In preparation for the upcoming SMART Retreat and as part of the ongoing collaboration follow-up, SMART doctoral researchers came together to present and refine their collaboration pitches, exploring connections and new directions for joint research. Combining group exercises with trainer feedback from Dr. Vincen Botella-Soler , participants reworked their pitches, exchanged constructive input and uncovered new links […]
Early Career Researchers from the CRC 1597 Small Data took part in Science Days (October 23–26), one of the largest STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fairs in the German-speaking world, which this year celebrated its 25th anniversary. Through interactive exhibitions and direct engagement with researchers from various disciplines, the event aims to bring science […]
Last week, SMART doctoral researchers took part in the course Navigating Peer Review & Getting Published with Dr. Lukas Peintner. The two-day training guided participants through the publication process — from preparing and submitting a manuscript to responding to reviewer feedback. Through interactive exercises, participants explored the roles of authors, editors, and reviewers, gaining a practical view of […]
The Progress Seminar is part of SMART’s shared language strategy, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration by providing a regular space where doctoral researchers present their work, receive feedback, and connect across fields. Following researcher feedback, the seminar now alternates between specialized and general sessions. This new structure aims to balance focused disciplinary discussion with broader interdisciplinary exchange. The first sessions in both formats […]
How does gender influence outcomes in clinical trials? And should it be considered when designing study protocols? These and related questions were at the center of discussions during the Autumn School “Facing the Gender Data Gap” (October 6–10), a joint event organized by the Centre of Anthropology and Gender Studies, the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care […]
On November 6, 2025, Nature Microbiology published the article “An updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR–Cas systems including rare variants,” co-authored by our PI Rolf Backofen. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) are naturally occurring systems that recognize and cleave specific DNA or RNA sequences, playing a vital role in the adaptive immunity of […]
In preparation for the upcoming SMART Retreat and as part of the ongoing collaboration follow-up, SMART doctoral researchers came together to present and refine their collaboration pitches, exploring connections and new directions for joint research. Combining group exercises with trainer feedback from Dr. Vincen Botella-Soler , participants reworked their pitches, exchanged constructive input and uncovered new links […]
On March 13, 2025, visitors to the interactive event BrAInWorlds – The World in Our Heads immersed themselves in a sensory-rich and emotion-evoking experience, discovering firsthand how our surroundings shape our perception of the world. This event was made possible by a dedicated team of organizers led by our Associated Researcher Ilka Diester, with SmallData participating via collaborative […]
Last week, SMART doctoral researchers took part in the course Navigating Peer Review & Getting Published with Dr. Lukas Peintner. The two-day training guided participants through the publication process — from preparing and submitting a manuscript to responding to reviewer feedback. Through interactive exercises, participants explored the roles of authors, editors, and reviewers, gaining a practical view of […]
The recent progress in artificial intelligence has been facilitated by big data volumes and data-driven modeling approaches. However, there is a much larger number of applications where data analysis has to be performed with a relatively small number of observations. This can be addressed with knowledge-driven approaches, such as differential equations that incorporate biomedical domain knowledge, or by adapting data-driven approaches, e.g., neural networks, or ideally by combining the two types of approaches. When developing such methods for small data settings, three key areas need to be addressed: similarity, transfer, and uncertainty. This enables combination of similar observations, e.g., from different hospitals, and more generally transfer of information, e.g., between genome screening and mechanistic models, while quantifying and reducing uncertainty. For creating comprehensive solutions that fuse such exciting emerging ideas, our Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1597 'Small Data' (SmallData), which started on October 1st, 2023, integrates contributions from computer science, mathematics, and statistics/systems modeling, with input from biomedicine. Our doctoral program SMART is key for establishing a shared language across those disciplines. We are located in Freiburg, Germany, with external partners in Bochum and Greifswald. For more details see our scientific framework and interdisciplinary approach, or have a look at the individual research projects.
Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics,
Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center –
University of Freiburg
