PADS - Process And Data Science

The Process and Data Science Group, headed by Prof. Wil van der Aalst, is one of the research units in the Department of Computer Science of RWTH Aachen University. The scope of PADS includes all activities where discrete processes are analyzed, reengineered, and/or supported in a data-driven manner. Process-centricity is combined with an array of Data Science techniques. The group’s research and teaching activities can be characterized by the keywords: Data Science, Process Science, Process Mining, Business Process Management, Data Mining, Process Discovery, Conformance Checking, and Simulation. The group has been established in the context of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship awarded to Prof. Wil van der Aalst in 2017. The award is Germany’s most prestigious and valuable prize for international researchers. The PADS group supports RWTH’s strategy to further strengthen its Data Science capabilities. The group also closely collaborates with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT). Currently, the main research focus is on Process Mining (including process discovery, conformance checking, performance analysis, predictive analytics, operational support, and process improvement). This is combined with neighboring disciplines such as operations research, algorithms, discrete event simulation, business process management, and workflow automation.