Hi, my name is Timo Spinde. I was born and raised in Schliersee, Bavaria, Germany. Throughout my life, I have aimed to demonstrate that creating new things and finding solutions is possible and that taking risks to venture into the unknown is often necessary to bring something new to life.

Being interested in both fields, I completed two parallel bachelor’s degree programs in Computer Science and Media and Communications at the University of Passau, followed by a master’s in Data Science at the University of Konstanz and the University of Haifa. I then pursued my research interest in data science and journalism by undertaking a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Wuppertal, the University of Göttingen, and NII Tokyo, which I defended with distinction (summa cum laude). Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Queensland and NII Tokyo, my work focuses on automatically detecting media bias and raising awareness of it. I strongly believe that technology can be a powerful tool for change, especially in how we engage with information. Beyond research, I have fully or partially led over 20 academic courses, primarily on web design, engineering, and data science.

To connect interdisciplinary research on media bias, I founded and coordinate the Media Bias Group, an international research network on the topic. I am passionate about bringing together diverse collaborators and believe in the strength of international and interdisciplinary teams. Within the Media Bias Group, we have researchers from various disciplines, such as psychology, media studies, linguistics, and computer science. Together, we develop systems and datasets to uncover media bias or unbalanced coverage. Our shared vision is to understand how and why people perceive news content as biased or one-sided. Alongside Media Bias Group, I was awarded German EXIST funding to establish an industry-oriented start-up,  Tegami.ai, where we are developing a narrative-analysis API for our pilot client, Suedkurier.

Outside of my academic career, I have over ten years of experience as a web designer and founder, completing several internships and applying my multimedia, journalistic, and computer science skills to various research projects. Among other achievements, I was one of the first interns at Celonis, Germany’s youngest-ever unicorn, and founded Bodensee-liebe.com and Kneipentour-konstanz.de, which are now successfully managed by a separate CEO. One company focuses on sustainable fashion, and the other on events that bring people together—both of which I consider important causes.

Throughout my studies, I was a scholarship holder in the journalistic excellence program at the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung. I actively review for EMNLP and the ACL ARR and serve as a board member of the University Association for Information Science. I have supervised over 30 master’s and bachelor’s theses and have mentored Ph.D. students and young researchers, including Smi Hinterreiter, Martin Wessel, Tomáš Horych, Fei Wu, and Christoph Mandl.

In my spare time, I work on my music project, T_o, producing progressive electronic music with a focus on electric guitar. I am also a board member of Marktvolk von Espen, an acting group with over 100 members. I enjoy trying new things, especially skiing, cross-country skiing, hiking, swimming, and surfing.