Md Shajalal researches explainable AI
Dr. Md Shajalal, a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of IT Security and Consumer Informatics, comes from Lalmonirhat, a small district in northern Bangladesh. He developed an enthusiasm for mathematics and science at an early age. "I was fascinated by how logical thinking can help solve real-world problems," says Shajalal. This curiosity led him to computer science: he completed his Bachelor's degree at the University of Chittagong in his home country, followed by a Master's degree at Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan, supported by a prestigious scholarship. The international experience shaped the young computer scientist both professionally and culturally.
He came to the University of Siegen for his doctoral thesis as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie network. At the same time, he was a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT. "The close connection between scientific research and practical application particularly appealed to me." His dissertation entitled "Towards Human-centered Actionable Explainable AI-enabled Systems" received the top grade of "summa cum laude" and was awarded the prize for the best dissertation in 2025 by the Siegen Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
Dr. Shajalal is currently conducting research in the field of human-centric, explainable AI with applications in deepfake recognition. This is not just about identifying forgeries, but also about giving users understandable clues as to why a digital medium - such as an audio recording - is classified as manipulated.
This approach is becoming increasingly important, especially in times of disinformation. The aim is to develop AI systems that not only work precisely, but can also justify their decisions in an understandable way. "Many models deliver very good results, but their decision-making processes remain a black box. This makes trust and application difficult," explains Shajalal. His research is strongly application-oriented and has already been tested in areas such as smart homes, business analytics and language processing.
Shajalal feels at home at the University of Siegen: "The collaboration is very good, and Siegen is a pleasant city to live and work in." Over the next few years, he would like to work as a postdoctoral researcher to further strengthen his academic profile and possibly work towards a habilitation. Even before his doctorate, Shajalal worked as a lecturer at two public universities in Bangladesh. "This time strengthened my desire to become a professor. I would like to impart knowledge and also continuously learn and research myself." Shajalal emphasizes that he wants to make a meaningful contribution with his work. Making artificial intelligence more transparent, understandable and trustworthy and thus bringing a key technology closer to people is therefore a great motivation.
