On June 23, 2026, the Process Innovation and Automation Lab (PIA Lab) at the University of Duisburg-Essen opened its doors as part of the Essen Science Summer 2026. Under the title "AI Meets HR Processes: A Hands-On Look Into the Lab," around nine participants spent 2.5 hours exploring the future of human resources work in the age of artificial intelligence — practical, interactive, and free of charge.

What AI Can Do — and What It Cannot Replace

The event centered on a key question: Which tasks in HR processes can machines genuinely take over today — and which human competencies become not obsolete, but more important as a result? Speaker Jannis Nacke, together with student assistant Frederik Ernst, walked attendees step by step through a typical manual HR workflow before demonstrating live how AI tools can support, accelerate, or transform that same process. In front of the audience, the two built automations and AI workflows from scratch — making the technology tangible and immediately visible.

Program of the Evening

The afternoon was structured in three phases: After a welcome and an introduction explaining why HR processes make an ideal testing ground for AI applications, participants collectively reconstructed a typical manual HR workflow. The third segment brought everything together with a hands-on demonstration directly in the lab — a format designed to bridge theory and practice in real time.

Part of the Essen Science Summer 2026

The event was embedded in this year's Science Summer, held under the overarching theme "Future Skills — Human Competencies in the Context of Change and New Technologies." The PIA Lab used the platform to make research tangible and to foster dialogue between academia, industry, and the general public.