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Best Scientific Image

Each year we look for the best scientific images of the Helmholtz Association, which showcase the outstanding portfolio of Helmholtz in imaging and the contribution of imaging science in solving major societal challenges.

Discover the winning images!

Image: DZNE

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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. While you’re there, explore the winning images from our 2025 Best Scientific Image Contest, which will be on display on campus.

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!

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 18.06.2026

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.

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! Registration opens August 13.

Visual to promote course on regularization in image reconstruction, showing the process of image reconstruction.

Image: Tim Roith & Lena Dunst, Helmholtz Imaging, DESY | info

Published on 19.05.2026

Regularization in Image Reconstruction: From Model to Data Driven Methods

Build a strong foundation in image reconstruction and inverse problems in this 7-hour online course on September 16, 2026. Registration opens August 19.

Image showing Blender rendering of organelles within a single beta cell (pale reddish colored bubbles with red fibres and a light blue jelly-like stain in between)

Image: Andreas Müller, Martin Weigert, MDC; Deborah Schmidt, Helmholtz Imaging, MDC | info

Published on 15.05.2026

3D Data Visualization

Bring your volumetric data to life in this workshop. Gain hands-on experience with 3D visualization techniques using tools like Fiji, Blender, and Neuroglancer. Join us on September 28 to October 1 in Berlin! Registrastion is open.

Promotional graphic for the Best Scientific Images 2026 call, showing a black background with past winning images arranged in triangular shapes. One triangle displays a question mark, symbolizing the search for the next winning image.

Image: Katharina Kriegel, DESY | info

Published on 29.04.2026

Best Scientific Image Contest 2026: Call for Submissions

Extended deadline: Submit your best scientific images by May 13, 2026 for a chance to win best image in one of the three categories Jury Award, Public Choice Award & Participants’ Choice Award, and exciting prizes including €4,500 in total prize money. Show us what your research looks like!

A highly detailed, abstract-looking microscopy image filled with tightly packed, irregular cell-like shapes. The scene is dominated by bright orange and blue outlines, with green streaks and patches weaving through the tissue, plus many small pink and purple clusters scattered throughout. The background is mostly black, which makes the fluorescent colors stand out strongly. Information about the image: To develop novel strategies targeting the tumor microenvironment in lung adenocarcinoma, the TME was stained for cell type specific markers and imaged on an Axioscan 7 Slidescanner.

Image: Sonja Fritzsche, MDC | info

Published on 07.04.2026

Validating AI for Image Analysis

Join this workshop to learn how to select and interpret appropriate performance metrics, quantify model performance uncertainty, and assess the robustness of rankings in algorithm benchmarking! Registration opens May 6.

Visual to promote the Helmholtz Imaging Project Call 2026, showing title, deadline and two images from previous projects on black background

Image: Katharina Kriegel, Helmholtz Imaging, DESY (images from Helmholtz Imaging projects) | info

Published on 30.03.2026

Helmholtz Imaging Project Call 2026 – Now Open

The Helmholtz Imaging Project Call 2026 is now open. Researchers across the Helmholtz Association can apply for funding of collaborative projects advancing imaging science. Deadline: June 26, 2026. Join one of our information sessions on to learn more.

Blue banner with the text “AI to accelerate Scientific Understanding” next to stylized Berlin landmarks. On the right, a flower-like graphic composed of overlapping petals shows different scientific visuals, including circuit patterns, a periodic table, satellite imagery, and neural networks, all radiating from a bright central point.

Image: BIFOLD | info

Published on 30.03.2026

AI to accelerate Scientific Understanding

Join this workshop on May 26-29, 2026 to gain a broader and more systematic understanding of how the explanation and interpretation of artificial intelligence models can enable AI-driven research from both theoretical and applied perspectives.

Portrait of Annika Reinke

Image: DKFZ | info

Published on 09.02.2026

HIDA Lecture: When AI Performance Misleads

Join Annika Reinke from the Helmholtz Imaging Research Unit at DKFZ on February 19 at 11 AM (CET) for her virtual lecture “When AI Performance Misleads: From Success in Papers to Failure in Practice”. Don’t miss out, register today.

This image shows the Physics School in Bad Honnef on a bright and sunny day.

Image: DPG / Fuchs | info

Published on 03.02.2026

Summer School: Physics of Imaging

Join this summer school in Bad Honnef from July 5-10, 2026, and take a deep dive into holography, ptychography, tomography, and AI.