🎓 Congratulations to Dr. DIAH APRIYANTI! 🎉
We are proud to congratulate Dr. Diah Apriyanti on successfully defending her PhD thesis on 7 May in the Datamanagement & Biometrics group. Her research, supervised by prof. dr. P.J.F. Lucas and dr. ir. L.J. Spreeuwers from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, represents an important contribution to the field of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).
Focusing on the orchid family — Orchidaceae, one of the largest and most diverse plant families — Diah developed a novel approach for interpretable flower identification. Unlike conventional "black-box" systems, her method combines machine learning with taxonomist knowledge, enabling users to both identify orchid species and understand the reasoning behind each classification.
Her work includes the creation of a unique annotated dataset, the development of deep-learning-based color classifiers, and the use of Bayesian networks to integrate uncertain expert knowledge — resulting in an accurate and trustworthy identification system.
Beyond its value for botanists and plant enthusiasts, Diah’s research has broader relevance in the growing field of XAI, offering insights that can be applied across domains where transparency in AI is critical.
