Person

Trust is built when AI-Solutions respect regional needs.

"Diversity only becomes productive when differences in meaning are acknowledged and structurally understood to align AI-Strategies.

Human capability cannot evolve if the systems we build do not recognize how people differ in interpreting intention, responsibility, and reliability."

Wanice Carlos Alfes (born 1976) is an executive-scientist focused on human–AI trust, intercultural cognition, and applied metacognitive systems. Her research centres on what she calls “deep communication” — the study of how meaning emerges through cultural symbols, behavioural patterns, and contextual interpretation beyond formal language structures.

She earned her MSc in Cyberpsychology at FHWien (Vienna), having her thesis Doctor Communication in e-Health described by the Austrian board as “relevant to the medical community.” Her multidisciplinary formation includes specializations in global health (Harvad), analytics & technologies (MIT), disruptive innovation (Oxford), network science (Groningen), and political science (Grenoble).

During her research, Wanice Alfes identified two structural gaps limiting AI development:

1 — Semantic–cultural disconnection: AI systems process language as globally standardised data but struggle to integrate regional symbolic meaning, social norms, and behavioural context — essential for trust formation and effective real-world implementation.

2 — Disciplinary fragmentation: Academic knowledge remains highly specialised, while technological deployment requires integrated frameworks.

This divide prevents theoretical advances from translating efficiently into applied systems.

These findings led her to conceptualize a hub she calls Die Brücke. Designed to connect theory, technological development, and human cognitive adaptation within complex environments. It bridiges German precision, Brazilian scalability, Swiss innovation, and U.S. knowledge transfer to enable ethical, data-driven pilot programmes replicable by the EU-GDPR.

Based on this framework, she founded ViSP-Lab R&D in 2022 - an interdisciplinary research environment focused on human–AI interaction, metacognitive architecture, and trust engineering.

During her training at Harvard, her papers The Global Burden of Mental Illnesses and E-Governmentality received academic distinction, and her conceptual research direction was formally endorsed by the faculty. Subsequent work further defined the structural foundations of ViSP-Lab, including her award-recognized paper Exploring AI-Human Trust and Ethical Interaction Design — A Multidisciplinary Perspective at MIT CSAIL.

Earlier in Brazil, Wanice Alfes served as CMO at LatinMed, specialising in health communication and corporate education programmes. Her work included initiatives with Pfizer (medical education), Vale (mental health), Merck (quality of life), and Johnson & Johnson (health communication). She later founded Brazil’s first registered sustainable marketing agency focused on health promotion and CSR projects, and launched the monthly magazine Cuidar Para Bem Estar for companies like GERDAU and TOTAL, interviewing leading public health figures including Dr. Drauzio Varella. She also participated in national anti-tobacco initiatives and engaged in keynotes and workshops with CIESP for industrial organisations.

In 2015, she continued her career in Germany, joining the Hays international executive network and later serving as CCO of permed-N e-Health Solutions, working on UX/UI design and intercultural communication projects for established European companies.

Alfes’ work emphasises that cultural understanding requires intellectual humility. She argues that recognising one’s own interpretive limitations is a necessary condition for meaningful intercultural integration and cooperative technological development. Born in Rio de Janeiro, she has lived in Switzerland with international research engagement across multiple countries.

Currently, Wanice Alfes authors her first book ThinkMETA while presenting the Keynotes & Traning Programs , grounded on her research on the six critical factors in regional Human–AI Alignment for AI Strategies. She is based in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Education

Harvard University: Global Health Specialist

(Paper: "The Global Burden of Mental Illnesses," and the term E-Governmentality).

FHWien der WKW (Vienna): Cyberpsychology of Communication, MSc.

(Thesis: "Doctor-to-Doctor Information in the e-Health Era: A Model to Encourage Physicians in the Use of Digital Communication").

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT CSAIL): HCI-Human-Computer Interaction/User Experience

(Paper: "Exploring AI-Human Trust and Ethical Interaction Design - A Multidisciplinary Perspective").

University of Oxford: Executive Programme - Innovative Disruption.

(Paper: "Exploring AI-Human Trust and Ethical Interaction Design - A Multidisciplinary Perspective").

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Sloan): Design Thinking.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Sloan): Data & Analytics.

Specialized Studies: Neuroscience of Decision-Making (Cambridge University), Network Science

(University of Groningen), and Political Science (University of Grenoble).

Track Record

Alfes has assieted in HealthTech and Tech-Hubs holding senior leadership roles in both Brazil and Europe.

Her career is defined by operating at the intersection of complex systems, from leading projects for global pharmaceutical organizations (Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson) to architecting new agencies in sustainability (CSR) and e-Health in intercultural communication designs and UX/UI architectures in Germany.

Chief Communication Officer, permed-N (Germany, since 2019)
Agency specialized in e-Health Solutions.
Chief Marketing Officer, LatinMed/SP
Health Communication Solutions

Founder & CEO

Registered first official agency in Brazil (SP) for health campaigns and Sustainability/CSR.
Operated with industrial clients: CIESP, GERDAU, ATOTECH/TOTAL.

Scientific lead:

ViSP-Lab R&D on AI Designs in HealthTech and BioTech — trust-based and regionally grounded.