Research Interests

In my research, I design and evaluate chatbots to treat depression in young people, with a focus on personalization. While the first chatbot-based mobile app we built was rule-based, I am currently upgrading the architecture to a LLM-based chatbot system.

My main research topics are:

Digital Mental Health Interventions
Conversational Agents
Personalization
Large Language Models

If you are interested, please get in touch!

CV

since 2021	Doctoral Researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
2017 - 2020	M.Sc. in Cognitive Science from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
2013 - 2017	B.Sc. in Business Psychology from Leuphana University Lüneburg

Work Experience at Otto, Tomorrow and Happier Lives Institute.
Semesters abroad at the The University of British Columbia and Stellenbosch University.

Publications

Combining Artificial Users and Psychotherapist Assessment to Evaluate Large Language Model-based Mental Health Chatbots
Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Hanschmann, L.; Rabe, M.; Luettke, S.; Brakemeier, E.-L.; Maedche, A.
2025. arxiv. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2503.21540

Towards Digital Empathy in Healthcare Chatbots: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Study
Sou, D.; Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Kowatsch, T.; Wangenheim, F. von; Nißen, M.
2024. 45th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2024), 1315, AIS eLibrary (AISeL)

Designing Chatbots to Treat Depression in Youth: Qualitative Study
Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Bauch, L.; Gnewuch, U.; Lüttke, S.
2025. JMIR Human Factors, 12, e66632. doi:10.2196/66632

Challenges and opportunities of personalizing a chatbot for young people with depressive symptoms
Kuhlmeier, F. O.
2024. 12th ISRII Scientific Meeting (2024), Limerick, Ireland, June 2–5, 2024

Exploring User Experience with a Conversational Agent to Treat Depression in Youth: A Think-Aloud Study
Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Gnewuch, U.; Metelmann, L.; Bauch, L.; Lüttke, S.
2022. Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11th December 2022, 1–6

Designing AMSL – A Mobile Digital Assistant for Self-Regulated Learning
Scheu, S.; Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Müller, L. N.; Benke, I.
2023. ECIS 2023 Proceedings, AIS eLibrary (AISeL)

A Personalized Conversational Agent to Treat Depression in Youth and Young Adults – A Transdisciplinary Design Science Research Project
Kuhlmeier, F. O.; Gnewuch, U.; Lüttke, S.; Brakemeier, E.-L.; Mädche, A.
2022. The Transdisciplinary Reach of Design Science Research – 17th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology, DESRIST 2022, St Petersburg, FL, USA, June 1–3, 2022, Proceedings. Ed.: A. Drechsler, 30–41, Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-06516-3_3