internet of Things. Five of her papers received the Best Paper Award at IEEE WCNC in 2012, ADHOCNETS in 2015, IEEE/IFIP WMNC 2019, INFOCOM 2019 by the IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on Communications Systems Integration and Modeling, and IEEE/ACM BRAINS 2020. She was selected by the IEEE Communication Society - N²Women - as one of the top ten Rising Stars of 2017 in the communications and networking field. She received the NSF CRII Award in 2019 and the Early Career Award by the IEEE Communications Society Internet Technical Committee in 2019.

Abstract
Digitalization is the process which enable the smartening of many areas, like smart cities, smart roads, smart cars, smart societies etc. . Digitalization has been made possible thanks to technologies which have had a strong evolution during last years: ICT, Internet of Things, 4G/FTE/5G, Cloud, Blockchain, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, to cite the main ones. Digitalization is a transformative process and it implies also the need to change approaches, methodologies, procedures and responsibilities and sometime regulations and standards are not yet available or sufficiently adopted. Furthermore, digitalization exposes to cyber security and civil rights/privacy risks. All these aspects make the situation complex in order to accomplish the objectives of smart cities, smart roads, etc. such as environmental sustainability, new and better services, cost reduction, energy consumption optimization, mobility improvement, urban security and safety. These factors have a strong impact on the business models too and early expectations are enormous and still to be satisfied in many cases. Another key issue to be addressed is the availability and usability of data: they come (or will come) from many sources, must be properly processed to accomplish multiple tasks, distributed to all authorized users and protected in every part of its life. Summarising it is necessary to adopt multidisciplinary methods and approaches and act at many levels, not only technological ones. Good luck to all of us who are and will be dealing with these matters in the foreseeable future!

About the speaker
Experienced Manager of Business Development with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and technological services industry. Strong sales professional, skilled in Product and Marketing Management, Business Planning, Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship, and Customer Relationship Management. Pioneering smart city and smart mobility themes and promoting safety and physical and cyber security in complex environment and critical infrastructures. Successfully addressed various international markets, leading multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, creating new opportunities and value. Senior Expert of public R&D funding programs with impressive results in EU programs (FP7, H2020, ECSEL, EIT Digital, ...) and an active large established network of partnerships and contacts. He works in Thales Italia since 2008 where currently he has the responsibility of Business Development in civil markets. He has various pro-bono collaborations with Academies and Universities in Italy.

About the speaker
Federica Matteoli has 18 years of experience in the field of climate change, political science, and participatory approaches in international agencies such as FAO and the World Bank and government agencies. She has collaborated with the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture since 2014. She is Leader of the CSA Team in the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) at FAO and she is coordinator of a project that supports FAO knowledge activities on CSA and projects at the field level in Botswana and Ecuador. She coordinated a FAO project on Communication for Development on climate change in Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Caribbean. She worked for the World Bank on climate change matters. She has a degree in Law, a Master on International Cooperation and a PHD on Science and Management of Climate Change.

Abstract
It is widely acknowledged that climate change and weather extremes pose myriad threats to agriculture and agrifood systems globally. Projected changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, seasonal trends and more extreme weather events are key drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition globally, adversely affecting agrifood production and food availability, access, utilization and stability.
Systematizing the links between climate risks, the key stages of the agrifood value chain and the potential of climate services to boost the resilience of agrifood systems is fundamental to achieve a sustanable food systems.
A key role is played by Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), an approach that helps guide actions to transform agrifood systems towards green and climate-resilient practices. The CSA approach can help to build resilient agrifood systems by acting on the production phase, but it can also enhance the quality and nutrient properties of agrifood products, making them better able to overcome the challenging conditions of low-tech post-harvest chains frequently found in rural areas of developing countries (FAO, 2022). Key CSA practices to achieve these objectives include enhancing the efficient use of natural resources and farm inputs (e.g. fuels, energy, pesticides, mineral fertilizers); increasing or keeping carbon stored into the soil (e.g. through conservation agriculture); introducing improved varieties and breeding; and making farming systems more diverse (European Commission, 2021). CSA practices and climate services have complementarities, ultimately accelerating the achievement of climate-resilient agrifood systems. For instance, in the production and harvest phases, early warning systems can enhance preparedness to extreme weather events, thereby optimizing the efficacy of CSA practices. On the other hand, the benefits of CSA practices can last in the post-harvest chains (e.g. by improving the shelf life of agrifood products), contributing together with climate services to reduce food losses and waste and improving food security.