An avid biologist by training, Fritz has previously worked on various aquatic animal systems, both in the field and in controlled laboratory environments, to better understand the mechanisms governing social interactions. In 2020, he joined the interdisciplinary cluster Science of Intelligence as part of the project on Dynamical Collective Adaptation and Learning to elucidate on the fact that animals are capable of continuously adapting to changing environments and novel situations. One way individuals are capable of doing so is by learning, a form of  inter- individual information transfer and knowledge accumulation. It enables an individual to understand its environment and  therefore minimize uncertainty about future situations. Using schooling fish (whose social and physical context as well as the previous experience and knowledge of each individual can easily be manipulated,) this project addressed the topic of adaptation and learning in animal groups. These insights could then be applied to approaches of artificial intelligence, in order to make these more robust in natural environments and under dynamic circumstances.

Final dissertation: “Adaptation and Learning in Fish: Effect of individual behavioral and informational variation on collective outcomes”, 07/07/2023.