I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Computer Science at University of Duisburg-Essen, working on approximative fixpoint theory with applications to reinforcement learning under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Barbara König.

My broader research interests include formal guarantees for (deep) reinforcement learning agents, and the quantitative verification and control of probabilistic and of concurrent systems.

Publications

• Florian Wittbold, Rebecca Bernemann, Reiko Heckel, Tobias Heindel, Barbara König: Stochastic Decision Petri Nets. Petri Nets 2023: 264-285
• Simon Lutz, Daniil Kaminskyi, Florian Wittbold, Simon Dierl, Falk Howar, Barbara König, Emmanuel Müller, Daniel Neider: Unsupervised Automata Learning via Discrete Optimization. JELIA (1) 2025: 135-153
• Paolo Baldan, Sebastian Gurke, Barbara König, Tommaso Padoan, Florian Wittbold: Approximating Fixpoints of Approximated Functions. CAV (2) 2025: 193-215 (Distinguished Paper)
• Paolo Baldan, Sebastian Gurke, Barbara König, Florian Wittbold: Computing Fixpoints of Learned Functions: Chaotic Iteration and Simple Stochastic Games. TACAS (1) 2026: 547-565

Professional Activities

Talks and Presentations

(conference presentations associated with a paper are omitted)

• Approximating Fixed Points of Approximated Functions @ ISTA Vienna 2024.
• Approximating Fixed Points of Approximated Functions @ iCIS Nijmegen 2025.
• Computing Fixpoints of Learned Functions @ DCON 2026.

Research Visits and Summer Schools

• Department of Mathematics, University of Padova (hosted by Paolo Baldan). 2023 and 2025.
• Summer School Marktoberdorf. 2023.
• Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA, hosted by Thomas Henzinger). 2024.
• Institute for Computing and Information Sciences (iCIS), Radboud University Nijmegen (hosted by Sebastian Junges). 2025.

Teaching Assistance

• Computability and Complexity, bachelor course, winter semesters 22-26, University of Duisburg-Essen. Exercise groups, tutoring, and organization.
• Automata and Formal Systems, bachelor course, summer semesters 23-26, University of Duisburg-Essen. Exercise groups, tutoring, and organization.
• Quantitative Models in Computer Science, bachelor+master seminar, winter semester 22/23, University of Duisburg-Essen. Organization and supervision.
• Games in Computer Science, bachelor+master seminar, winter semesters 23/24, 25/26, and summer semester 24, University of Duisburg-Essen. Organization and supervision.
• Graphs in Computer Science, bachelor+master seminar, winter semester 24/25 and summer semester 25, University of Duisburg-Essen. Organization and supervision.
• Logic: Theory and Applications, bachelor+master seminar, summer semester 26, University of Duisburg-Essen. Supervision.

Thesis Supervision

• Ein Werkzeug zum Lernen von gewichteten Automaten. Master thesis, 2023.
• Optimal Decision-making in Probabilistic Systems. Bachelor thesis, 2023.
• Designing and Evaluating CAPTCHA Identification Systems with Deep Learning Methods. Bachelor thesis, 2023.
• Entwicklung und Evaluation von Reinforcement-Learning-Algorithmen. Master thesis, 2023.
• Lernen von stochastischen Petri-Netzen. Bachelor thesis, 2024.
• Model-Checking für stochastische Petri-Netze. Master thesis, 2024.
• Implementation and Evaluation of a Tool for Model-Checking Computation Tree Logic (CTL). Bachelor thesis, 2024.
• A Tool for Solving Graph Problems with an SMT-Solver. Bachelor thesis, 2024.
• Ein Werkzeug für gewichtete Graphprobleme unter Einsatz von SMT-Solvern. Bachelor thesis, 2025.
• Implementierung von Lösungsverfahren für Flussprobleme: maximaler Fluss und minimale Kosten. Bachelor thesis, 2025.
• A Tool for Analyzing Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes. Master thesis, 2026.