#talk by Prof. Dr. Tina COMES "Navigating Uncertainty:AI and Decision Support for Crisis Management"

On May 8, 2026, we welcomed emergenCITY Advisory Board member Prof. Dr. Tina Comes, Scientific Director at the DLR Institute for the Protection of Terrestrial Infrastructures and Professor at TU Delft, who presented "Navigating Uncertainty: AI and Decision Support for Crisis Management" as part of the Ruzena Bajcsy Lecture during the emergenCITY Week. In her keynote, Tina Comes presents an evidence-based approach to designing decision support systems for civil protection and humanitarian response. Drawing on field studies across Europe, Asia, and Africa, she examines how information flow—and where it breaks down—in complex crisis environments. These insights are translated into agent-based models and system designs for decision support. The talk outlines practical requirements for AI systems that must operate under conditions of uncertainty, limited or fragmented data, and time pressure. It also addresses collaboration between human decision-makers and AI systems, as well as the risks associated with isolated AI development. The Ruzena Bajcsy Lectures on Communication and Resilience, established in 2014 by the Collaborative Research Center MAKI and continued by emergenCITY, honors Ruzena Bajcsy, a renowned scientist and pioneer in electrical engineering and computer science. Each year, distinguished female experts are invited to speak at TU Darmstadt, contributing to greater visibility of women in these fields.