Doctoral students showcase their work at the 2025 EDMT Research Day

© 2025 EPFL
The Doctoral Program in Management of Technology (EDMT) celebrated its annual Research Day with a dynamic showcase of student research and scholarly exchange. Mohammad Shahverdikondori was awarded the 2025 Best Poster Presentation, with Roy Sarkis recognized as the runner-up.
The EDMT Research Day, held on May 8, opened over lunch with a warm welcome from Prof. Thomas Weber, Director of the doctoral program. Students then took center stage, presenting their research across two interactive sessions. Each session began with a “poster slam” — a series of concise presentations followed by audience Q&A — after which attendees engaged directly with presenters at their posters for deeper discussion and feedback.
Participants were invited to evaluate each presentation across several criteria, with the highest-scoring presenters receiving special recognition for excellence in research communication.

A highlight of the day was the keynote address by Prof. Michaël Aklin, EDMT faculty member and Director of the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S). His talk, titled “Career Choice and Planning,” offered insights into job-market matching challenges beyond academia, drawing from his own research and prompting lively discussion.
Special thanks go to Prof. Andrés Cristi for his thoughtful feedback on several student presentations, contributing to the collaborative and constructive spirit of the day.

PROGRAM OF THE 2025 EDMT RESEARCH DAY
Welcome & Lunch
Prof. Thomas Weber, EDMT Director
Student Presentations - Session 1
- Mohammad Shahverdikondori (BAN)
- Yanan Niu (SFI-LL)
- Saeed Masiha (BAN)
- Qi Yi (TOM)
Student Presentations - Session 2
- Mengmeng Li (RAO)
- Roy Sarkis (SFI-LL)
- Tianshu Yang (RAO)
Featured Faculty Presentation
Prof. Michaël Aklin, PASU Chair and Director of the Enterprise for Society Center E4S, addressed the studenst on “Career Choice and Planning,” providing a broad overview of matching processes in the nonacademic jobmarket, fielding some of his own research insights, which lead to an interesting discussion with the audience.
Best Poster Presentation Prize
The recognition for best 2025 EDMT Research Day presentation was awarded to Mohammad Shahverdikondori for his presentation on “Superquantile-Gibbs Relaxation for Minima-Selection in Bi-Level Optimization.” The runner-up was Roy Sarkis with his talk on “Webcam-Based Solar Forecasting for Imbalance Cost Reduction.”