Who are you and what do you do? Who are your partners?
My name is Christian Jung and I have been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE in Kaiserslautern since 2009. My industrial partner is DATEV eG with headquarters in Nuremberg.
How long have you been with Software Campus and why are you in the program?
I have been participating in the Software Campus since October 2012. The wide range of opportunities for personal development of executives and the mentoring offer in particular persuaded me to participate. Thanks to the cooperation with my industry partner DATEV eG, I can put the results of my current research into practice and evaluate them in an application-oriented way.
What do you expect from Software Campus?
At the Software Campus I can work closely with the industry. In my research, I can therefore specifically address problems with a strong practical relevance and which address the current needs of industry and business. The strong interconnection allows for an economic knowledge transfer of research results to the industry.
What is the content of your IT project and how could it be applied in the future?
Mobile devices are an integral part of our daily lives. We use devices such as smartphones and tablets for business and personal affairs: E-mail, calendar, address book, file storage etc. These mobile devices possess a variety of physical and logical sensors that provide contextual information such as tilt angle, irradiation, location, calendar information, etc. This context information can be used by applications to operate context sensitively. However, the potential of context sensitivity in modern information systems is not fully utilized yet. The consideration of contexts can increase productivity and the user experience. Furthermore, context sensitivity enables the implementation of adaptive, flexible security guidelines. This means that the blocking periods for the display can be adequately adapted to the respective situation, for example at home 30min, in the office 15min, on the road 2min, which increases the overall security. The aim of my IT project is therefore to develop a consistent methodology for taking context information into account when designing and developing mobile applications.
What is it that fascinates you about computer science?
What fascinates me about computer science is that it is a very cross-sectional and diverse discipline: In the area of “User Experience” for example, emotions, expectations and behavior of the user are examined. Here, the focus is on the user and soft factors and indicators are often used. In the area of practical computer science, algorithms, software architectures and programming languages are in the foreground, which examine concepts and methods for solving concrete problems. In contrast to the soft factors, here well-founded facts from mathematics or theoretical computer science are used.
What did you like most about Software Campus so far?
I can carry out my own PhD project and at the same time receive professional training in leadership skills. In addition, I can network with participants and other scientists to exchange information about new research findings.
In your opinion, what skills do top executives need to have in order to be successful today?
A top executive must possess the ability to understand the core of a problem and make sustainable decisions with limited resources and information. They also need to understand and motivate their employees to both meet their needs and develop their skills.
What was the biggest challenge you had to face in your IT career so far?
Taking over and managing an EU project in my first year as a full-time professional. The main challenge was the lack of practical experience in the field of EU projects and project management.
