It's me! Christian Beth, PhD Candidate
Archaeoinformatics - Data Science Group
Department of Computer Science
Kiel University, Germany

Bio

I am a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Kiel University, Germany, where I work with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz on knowledge discovery from semi-structured data. My work spans multiple data modalities, e.g., textual, spatial, and networked data, and is united by a focus on semantics-aware processing: the idea that respecting and exploiting the meaningful structure inherent in data leads to richer, more actionable knowledge. My current research interest centers on heterogeneous information networks (HINs) - graphs in which both nodes and edges carry semantic type information - where I am developing scalable algorithms for similarity search and structural pattern mining. Before this, I completed my M.Sc. at Kiel University in 2020, investigating high-pass graph filters to tackle oversmoothing in deep graph neural networks.

Languages: German · Norwegian · English

Keywords: Knowledge Discovery · Semi-structured Data · Pattern Mining · Heterogeneous Information Networks · Spatio-temporal Data · Similarity Search · Index Structures

Selected Publications

For a full list of publications, check out my DBLP record or my Google scholar profile.

  • k-Local Graphs. Christian Beth, Pamela Fleischmann, Annika Huch, Daniyal Kazempour, Peer Kröger, Andrea Kulow, Matthias Renz, DCFS 2025
    (journal version invited to special issue of JALC 2026, under review)
  • SUSTeR: Sparse Unstructured Spatio Temporal Reconstruction on Traffic Prediction. Yannick Wölker, Christian Beth, Matthias Renz, Arne Biastoch, SIGSPATIAL 2023
  • Integrating Automated Annotation of Magnetic Prospection Data into GIS Workflows in Archaeology (Demo Paper, 🥈Best Demo Runner-Up). Steffen Strohm, Finn Witzany, Christian Beth, Matthias Renz, SIGSPATIAL 2023
  • Crack Detection and Localization based on Spatio-Temporal Data using Residual Networks. Fathalla Moreh, Hao Lyu, Christian Beth, Steffen Strohm, Zarghaam Haider Rizvi, Frank Wuttke, Matthias Renz, SSDBM 2022
  • Geo-Quantities: A Framework for Automatic Extraction of Measurements and Spatial Context from Scientific Documents (Demo Paper). Thorge Petersen, Muhammad Asif Suryani, Christian Beth, Hardik Patel, Klaus Wallmann, and Matthias Renz, SSTD 2021

Awards

  • 🏆Outstanding Performance Award, 2025, 6th ACM Europe Summer School on Data Science
  • 🥈Best Demo Runner-Up Award, 2023, ACM SIGSPATIAL 2023

Conference Organization

Review Experience

I have assisted with the review process for several venues in the database and data mining community, including VLDB (2021, 2023, 2024), SIGMOD (2022, 2023, 2027), ICDM (2020, 2021, 2025), PKDD (2020, 2021), EDBT (2026), TKDE (2021), SDM (2022), and MDM (2026) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz.

Academic Visits & Training

  • Visiting researcher for 2-month at the University of Ioannina (UoI), Greece, March - April 2026
    with Prof. Dr. Nikos Mamoulis
  • 6th ACM Europe Summer School on Data Science, Ioannina, Greece, July 2025
    (🏆Outstanding Performance Award)
  • DAAD PPP (DAAD-funded research exchange), University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, October 2022, January 2023
    Efficient Algorithms for Discovering Motifs on Labelled and Dynamic Graphs,
    with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Prof. Dr. Reynold Cheng
  • DAAD PPP (DAAD-funded research exchange), University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, October 2019
    Motif Discovery in Heterogeneous Information Networks,
    with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Prof. Dr. Reynold Cheng (conducted as M.Sc. student)
  • DAAD PPP (DAAD-funded research exchange), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Chicago, USA September 2019
    Heterogeneous Information Network Management and Analysis,
    with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Prof. Dr. Philip S. Yu (conducted as M.Sc. student)
  • 3rd ACM Europe Summer School on Data Science, Athens, Greece, July 2019, (attended as M.Sc. student)

Thesis Co-Supervision

I have co-supervised 25+ theses at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level across topics spanning data mining and search & retrieval in networked, textual or spatial data. Note: As part of graduate training in our department, PhD candidates provide primary research and thesis supervision under the formal supervision of faculty members. Unless otherwise specified, these have been co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz at Kiel University.

  • Generating and Evaluating Random Heterogeneous Networks: Algorithmic Models and Parameter Optimization, Master’s thesis 2026
  • Gender Bias in Translations: Comparing English to gender-neutral Languages such as Finnish and Turkish, Bachelor’s thesis 2026 (Co-supervised with Dr. Pamela Fleischmann)
  • Calculating Typed Subgraph Counts in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2025
  • HINdex with Progressive Approximation for Efficient Similarity Search, Bachelor’s thesis 2024
  • Fine-tuning Large Language Models for Enhanced Information Extraction, Master’s thesis 2024 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz, Yannick Wölker, M.Sc., and Nelson Tavares de Sousa, M.Sc.)
  • Reverse k-Nearest-Neighbor Search in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2024
  • P-PathSim: Incorporating Spatial Proximity into the PathSim Algorithm, Master’s thesis 2024
  • Graphlet-based Similarity in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2023
  • Creating Degree-equivalent Heterogeneous Information Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2023
  • HINdex: Hierarchical Indexing of Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2023
  • Machine Learning-based Analysis of the Combined Effect of PPI Intake and Alcohol Consumption on the Microbiome, Bachelor’s thesis 2023 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Prof. Dr. Christoph Kaleta)
  • Heterogeneous Information Network Analysis: Synthetic Network Construction, Master’s thesis 2022
  • Hierarchical Clustering of Product Data in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2022
  • Identifying Usage Patterns in Webpages with Temporal Heterogeneous Motifs, Master’s thesis 2022
  • Contrastive Learning on Heterogeneous Graphs, Bachelor’s thesis 2022 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Yannick Wölker, M.Sc.)
  • Analyzing Data Characteristics to detect and Predict Quality Degradation of Machine Learning-based Systems, Master’s thesis 2022
  • Colored Motif Search in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2021
  • Extending the Expressiveness of Meta-Structures in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2021
  • Application of Language Models to Examine beta-lactam-resistant AMRs, Bachelor’s thesis 2021 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Prof. Dr. Tal Dagan)
  • Wave-based Damage Detection in Engineering Structures using Artificial Neural Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2021 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Steffen Strohm, M.Sc.)
  • Geo-Quantities: A Framework for Automatic Extraction of Measurements and Spatio-temporal Entities from Scientific Documents, Master’s thesis 2021 (Co-supervised with Prof. Dr. Matthias Renz and Mohammed Asif Suryani, M.Sc.)
  • Evaluating Meaningful Meta-Structures in Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2020
  • Probability-based Relevance Search in Uncertain Heterogeneous Information Networks, Master’s thesis 2020
  • Spatial Semantics Expansion for Computing Relevance on Heterogeneous Information Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2020
  • Relevance Measures in Temporal Heterogeneous Information Networks, Bachelor’s thesis 2020
  • Verortung von Fotodatein aus dem Kieler Stadtarchiv auf der Basis von Textlabels, Bachelor’s thesis 2020

Teaching

I have completed nearly 100 hours of university didactics training and taught the following courses at Kiel University:

  • Tutorial: Data Science (2021 - 2025), including co-development of lecture slides and course curriculum
  • Master’s Seminar: Data Science (2020, 2021, 2025)
  • Master’s Project: Data Science and Data Mining (2020, 2021, 2023, 2026)
  • Tutorial: Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (2019, 2020)
  • Tutorial: Efficient Similarity Search in Large Databases (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)
  • Tutorial: Information Systems (2020, 2021)
  • Tutorial: Database Systems (2023)
  • Tutorial: Geo-Information Systems (2021)
  • Tutorial: Introduction to Computer Science (2022)

Community & Outreach

  • Active member, Well-being Group, Department of Computer Science, Kiel University, 2024 – present
  • Co-organizer, RISC Dinner (quarterly research networking event), Department of Computer Science, Kiel University, 2024 – present
  • Volunteer mentor, Girls’ Day at the Department of Computer Science, Kiel University, 2026
  • Volunteer mentor, Girls Code @ CAU Kiel (January 2025, September 2025, February 2026).
    🥈The project was awarded 2nd place at the Medienkompetenzpreis Schleswig-Holstein 2026
  • Volunteer organizer, Landeswettbewerb Jugend forscht Schleswig-Holstein (2025, 2026)