Simon Heiß is a Research Associate and PhD Candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction and Visual Analytics research group at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da). Since February 2025, he has been working as a scientific staff member, contributing to national and international research projects, including EU-funded Horizon Europe projects, while also being involved in teaching and student supervision in the field of Human-Computer Interaction.
His research focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of interactive, AI-supported decision-support systems, combining visual analytics, machine learning, and knowledge-based approaches to support user-centered decision-making in complex, data-intensive domains. A central aspect of his work is the tight coupling of analytical models and interactive visual interfaces, enabling users to explore, interpret, and interact with model outputs within iterative analysis processes.
Within the KIWI project, Simon contributes to the technical conception and implementation of a modular and accessible impact-measurement platform. His responsibilities include architectural design decisions, the development of configurable survey, data collection, and evaluation pipelines, as well as the integration of AI-supported reporting components. His work ensures that methodological research concepts are translated into robust, scalable, and maintainable systems suitable for real-world organizational use.
In the ResourcifAI project, Simon investigates Visual Analytics–based decision-support systems that directly couple transformer-based models with interactive visualizations. The focus lies on enabling sustainability-oriented and environmental decision-making through interactive exploration of indicators, data-driven insights, and the comparative assessment of alternative actions and scenarios.
Prior to his current position, Simon worked as a Student Researcher in the HCI & Visual Analytics group, where he developed interactive visualization models for decision support. His work included the implementation of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) systems with dynamic user-controlled weighting mechanisms, as well as the integration of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to adapt decision models based on user feedback. He also designed user-centered interfaces for real-time, data-driven analysis and decision support.
Alongside his academic career, Simon has industry experience as a full-stack software developer. As a Junior Software Engineer at metaphacts GmbH, he worked on knowledge-based decision-support systems in the context of electromobility and sustainability. His responsibilities included the development of knowledge graph–based systems, ontology engineering, data modeling and integration for large heterogeneous datasets, and the implementation of user-friendly interfaces for decision support. He also acted as a technical contact in project meetings and contributed to the communication of results within interdisciplinary research and industry consortia.
Simon holds a Master’s degree in Information Science from h_da (final grade 1.1) and a Bachelor’s degree in Information Science. His academic background is complemented by teaching activities in HCI, the supervision of bachelor theses and student projects, and active participation in interdisciplinary research teams.
His research interests include visual analytics, human-centered artificial intelligence, decision-support systems, knowledge graphs and semantic technologies, data integration and modeling, and interactive data visualization. Simon is committed to developing modular, transparent, and scalable systems that support interdisciplinary collaboration and enable the effective transfer of research results into applied, real-world contexts.
Research Topics
Visual Analytics & Interactive Data Visualization
AI-supported Decision-Support Systems
Human-Centered Integration of Machine Learning Models
Knowledge Graphs, Ontologies & Semantic Technologies
Data-Driven Sustainability & Environmental Decision-Making