Leonie & Oliver Bensch

Leonie Bensch is a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) of the European Space Agency (ESA). Her research focuses on utilizing Augmented Reality and head-up displays to enhance astronaut situational awareness and safety during future lunar spacewalks. Together with her husband Oliver, she is also developing an intelligent personal astronaut assistant that integrates large language models, knowledge graphs, and Augmented Reality cues. Leonie holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Psychology from Maastricht University, and a master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Siegen University. She is currently completing her PhD at RWTH Aachen University at the Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics. This fall, Leonie will join the MIT Media Lab as a visiting researcher.

Oliver Bensch is a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), specializing in AI and space technologies. He holds a Bachelor’s in Business Informatics from the University of Cologne and a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from Maastricht University. Currently pursuing a PhD, Oliver’s research focuses on combining large language models with knowledge graphs for automated scientific discovery and developing intelligent personal assistants for astronauts. He visited the Alan Turing Institute and Imperial College London and is closely collaborating with the University of Washington on the topic of automated scientific discovery.