News

Image: Alina Shevchenko, GFZ | info

Published on 28.09.2026

Helmholtz Imaging Newsletter Issue No. 29

From the extended call for contributions for the Helmholtz Imaging Conference 2026 to the return of our Open Office Hour: the latest Helmholtz Imaging Newsletter brings together upcoming events and training, new team and Steering Board members, tools and solutions, and opportunities from across the community.

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 17.09.2026

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. Call for contributions for conferences closes on October 1.

Image: Sebastian Ziegler, Helmholtz Imaging, DKFZ | info

Published on 17.09.2026

Tool Spotlight: GloViTa

Got a pile of images, scans, or video clips and a question like “which category is this?” or “how severe is this?”, but no interest in building a training pipeline from scratch? That’s the gap GloViTa is meant to fill. Developed by the Engineering and Support Unit at DKFZ, GloViTa is a reusable framework for […]

info

Published on 14.09.2026

Double Recognition for Lena Maier-Hein: EMBS Award and Nature Biomedical Engineering Cover

Two reasons to celebrate: Helmholtz Imaging Center Coordinator Lena Maier-Hein has received the 2026 EMBS Technical Achievement Award, while research by her and colleagues on cross-species knowledge transfer in medical imaging is featured on the cover of the August issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Image: Knut Sander, Helmholtz Imaging, DESY | info

Published on 11.09.2026

Our Open Office Hour is Back

Got an imaging-related question or challenge? Our Helmholtz Imaging Open Office Hour is back. Join us virtually every 2nd Tuesday at 1 PM! No appointment needed. Just drop by!

Visual to promote the Helmholtz Platforms Roadshow 2026, headline and further information on purplish background

Image: HIDS | info

Published on 11.09.2026

Data Science Unlocked: Helmholtz Platforms Roadshow

Join us on November 24 at 11 AM for the opportunity to learn more about the offerings of the five Helmholtz Information and Data Science Platforms. Interact with us, collaborate, and network with peers!

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 10.09.2026

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.

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.

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.

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!