Katharina Kriegel

Published on 08.09.2026

Helmholtz Imaging on the Road: Visiting DLR in Cologne

On September 1, Helmholtz Imaging brought its roadshow to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne. The visit offered researchers the opportunity to learn more about Helmholtz Imaging and our free support for imaging-related research tasks and challenges.

This image shows long vertical streaks in bright yellow, turquoise, blue, and purple. The layered colors and textured lines resemble dripping paint or weathered wood grain, creating a vivid, striped pattern across the image.

Image: Anja Rösel, DLR & Polona Itkin, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway | info

Published on 07.09.2026

Three New Members Join the Helmholtz Imaging Steering Board

Helmholtz Imaging warmly welcomes Ralf Mikut, Katharina Nöh and Jian Peng to its Steering Board. With their expertise in computational biology, machine learning, environmental modelling and data-driven research, they bring valuable perspectives to the strategic development of the platform.

Visual to promote the Helmholtz Imaging Week 2026; image by Thorsten Wiegand from the UFZ called "Tropical Forest on Barro Colorado Island", showing the spatial position, species (color), and size of 87,570 individual trees in a 1000m × 500m section of the tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, located in the Panama Canal. On the image, colorful dots of different sizes are placed in an unstructured way on grey background. On the image a black box is place to inform the viewers about the date and location of the Helmholtz Imaging Week.

Image: Thorsten Wiegand, UFZ (background image) | info

Published on 03.09.2026

Helmholtz Imaging Week 2026

Mark your calendars: Helmholtz Imaging Week 2026 is coming to Leipzig from November 9–12, 2026, bringing together the imaging community for an extended program of scientific exchange, collaboration, and inspiration. Join us for the Imaging Deep Dive Day & annual Helmholtz Imaging Conference! Registration is open now.

Promotional banner for the webinar “How to Design a Challenge,” featuring portraits of speakers Noel Codella, Alessa Hering, and Ian Stavness. The webinar takes place on October 15, 2026, at 8 AM EDT / 2 PM CEST. The background shows stylized blue mountains with a winding path leading to a flag at the summit. Helmholtz Imaging and MICCAI logos appear at the top.

Image: Annika Reinke, Helmholtz Imaging, DKFZ | info

Published on 27.08.2026

How to Design a Challenge

What makes a successful image analysis challenge? Join the MICCAI SIG for Challenges and Helmholtz Imaging for a joint webinar on October 15 bringing together three experienced challenge organizers sharing their lessons learned.

Color-coded pixel map with shades of yellow, orange, red, green, and blue.

Image: Anne Hennke, GEOMAR | info

Published on 27.08.2026

On CONNECT: From Pixels to Knowledge

How do underwater images become reliable scientific data? The interactive StoryMap “From Pixels to Knowledge” follows the marine imaging workflow, from data acquisition in challenging environments to AI-supported image analysis and habitat modelling.

Image: Athanasios Balomenos, Wenhan Luo, Gary R. Lewin, MDC (3rd Place Participants' Choice Award) | info

Published on 30.07.2026

Helmholtz Imaging Newsletter Issue No. 28

Explore this year’s Best Scientific Image Contest entries, register for Helmholtz Imaging Week 2026, discover our new projects, and tools, and catch up on training opportunities and community updates in our latest newsletter.

Promotional banner for the Helmholtz Imaging Roadshow featuring a color-coded elevation map with mountains, valleys, and a river. Large white text reading “Helmholtz Imaging Roadshow” is displayed over the map, with white corner markers framing the composition.

Image: Markus Bachmann, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen (Top 20 image, Helmholtz Imaging Best Scientific Image Contest 2024) | info

Published on 27.07.2026

Bring your Imaging Questions: Helmholtz Imaging Roadshow at DLR

Join us on September 1 at DLR in Cologne for the Helmholtz Imaging Roadshow! Bring your imaging-related questions and discover how we can support your research.

Image: Ekaterina Nazarova, DKFZ

Published on 27.07.2026

ORena SAVE FOCUS Challenge tests VLM’s surgical video understanding

Can vision-language models help surgeons keep track of every surgical object during an operation? The ORena SAVE FOCUS challenge puts that question to the test. Teams are invited to train their models on expert-annotated surgical video data and compete against the baseline models and each other. A $60k prize pool will be distributed among the top performers!

Promotional graphic for the Helmholtz Imaging Best Scientific Image Contest 2026 public voting, featuring a collage of colorful contest images arranged in triangular shapes and the words “Public Voting” on a black background.

Image: Katharina Kriegel, Helmholtz Imaging, DESY (images: selection of 2026 contest submissions) | info

Published on 23.07.2026

Cast Your Vote for the Public Choice Award

The images are in – and now it is your turn to choose your favorite scientific images for the Public Choice Award in the Helmholtz Imaging Best Scientific Image Contest 2026. Voting is open until August 18, 2026.

Visual to promote DeepMI-course showing edited brain graphics.

Image: DeepMI Lab | info

Published on 14.07.2026

DeepMI FastSurfer / FreeSurfer course 2026

Join this 2.5-day, hands-on, introductory course on state-of-the-art deep-learning methods for fast and reliable neuroimage analysis from October 14 to 16 in Bonn!

Person standing on a paved walkway outside a modern building, holding a large lightweight square frame made of white rectangular elements and the letters "H" and "I" attached to metal rods.

Image: Sabine Niebel (generatively extended using Photoshop) | info

Published on 26.06.2026

Helmholtz Imaging moves to Matrix

We are moving our community chat from Mattermost to Matrix. The new Helmholtz-wide platform, hosted by HIFIS, will support secure exchange and collaboration across the Helmholtz Association. Join us!

Group photo of the Helmholtz Imaging team at their booth at HAICON26

info

Published on 23.06.2026

Helmholtz Imaging at HAICON26: Connecting Imaging, AI and Scientific Discovery

With hands-on workshops, a busy booth, and a poster spotlight on the Helmholtz Model Zoo, Helmholtz Imaging had many opportunities at the conference to connect with AI-savvy researchers and discuss how we can lift their imaging-related research to the next level.

Illustration showing pairs of overlapping magenta and cyan images being combined into single merged images.

Image: Created with ChatGPT | info

Published on 18.06.2026

Introduction to Image Registration

Want to compare image data, align datasets, or apply integrated image registration techniques? This 90-minute workshop on November 4 introduces the essentials and practical techniques for image registration. Registration opens on October 7.

Pixel Patrol visual, a sketch of a woman sitting at a desk.

Image: Deborah Schmidt, Helmholtz Imaging, MDC | info

Published on 17.06.2026

Image Dataset Quality Control, Data Exploration and Pixel Patrol

Explore practical ways to assess image dataset quality, visualize metadata, and prepare data for downstream research with PixelPatrol. Join us virtually on September 10 & 17!

Image: Created with ChatGPT | info

Published on 16.06.2026

Helmholtz Imaging is moving to Matrix

Helmholtz Imaging is moving its community communication from Mattermost to Matrix. Join our new Matrix space for community updates, exchange, and sharing. Mattermost will be shut down by July 1, 2026.