Research Associate / Doctoral Student

Contact: +49 (0) 6151 / 1620943 | henkel(at)peasec.tu-darmstadt.de

Technical University of Darmstadt, Department of Computer Science,
Science and Technology for Peace and Security (PEASEC)
Pankratiusstrasse 2, 64289 Darmstadt, Room 111

EN

Markus Henkel, M.Sc. is a research associate and doctoral student at Science and Technology for Peace and Security (PEASEC) in the Department of Computer Science at Technical University of Darmstadt. He works in the project emergenCITY to strengthen the resilience of digital cities.

His research interests lie in the field of human-computer interaction in conjunction with safety and security related questions, aiming to improve preparedness and response to crises and emergencies.

He studied computer science at Technical University of Darmstadt for his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. During his master thesis, he dealt with the users’ perspective on peer-to-peer-based communication, which can be used during Internet outages to keep up digital communication in neighbourhoods. During his studies, he worked as student assistant at PEASEC.

DE

Markus Henkel, M.Sc. ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter und Doktorand am Lehrstuhl Wissenschaft und Technik für Frieden und Sicherheit (PEASEC) im Fachbereich Informatik der Technischen Universität Darmstadt. Er arbeitet im Projekt emergenCITY zur Erhöhung der Resilienz in digitalen Städten.

Seine Forschungsinteressen liegen im Bereich Human-Computer Interaction in Verbindung mit sicherheitsrelevanten Fragestellungen, um vor und während Krisen oder Gefahren besser mit solchen umgehen zu können.

Er studierte Informatik im Bachelor und Master an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt. Während der Masterarbeit setzte er sich mit der Nutzersicht auf Peer-to-peer-basierte Kommunikation auseinander, mithilfe derer Nachbarschaften während Internetausfällen weiterhin miteinander kommunizieren können. Während des Studiums arbeitete er als studentische Hilfskraft (HiWi) bei PEASEC.

Publications

2025

  • Jasmin Haunschild, Markus Henkel, Christian Reuter (2025)
    Breaking Down Barriers to Warning Technology Adoption: Usability and Usefulness of a Messenger App Warning Bot
    i-com – Journal of Interactive Media ;24(1). doi:10.1515/icom-2024-0067
    [BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]

    In crisis situations, citizens’ situational awareness is paramount for an effective response. While warning apps offer location-based alerts, their usage is relatively low. We propose a personalised messaging app channel as an alternative, presenting a warning bot that may lower adoption barriers. We employ the design science research process to define user requirements and iteratively evaluate and improve the bot’s usability and usefulness. The results showcase high usability, with over 40\% expressing an interest in utilising such a warning channel, stressing as reasons the added value of proactive warnings for personalised locations while not requiring a separate app. The derived requirements and design solutions, such as graphically enhanced user interface elements as guardrails for effective and error-free communication, demonstrate that a suitable warning chatbot does not necessarily require complex language processing capabilities. Additionally, our findings facilitate further research on accessibility via conversational design in the realm of crisis warnings.

    @article{haunschildBreakingBarriersWarning2025,
title = {Breaking {Down} {Barriers} to {Warning} {Technology} {Adoption}: {Usability} and {Usefulness} of a {Messenger} {App} {Warning} {Bot}},
volume = {24},
copyright = {De Gruyter expressly reserves the right to use all content for commercial text and data mining within the meaning of Section 44b of the German Copyright Act.},
issn = {2196-6826},
shorttitle = {Breaking down barriers to warning technology adoption},
url = {https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/icom-2024-0067/html},
doi = {10.1515/icom-2024-0067},
abstract = {In crisis situations, citizens' situational awareness is paramount for an effective response. While warning apps offer location-based alerts, their usage is relatively low. We propose a personalised messaging app channel as an alternative, presenting a warning bot that may lower adoption barriers. We employ the design science research process to define user requirements and iteratively evaluate and improve the bot's usability and usefulness. The results showcase high usability, with over 40\% expressing an interest in utilising such a warning channel, stressing as reasons the added value of proactive warnings for personalised locations while not requiring a separate app. The derived requirements and design solutions, such as graphically enhanced user interface elements as guardrails for effective and error-free communication, demonstrate that a suitable warning chatbot does not necessarily require complex language processing capabilities. Additionally, our findings facilitate further research on accessibility via conversational design in the realm of crisis warnings.},
language = {en},
number = {1},
journal = {i-com – Journal of Interactive Media},
author = {Haunschild, Jasmin and Henkel, Markus and Reuter, Christian},
month = feb,
year = {2025},
note = {Publisher: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag},
keywords = {Crisis, HCI, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Projekt-emergenCITY, emergenCITY\_INF, emergenCITY\_SG},
}

  • Markus Henkel, Steffen Haesler, Hiba Al-Najmi, Frank Hessel, Christian Reuter (2025)
    The House That Saves Me? Assessing the Role of Smart Home Automation in Warning Scenarios
    Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT) ;9(1):5:1–5:32. doi:10.1145/3712269
    [BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]

    As smart home technology becomes integral to modern living, researchers must consider safety aspects. While single-purpose devices alert users to specific dangers, integrating them within comprehensive smart home warning systems (SHWSs) offers new safety potentials by allowing actuators to respond to threats based on predefined protocols. Key questions include whether user preferences for automation levels in smart homes are affected by different warning scenarios, and how unwanted automation or false positives influence acceptance. To explore this, we conduct two studies: (1) A lab study in a smart home with various actuators, where participants (N = 48) encounter warnings across three automation levels. (2) A follow-up interview study (N = 16) further evaluating our prototype and unwanted automation situations. Results show that participants preferred higher automation during warnings and were more receptive to smart technology in dangerous situations, though customization remains essential to ensure acceptance. While higher automation levels reduced perceived interruption, some still preferred less intense warnings. Others preferred not receiving warnings of mild dangers, fully relying on automation. Finally, we find that specific safety protocols and handling of false positive alarms must be chosen carefully to avoid mistrust, users feeling a loss of control, and damage through unwanted executions.

    @article{henkelHouseThatSaves2025,
title = {The {House} {That} {Saves} {Me}? {Assessing} the {Role} of {Smart} {Home} {Automation} in {Warning} {Scenarios}},
volume = {9},
shorttitle = {The {House} {That} {Saves} {Me}?},
url = {https://www.peasec.de/paper/2025/2025_HenkelHaeslerAlNajmiHesselReuter_HouseThatSavesMe_IMWUT.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3712269},
abstract = {As smart home technology becomes integral to modern living, researchers must consider safety aspects. While single-purpose devices alert users to specific dangers, integrating them within comprehensive smart home warning systems (SHWSs) offers new safety potentials by allowing actuators to respond to threats based on predefined protocols. Key questions include whether user preferences for automation levels in smart homes are affected by different warning scenarios, and how unwanted automation or false positives influence acceptance. To explore this, we conduct two studies: (1) A lab study in a smart home with various actuators, where participants (N = 48) encounter warnings across three automation levels. (2) A follow-up interview study (N = 16) further evaluating our prototype and unwanted automation situations. Results show that participants preferred higher automation during warnings and were more receptive to smart technology in dangerous situations, though customization remains essential to ensure acceptance. While higher automation levels reduced perceived interruption, some still preferred less intense warnings. Others preferred not receiving warnings of mild dangers, fully relying on automation. Finally, we find that specific safety protocols and handling of false positive alarms must be chosen carefully to avoid mistrust, users feeling a loss of control, and damage through unwanted executions.},
number = {1},
journal = {Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT)},
author = {Henkel, Markus and Haesler, Steffen and Al-Najmi, Hiba and Hessel, Frank and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2025},
keywords = {AuswahlCrisis, Crisis, HCI, Student, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A*, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Projekt-emergenCITY},
pages = {5:1--5:32},
}

    Further Publications

    1. Markus Henkel, Volker Knauthe, Tatiana von Landesberger, Stefan Guthe (2020): Data Reconstruction from Colored Slice-and-Dice Treemaps. VMV 2020: 89-97
    2. Sarah Delgado Rodriguez, Sarah Prange, Christina Vergara Ossenberg, Markus Henkel, Florian Alt, Karola Marky (2022): PriKey – Investigating Tangible Privacy Control for Smart Home Inhabitants and Visitors. NordiCHI 2022: 74:1-74:13

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