AI in Education · Cognitive Digital Twins · Handwritten STEM OCR

Vasyl Zalizko

Interdisciplinary researcher with Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics and Doctor of Economic Sciences. I design AI systems for education, handwritten STEM recognition, adaptive assessment, cognitive modelling, and scalable learning automation.

Current focus AI-assisted grading and handwritten STEM OCR
Swiss research ETH AI Center · PHZH Digital Change Research Center
Publications 200+ academic outputs
Funding experience €1M+ managed for education and science projects

Profile

My work connects rigorous mathematics, artificial intelligence, digital learning platforms, and practical educational transformation.

Research identity

I work at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, cognitive modelling, digitalisation, education, and mathematical-economic modelling. My research is strongly implementation-oriented: from theoretical models and empirical studies to deployable prototypes for schools, universities, and learning platforms.

A central part of my work is the development of AI-assisted tools for recognizing handwritten mathematical, physical, and STEM documents, as well as adaptive learning systems that support feedback, grading, and teacher decision-making.

Unique positioning: mathematical depth + AI engineering + educational research + real school deployment.

Core expertise

  • Handwritten STEM OCR and document segmentation
  • AI-assisted grading and adaptive feedback
  • Cognitive digital twins for student modelling
  • Learning analytics and educational data governance
  • Mathematical modelling and approximation theory
  • Cybersecurity and digital transformation
  • Prototype-to-production AI transfer
Python R MySQL OCR VLMs Moodle AI Education

Selected experience

Swiss and international experience in AI research, digital education, mathematical modelling, cybersecurity, and university-level teaching.

2026

Founder of the start-up "Swiss International Innovative School" and "MRI-IA"

The use of AI in education, the creation of digital twins, and the recognition and evaluation of handwritten text.

2025–2026

Research Associate / IT System Specialist · ETH Zürich, ETH AI Center

AI-assisted grading tools for handwritten texts; OCR and e-learning automation models; prototype development, integration, and impact-oriented AI strategy.

2024–2025

Scientific Collaborator · PHZH Digital Change Research Center

Design of empirical studies on AI-assisted mathematics instruction, classroom feasibility, teacher workload, data governance, consent, anonymisation, and compliance with Swiss research standards.

2018–2022

Scientific Collaborator · Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Research on economics, AI-powered educational transformation, technology transfer, forecasting, and digital learning technologies.

2012–2018

Full Professor or similar · National Academy of SSU

Cybersecurity, mathematical modelling, economic security assessment, and advanced educational programmes for high-responsibility professional contexts.

Research and innovation

The long-term research agenda is to create AI systems that can understand student work, support teachers, and preserve educational quality in high-stakes assessment.

Current research themes

  • AI-assisted grading tools for handwritten texts
  • Spline-guided segmentation of handwritten physico-mathematical documents
  • Multimodal cognitive digital twins for modelling student misconceptions
  • AI-supported mathematics learning scenarios
  • Ethical challenges in AI-enabled online learning
  • Educational security and post-war recovery through AI

Educational start-up and deployment

Founder and developer of educational AI initiatives including International Innovative School, AI-powered learning platforms, Mriia School, and AI Student Digital Twins.

These initiatives combine online learning infrastructure, teacher support, adaptive learning scenarios, and AI-based automation for scalable education.

Promising future directions

Based on your background, the most promising directions are those that combine your mathematical depth, AI implementation experience, Swiss research context, and real educational deployment.

01

AI for high-stakes assessment

Develop trustworthy AI systems for grading, exam support, reliability checks, rubric alignment, feedback generation, and bias-aware evaluation.

02

Handwritten STEM intelligence

Build OCR/HTR pipelines for mathematics, physics, chemistry, formulas, diagrams, multi-step solutions, and page-level document understanding.

03

Cognitive digital twins

Model student misconceptions, confidence, persistence, visual misunderstanding, textual misleadingness, and adaptive learning trajectories.

04

AI teacher assistants

Create assistants for lesson preparation, feedback, differentiated tasks, learning analytics, parent communication, and teacher workload reduction.

05

Assessment of AI-Driven Impacts on Economic Security

Assessment of AI-driven impacts on economic security, including productivity, digital transformation, cyber risks, labour market changes, institutional resilience, and strategic decision-making.

06

AI-powered online school infrastructure

Build next-generation school platforms integrating Moodle, RAG, Zoom, whiteboard interaction, automated assessment, and student analytics.

07

Humanoid and voice AI for learning

Explore humanoid robots and voice-based AI tutors as e-learning assistants for mathematics, science, languages, and special educational contexts.

08

AI for refugee and migrant education

Use AI-supported online learning to reduce educational inequality for Ukrainian pupils and other migrant learners in Switzerland and Europe.

09

Mathematical foundations of trustworthy AI

Connect approximation theory, shape-preserving models, spline methods, and robust document segmentation with reliable educational AI systems.

Curriculum Vitae

Full academic CV with education, research experience, projects, publications, technical skills, honours, awards, and selected achievements.

Contact

Open to research collaboration, AI-in-education projects, Swiss academic partnerships, school innovation, and prototype-to-production AI transfer.

Location Bahnhofstrasse 17
CH-9100 Herisau
Switzerland
Academic IDs Scopus: 57213012962
WoS: MZQ-3649-2025
ORCID: 0000-0001-5362-8270