IWI cordially congratulates Dr. Julian Neugebauer to his successfull doctorate!

22 January 2026, by Julia Bachale

Photo: UHH/Bachale

The IWI congratulates its dear colleague, Dr. Julian Neugebauer, on his doctorate. On January 22, 2026, Mr. Neugebauer successfully defended his dissertation with the title “Business-Oriented Digital Twins and Applications in Container Terminal Logistics.”

The following interview appeared in the Business Administration Newsletter on January 29, 2026

Content:
Container terminals are under pressure: increased throughput, tougher competition, and rising environmental requirements call for significantly more efficient processes.

My dissertation shows how a digital twin creates transparency at EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH), among other places, derives requirements and meaningful use cases in a structured manner, and thus initiates concrete optimizations.
Based on this, I use machine learning models such as XGBoost, Random Forest, and neural networks to accurately predict the travel and waiting times of straddle carriers and support better routing and scheduling decisions.
In combination with (meta-)heuristics and dynamic driving strategies, it becomes clear how travel times, fuel consumption, and emissions can be measurably reduced—and how digital methods can render data into a real operational impact on the terminal.

Supervisors of my Dissertation:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Voß, Dr. Leonard Heilig

Examiners:
Prof. Dr. Simone Neumann, Prof. Dr. Stefan Voß, Prof. Dr. Markus Nüttgens

My experience at the Business School:
At the Institute for Information Systems (IWI) - being part of the Hamburg Business School - I had the unique opportunity to pursue my interests while applying the findings of my research in the industry. The open and welcoming working atmosphere was just as important to my career path as the expertise of my many colleagues. I am very grateful to the IWI team for this wholesome time!

My plans for the future:
Since the beginning of 2025, I have been working at the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, where I am playing a key role in shaping the digitalization of the company. In the future, I would like to use my gained experiences to promote better decision making and greater environmental protection in industrial processes with the help of digitalization.