How can data-driven methods be used to analyze business processes, improve the design of information systems, and support decision-making in organizations? This question lies at the heart of my research. I see business processes as the fundamental structures through which organizations coordinate action and create value. They connect strategy with execution and bring together people, organizational routines, and digital technologies in pursuit of shared goals. As organizations become increasingly digital and data-rich, these processes generate unprecedented opportunities to understand how work is performed, how decisions are made, and how organizational performance can be improved.

What continues to fascinate me about this research area is its inherently socio-technical nature. To design and execute effective and efficient business processes, organizations rely on the complex interplay between people, organizational structures, and digital systems. Understanding these interactions and designing systems that support them remains one of the most compelling challenges in our field.

To realize this vision, I draw on methods from computer science and information systems, publishing in leading outlets from both fields. My work is motivated by the goal of creating (business) value for users and organizations, which is why I closely cooperate with practice. I also closely couple my research and my teaching, promoting the dissemination of process analytics in organizations and receiving valuable impulses from my students.

Starting in September 2026, Jana-Rebecca Rehse is Associate Professor at the University of Zurich, where she leads the research group on Information Systems in Organizations. Prior to joining UZH, she was Junior Professor for management analytics and research group leader at the University of Mannheim (2020 – 2026) and Substitute Professor for intelligent information systems and processes at the University of Leipzig (2026). She obtained her PhD from Saarland University in 2019, while working as a researcher and project lead at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). In 2014, she was a visiting research scholar at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

Jana’s research focusses on data-driven business process management by means of process mining and machine learning. She is particularly interested in developing new solutions that create immediate (business) value for users and organizations. For that purpose, she employs a broad range of methods from both computer science and information systems research. This duality is reflected in her publications, which have appeared in leading journals and conferences in both fields, including the ACM Transactions on Software Engineering & Methodology and the Journal of the Association of Information Systems. Her work has been funded by the German Ministry of Research (BMFTR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).