My research has been highly interdisciplinary, focusing on the application of advanced mathematical, computational, and engineering techniques to biomedical challenges, particularly related to cardiovascular health and fluid mechanics. The recurring themes in my work involve sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, and the integration of multiphysics simulations to improve diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for cardiovascular diseases.
Currently
I am Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Institute of Mechanics, TU Graz, since November 2024. My work has expanded the application of sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification beyond cardiovascular mechanics into a broader set of dynamical systems.
Main methodological focus Across all domains, my goal is to quantify what information is gained from uncertainty and sensitivity analysis and to use that insight to guide experimental design and model optimization.
Railway and vehicle dynamics I am working on sensitivity and parameter identification problems in railway engineering — including the analysis of rail-wheel contact models and their robustness under uncertainty, and the dynamics of pantograph-catenary systems. This line of research builds on earlier work on actively steered wheelsets (see lindbichler2024).
Materials science I am applying global sensitivity analysis and polynomial chaos expansion to parameter identification problems in materials science, with a focus on linking sensitivity indices to information-theoretic measures for optimal experimental design.
Soil mechanics I am exploring Bayesian inversion methods integrated with sensitivity information for the calibration of constitutive soil models, connecting global and local sensitivity measures to parameter identifiability.
During my PhD
I have focused on various aspects of aortic dissection in my scientific career. I was a member of a major project funded by TU Graz from 2018 to 2024, during which I completed my PhD. My primary areas of interest revolved around the application and advancement of global sensitivity analysis techniques, particularly in the following areas:
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Fluid mechanics and cardiovascular haemodynamics
(read about: melito2021, jafarinia2024)
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Impedance cardiography in aortic dissection
(read about: reinbacher-köstinger2019, ranftl2019, ranftl2019, badeli2020, jafarinia2021, badeli2022, badeli2023)
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Thrombosis modeling
(read about: melito2020, melito2020, jafarinia2021, badeli2023, jafarinia2023)
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Aortic imaging and morphology
(read about: egger2020, melito2023, pepe2024, bošnjak2025, li2025)
You can read and download my PhD thesis here.