Education

Dr. Sc. / PhD Applied Machine Learning in Digital Health (ETH)

• ETH Zurich: PhD Candidate & Doctoral Researcher at C4DHI (9/2020 - 3/2025)
• Harvard University: Visiting researcher at SEAS / STAT.RL (10/2023 - 4/2024)
• National University of Singapore (NUS): Visiting researcher at SEC / FHT (9/2022 - 1/2023)

        Project Website | ETH | C4DHI | SEAS | STAT.RL | NUS | SEC | FHT

M.Sc. Management & Technology (TUM)

• Technical University Munich (TUM): Graduate student (4/2014 - 10/2016)
• University of St. Gallen (HSG) & ETH Zurich: Master Thesis (SS 2016)
• Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB): Visiting student (WS 2015)

          Master Curriculum | TUM | HSG | ETH| UAB

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering (KIT)

• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Undergraduate student (10/2009 - 8/2013)
• University of Zurich (UZH) & ETH Zurich: Visiting student (SS 2012)

          Bachelor Curriculum | KIT | ETH | UZH

High School

• Städt. Meerbusch Gymnasium: Abitur (2009)
• Smithville Highschool: One-year student exchange in Arkansas and Oklahoma, USA (2005-2006)

Work Experience

caesar. Venture Capital

• Venture Partner, supporting €80M pre‑seed VC fund with AI, DeepTech & HealthTech investments.

           Website | 3/2025-Now

Centre for Digital Health Interventions (C4DHI): Research

• Competitive landscape analysis and meta-analysis of mHealth apps and machine learning methods
• Retrospective data analysis of longitudinal data sets from mHealth apps
• Development of user churn and nonadherence prediction models for Digital Health Interventions
• Worked with multiple Digital Health companies, including WayBetter Inc., Pathmate Technologies, and Vivira Health Lab.

           C4DHI | Project Website | 9/2020-Now

Statistical Reinforcement Learning Lab (StatRL) at Harvard: Research

• Computer Science Fellow with Prof. Susan A Murphy's Statistical Reinforcement Learning Lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences (SEAS)
• Designing a MRT to prevent early user churn in a commercial mobile weight loss intervention
• Exploration of RL algorithms for churn prevention in mHealth apps
• Joined the Harvard Innovation Labs to explore MLaaS solutions for user churn prevention

           SEAS | StatRL | Harvard Innovation labs | 10/2023-4/2024

Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) at Dartmouth: Research

• Collaborated with Prof. Catherine Stanger's team at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine on researching the impact of monetary incentives and personal coaching on app usage of a digital health intervention for young adults with type 1 diabetes (SweetGoals project)
• Conducted data analyses of a 2x2 Factorial Randomized Trial.

           CTBH | Project Presentation | 10/2023-2/2024

Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) at NUS: Research

• Visiting Researcher within the Future Health Technologies (FHT) module at the National University of Singapore (NUS)
• Development of a gamified lifestyle digital health intervention for Singaporeans

           SEC | NUS | FHT | 9/2022-1/2023

Forest Ring Games GmbH: Co-founder & Managing Director

• Development of multiplayer real-time games (Android, iOS)
• Shipped apps to >250,000 players reaching Top 25 app charts
• Completed two accelerator programs (LMU EC & UnternehmerTUM)
• Led two funding rounds, Friendly Exit in 2020

           PitchBook | PR Funding Round | Mobile Game | BayStartupAward | 11/2016-9/2020

Fortiss: Software Development

• Model-based development of automatization software for Industry 4.0 und Smart Factory applications
• Creation of GUI control elements, search masks, user activity histories, and time tracking functions
• Creation of training materials and tutorials for the model-based software AutoFOCUS3

           Fortiss | Company Website | AutoFOCUS 3 | 4/2016-10/2016

Infineon Technologies: Procurement

• Project Management of global webEDI Onboarding
• Management of Procurement Channels & KPI activities

           Infineon | Company Website | 3/2016-9/2016

‍Volkswagen de México: Production Planning

• Assisted head of production planning of VW’s biggest foreign production plant across all manufacturing modules
• Cost calculation and documentation of the then newly built e-Golf production facility with a key function in negotiations
• Creation, correction, and translation of board documents

           Volkswagen De Mexico| Company Website | 9/2013-2/2014

Accenture PLC: Consulting

• Worked in enterprise transformation and project management projects in two DAX-40 companies
• Process design, project management, portfolio analysis in the area of application operations
• Creation of committee documents, process documentations, cost and profitability calculations

           Accenture| Company Website | 9/2012-9/2013

Schages GmbH & Co. KG: Technical Intern

• 2D/3D CAD Programming: Processing of design documents for CNC laser processing systems
• Basic engineering education: Turning, drilling, filing, milling and welding

           Company Website | 8/2009-9/2009

Wesser GmbH: Fundraising

• Planned and operated campaigns for the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) and Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH)
• Personally raised approx. €640,000 as one of the most effective fundraisers in both organizations’ history

           BRK | JUH | Company Website | 6/2008-9/2019

Languages

• German (Native)
• English (C2)
• Spanish (B2)
• French (A2)
• Italian (A1)
• Latin (Latinum Certificate)

Software Experience

• ‍Programming Languages: Python, R, HTML, CSS, JS, VBA, Java, ObjC, Swift, C#, HTML, TeX, BASIC, XML, UML‍
• Programming Tools: Android Studio, Xcode, Eclipse, Visual Studio Code, Jupyter Notebooks, LaTeX, CAD, MATLAB, Gretl, GNU Octave
• ‍Data Analysis & Machine Learning Tools: MATLAB, SPSS, PSPP, Power BI, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn, Pytorch, Google Analytics & Firebase, Gameanalytics, Playfab, AppsFlyer, Facebook Business Manager, Countly, Numpy, Pandas, Matplotlib
• Software Tools: Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms, MS Office & Sharepoint, SAP, Adobe CC, Adobe Captivate
• Web Development Tools: Webflow, Wordpress
• ‍Database & Cloud Services: MySQL, MongoDB‍
• Communication Tools: MS Teams, Skype, Zoom, Slack, Jira, Trello, Discord‍
• General: app development, web development, project management (scrum, kanban), data analysis (support vector machines, regression analysis, decision tree, deep learning, database warehousing, data visualization), graphics and video editing

Extracurricular Certificates & Training

Machine Learning & Data Science

• Machine Learning - Coursera / Stanford University (~60h). [Certificate]‍
• Reinforcement Learning - Coursera / University of Alberta (~72h). [Certificate]
• Neural Networks and Deep Learning - DeepLearning.AI (~24h). [Certificate]‍
• Generative AI with Large Language Models - DeepLearning.AI (~16h). [Certificate]‍
• Data Scientist: Machine Learning - Codecademy Professional Certification (>100h). [Certificate]‍‍
• Data Scientist: Analytics - Codecademy Professional Certification (>100h). [Certificate]
• Data Scientist: Inference Specialist - Codecademy Career Path (>50h). [Certificate]
• Business Intelligence Data Analyst - Codecademy Career Path (>50h). [Certificate]‍
• ‍>15 Codecademy Courses & Skill Paths - related to Python, R, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, Statsmodels, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Seaborn, SQL, Regex, Git, Bash, ChatGPT, Excel, Tableau, etc. (>100h). [Certificates]
• Vibe Coding 101 with Replit - DeepLearning.AI (~2h). [Certificate]‍

‍Healthcare & Digital Health

• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - Coursera / Stanford University (~60h). [Certificate]‍
• Essentials of Global Health - Coursera / Yale University (~70h). [Certificate]
• The Science of Well-Being - Coursera / Yale University (~19h). [Certificate]‍
• ‍Understanding Medical Research - Coursera / Yale University (~16h). [Certificate]‍‍
• Health Behavior Change: From Evidence to Action - Coursera / Yale University (~15h). [Certificate]‍‍
• Introduction to Psychology - Coursera / Yale University (~14h). [Certificate]‍‍
• Health Informatics - Coursera / Johns Hopkins University (~10h). [Certificate]
• Medical Neuroscience - Coursera / Duke University (currently enrolled)

Business Strategy & Finance

• Digital Transformation - Coursera / BCG & University of Virginia (~14h). [Certificate]‍
• Private Equity and Venture Capital - Coursera / Bocconi University (~10h). [Certificate]‍
• The Economics of Healthcare Delivery - Coursera / PennMed Wharton (~6h). [Certificate]

Research

• Good Clinical Practice - Harvard University. [Certificate] [Report]
• Information Privacy Security (IPS) - Harvard University. [Certificate] [Report]
• Social & Behavioral Research Investigators - Harvard University. [Certificate] [Report]
• Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research - Harvard University. [Certificate] [Report]

Leisure and Fun

• Sailing and Motor Boat Licenses - Sportküstenschifferschein (SKS), Sportbootführerschein (SBF) Binnen und See, Bodenseeschifferpatent (BSP), Short-Range-Certificate (SRC)
• Scuba Diving Certification -  PADI Open Water Diver (OWD) & Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD)‍
• Driver's Licenses - A1, B, C1

Teaching Activities

• Digital Health in Practice, University of Zurich (FS 2023). [Link]‍
• Digital Therapeutics Project, University of St.Gallen (SS 2023). [Link]‍
• Digital Health in Practice, University of Zurich (FS 2022). [Link]‍
• Digital Health Project Course, University of St.Gallen (SS 2022). [Link]‍
• Digital Health Project Course, ETH Zurich (FS 2021). [Link]‍
• Digital Health Project Course, University of St.Gallen (SS 2021). [Link]‍
• Digital Health Project Course, ETH Zurich (FS 2020). [Link]

Publications

Published Works

• ‍Jakob R, Lepper N, Fleisch E, Kowatsch T. Predicting early user churn in a public digital weight loss intervention. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24), May 11–16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA. DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3642321 [Link]

• Jakob R, Narauskas J, Fleisch E, König LM, Kowatsch T. Factors associated with adherence to a public mobile nutritional health intervention: retrospective cohort study. Computers in Human Behavior Reports. 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100445 [Link]

• Mair JL, Salamanca-Sanabria A, Frese B, Abend S, Jakob R, Kowatsch T, Haug S. Effective Behavior Change Techniques in Digital Health Interventions for the Prevention or Management of Noncommunicable Diseases: An Umbrella Review. 2023. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. DOI: 10.1093/abm/kaad041. [Link]

• Jakob R, Harperink S, Rudolf A, Fleisch E, Haug S, Mair J, Salamanca-Sanabria A, Kowatsch T. Factors Influencing Adherence to mHealth Apps for Prevention or Management of Noncommunicable Diseases: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res 2022;24(5):e35371. DOI:10.2196/35371 [Link]‍

• Paz Castro R, Haug S, Debelak R, Jakob R, Kowatsch T, Schaub M. Engagement With a Mobile Phone–Based Life Skills Intervention for Adolescents and Its Association With Participant Characteristics and Outcomes: Tree-Based Analysis. J Med Internet Res 2022;24(1):e28638. DOI:10.2196/28638 [Link]‍

• Federal Office of Public Health of the Swiss Confederation (BAG). Faktenblatt: Erfolgsfaktoren von mHealth-Applikationen. 2022. [Link]‍

• Haug S, Augsburger M, Jakob R, Kowatsch T. Literaturstudie zu Verhaltensänderungen durch mHealth Applikationen. 2021. Federal Office of Public Health of the Swiss Confederation (BAG). DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000549326. [Link]‍

• Tinschert P, Jakob R, Barata F, Kramer J, Kowatsch T. The Potential of Mobile Apps for Improving Asthma Self-Management: A Review of Publicly Available and Well-Adopted Asthma Apps. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2017; 5(8):e113. DOI:10.2196/mhealth.7177 [Link]

To be published

• ‍Jakob R, Mueller F, Lepper N, Mekniran W, Barata F, Fleisch E, Kowatsch T. User churn prediction with mobile app data: Systematic Review. [Study Protocol Link]

• Jakob R Plaitano E, Santhanam P, Mishra V, Kowatsch T, Stanger C. The Impact of Monetary Incentives and Web-Based Health Coaching on Adherence to a Mobile Health Intervention for Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes (SweetGoals).‍

Ongoing Projects

• Jakob R, Benning L, Sévin CM, Von Wangenheim F, Fleisch E, Kowatsch T. Predicting Nonadherence to Mobile Health Interventions (Manoa & Vivira).

• Mekniran W, Jakob R, Mair JL, Gand K, Schlieter H, Castro O, Nißen M, Huynh P, Giger OF, Bischof AY, Pfitzer E, Frese B, Londral A, Fleisch E, Kowatsch T, Jovanova M. Prevention over cure: a prevention-first framework for noncommunicable diseases.

Peer-Review Activities

• npj Digital Medicine [Link]
• ‍BMC Digital Health [Link]
• ‍ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2023, 2024 & 2025) [Link]
• ‍Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) [Link]
• ‍18th International Conference on Business Informatics (WI23) [Link]
• ‍International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2023 & 2024). [Link]

Conference & Event Attendances

• Y Combinator in Zurich, April 25, Zurich, Switzerland [Link]‍
• Blue Lion X futureSAX Investor Roadshow, April 24, Zurich, Switzerland [Link]‍
• ETH Student Project House Investors Pitch Event, April 8, Zurich, Switzerland [Link]‍
• Entrepreneurs First Builders Day, April 6, Zurich, Switzerland [Link]‍
• 139th SICTIC Investor Day, April 3, Lindau, Switzerland [Link]‍
• Start Summit 2025, March 20-21, 2025, St. Gallen, Switzerland. [Link]‍
• Launch by ETH Entrepreneur Club & SICTIC, October 18, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland. [Link]‍
• ETH AI+X Summit, October 3-4, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland. [Link]‍
• Digital Health Summit, June 11, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland. [Link]‍
• 12th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII), June 2-5, 2024, Limerick, Ireland. [Link]‍
• CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24), May 11–16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, USA. [Link]‍
• Harvard Venture Capital Group 2024 Entrepreneurship Summit, March 24, 2024, Boston, MA, USA. [Link]‍
• 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), March 13-16, 2024, Philadelphia, PA, USA. [Link]‍
• mDOT Center's Annual Meeting 2023 & Generative mHealth Workshop, October 30-31, 2023, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. [Link 1] [Link 2]‍
• CTBH Digital Health Summit 2023, October 25, 2023, Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA. [Link]‍
• Gamescom 2018, August 21-25, 2018, Cologne, Germany. [Link]‍
• Bits&Pretzels - the Founders Festival 2017, September 24-26, 2017, Munich, Germany. [Link]‍
• Bits&Pretzels - the Founders Festival 2016, September 25-27, 2016, Munich, Germany. [Link]

Scholarships & Awards

• ETH Doc.Mobility Fellowship (2023) related to 6-months research stay at Harvard University [Link]‍
• ETH Kite Award Nominee (2022) related to Digital Health Lecture [Link]
• Federal Office of Public Health / BAG Research Grant (2020) related to Digital Health study [Link]
• BayStartUp Award (2017): Jury entrepreneurial award [Link]‍
• EXIST Business Startup Grant (2017): EUR 125,000 government stipend for entrepreneurs [Link]‍
• Erasmus+ Grant (2015) related to exchange semester at UAB in Spain [Link]‍
• Volkswagen Foundation Grant (2013) related to VW internship in Mexico [Link]

Press Coverage & Presentations

• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (March 2025): Congratulations to Robert Jakob on Successfully Defending His PhD Thesis
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (May 2024): Congratulations to Robert Jakob on his ACM CHI Paper on Churn Prediction‍
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (May 2024): Panel Discussion at ISRII 12th Annual Scientific Meeting, Limerick, Ireland‍
• Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine (March 2023): Enhancing Engagement with Digital Health Interventions: The impact of monetary incentives and personal coaching on app usage of a digital health intervention for young adults with type 1 diabetes (SweetGoals)‍
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (November 2023): Doctoral Researcher Begins Fellowship at Harvard University‍
• Singapore-ETH Centre (November 2022): FHT guest lecture: Factors influencing adherence to Digital Health Interventions by Robert Jakob‍
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (November 2022): Future Health Technologies Guest Lecture by Robert Jakob on Factors Influencing Adherence to Digital Health Interventions‍
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (September 2022): CDHI Quarterly Meeting with the Behavioural Health & Disease Prevention CORE‍
• Centre for Digital Health Interventions (May 2022): New Publication on Factors Influencing Adherence to mHealth Apps‍
• Singapore ETH Centre (May 2022): A systematic review of factors affecting adherence to mHealth apps‍
• ETH Zurich (January 2022): Nominated projects KITE Award 2022‍‍
• GamesWirtschaft (April 2019): Forest Ring Games. Kersting invests in Games-Startup‍
• Munich Startup (October 2017): Cashwalk 2017: International quality attracts investors‍‍
• Pressebox (March 2017): ‍The 10 startup winners in phase 1 of the Business Plan Competition Northern Bavaria 2017‍
• startUPdate (March 2017): Bavarian Business Plan Competition 2017: Winners of Phase 1

Memberships

• 2024 - Sigma Xi [Link]
• 2024 - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) [Link]
• 2023 - Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) [Link]
• 2023 - Harvard Innovation Labs [Link]
• 2023 - Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs [Link]
• 2023 - European AI Alliance [Link]
• 2023 - ETH AI Center [Link]
• 2018 - LMU Entrepreneurship Center (LMU EC) [Link]
• 2018 - unternehmerTUM accelerator [Link]
• 2011 - talKIT - KIT Technology Forum [Link]