Author

About Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

Dr Mascha Kurpicz-Briki is a professor of Data Engineering at the Institute for Data Applications and Security (IDAS) at Bern University of Applied Sciences, and co-head of the Applied Machine Intelligence research group and the Generative AI Lab. Her research focuses, amongst other things, on the responsible use of AI and the efficient deployment of small language models. In this context, she is the founder of the spin-off company Tomyra AI.

Entries by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

Small Models, Own Data: How SMEs Can Stay Independent with AI

Quotations, customer data, internal processes: do you really want to upload these to a third-party cloud in order to use AI? Small language models show that there is an alternative. They run locally, are economical to operate and can be adapted to specific needs, allowing SMEs to retain control over their data. The most efficient […]

Women in AI and Data Science: A conversation with Prof. Dr Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

25. March 2026/in Interview EN, Machine Intelligence EN/by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

For this article, we spoke to Prof. Dr Mascha Kurpicz-Briki, a professor of computer science and researcher in the field of AI. What is the current state of gender representation in AI and data science, particularly in Switzerland? The available data shows a clear and persistent imbalance. Globally, the proportion of women in AI […]

Transition Instead of Exit – a digital matching platform for career transitions within nursing

6. November 2025/in Digital Health EN, Professional Contribution EN/by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

The “Transition instead of exit” project encourages nurses to stay in the care sector. Nurses who want to resign or have already resigned are connected with suitable employers via a digital platform. The project was initiated and is supported by the Swiss Professional Association of Nurses, Bern Section (SBK Bern). Initial situation The global shortage […]

Project MentalWords: Efficient collection of text data in a clinical environment and linguistic analyses

22. October 2025/in Digital Health EN, Professional Contribution EN/by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

The MentalWordsproject is investigating what happens to linguistic expression when someone is affected by mental health problems. But first of all, it needs data. Important questions, less data Natural language processing (NLP) is increasingly being used to better understand mental health. This involves automatically analysing texts such as forum posts or conversation transcripts in order […]

SmartSDM: The use of digital tools and wearables for people with severe mental illnesses

18. September 2025/in Digital Health EN, Professional Contribution EN/by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

A BFH research project has investigated how digital tools and wearable devices are used by people with severe mental illness. Digital transformation and severe mental health problems People with severe mental illnesses such as psychosis or severe depression have hardly benefited from advances in digital healthcare to date. While numerous apps and online services have […]

BFH Applied Machine Intelligence at ACL 2025

28. August 2025/in Augmented Intelligence EN, Event report EN/by Mascha Kurpicz-Briki

The 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL 2025) took place from July 27 to August 1, 2025, at the Austria Center Vienna. ACL is the world’s leading conference in the field of computational linguistics and natural language processing (NLP), bringing together researchers from academia and industry to present the latest advances […]