Thomas Schmickl (Master: Salzburg, Austria 1998; Ph.D.: Graz, Austria 2001; Habilitation: Graz, Austria 2012) is an Associate Professor at Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria, and a lecturer at the University for Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Austria. He is the founder of the Artificial Life Lab Graz, which is an interdisciplinary research lab hosting biologists, computer scientists, and simulation engineers. The laboratory researches swarm intelligence, biological self-organization, ecology, evolution, swarm robotics, modular robotics, and bio-inspired algorithms. He is a leading scientist in various international research projects such as I-Swarm, Symbrion, Replicator, CoCoRo & ASSISIbf, FloraRobotica and subCULTron. Prof. Schmickl researches and teaches ecological relationships among species, including mathematical modeling and simulation of ecosystems. He also researches evolutionary dynamics in ecosystems, information processing and collective computation in social insect colonies, and other dynamics in decentralized multi-component systems such as collective decision making, opinion polling, and collective homeostasis. In recent years Dr. Schmickl has supervised research grants of more than $6 million, and he has published in his scientific career more than 130 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and book series, as well as eleven peer-reviewed chapters in scientific books. Local and international news (TV, radio, newspapers) have covered his research with various stories and features in recent years.

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