Prof. Dr. Maximilian Förster

Maximilian Förster was appointed as a tenure-track professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) effective April 1, 2026. There, he leads the research group Information Systems IV – Digital Platforms & Services at the Institute of Information Systems. His research interests lie in particular in the areas of Explainable Artifical Intelligence, Social Impact of Information Systems and Future Skills.

Vita

Maximilian Förster, born in 1993 in Wangen im Allgäu (Baden-Württemberg), completed a Bachelor's degree in Physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich (2012-2015) and a Master's degree in Physics and Management at Ulm University (2016-2018). He wrote his master's thesis at the School of Business and Social Sciences at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

From May 2018 to November 2021, he worked as a scientific assistant at the Péter Horváth Endowed Professorship for Business Management/Administration with a focus on Business Information Management at Ulm University. In November 2021, he completed his doctorate on the topic of "Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Social Interaction - Contributions with a Focus on Social Media and Explainable Artificial Intelligence." He has received several awards for his research, including the Südwestmetall Prize, the UUG Doctoral Prize and an award in the "Gemeinsam wird es KI!" ideas competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Maximilian Förster has been working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Business Analytics at Ulm University since December 2021 until March 2026. As such, he has lead the research group in the field of Explainable Artificial Intelligence.

Maximilian Förster was appointed as a tenure-track professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) effective April 1, 2026. There, he leads the research group Information Systems IV – Digital Platforms & Services at the Institute of Information Systems.

In his free time, Maximilian hikes through the Alps, plays the trumpet in a brass band and writes short stories.

Research focus

Explainable Artificial Intelligence
Social Impact of Information Systems
Future Skills

Publications

Maximilian publishes his scientific contributions in the field of Management Information Systems in international journals such as European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Business Information Systems Engineering (BISE) and Journal of Business Economics (JBE) and presents the results of his work at international scientific conferences such as International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). He is also active as a reviewer and on the programme committee for relevant journals and conferences.

List of publications