The third KEMAI Summer School took place from 14 to 16 July 2026 at Reisensburg Castle. The event brought together doctoral researchers, associated members, student helpers, early career scientists, principal investigators, and invited experts, providing an excellent opportunity for interdisciplinary scientific exchange, networking, and collaboration.
The programme began with the pre-meeting Equal Voices Event, focusing on bias awareness and equality-related challenges in academia. The first day also included a lecture on medical imaging and a science communication session dedicated to the brainstorming and conceptualisation of demonstrators.
Wednesday focused on scientific exchange and research presentations. Invited talks by Janna Hastings, Katharina Breininger, and Aldo Faisal addressed current topics ranging from large language models and reproducibility to foundation models in computational pathology and AI in healthcare. The presentations by KEMAI doctoral and MD researchers further demonstrated the broad range of research topics represented within the Research Training Group.
Poster Awards
A particular highlight was the poster session and the presentation of the Poster Awards. The Poster Award in the MD category was awarded to Jonas Plathow for his poster “Predicting the clinical trajectory and hospitalization in COVID-19 pneumonia using artificial intelligence – an experimental study as a model for future pneumonia prediction based on imaging biomarkers and clinical parameters." The Poster Award for Doctoral Researchers / PhD was awarded to Maximilian Otte for his poster “Neuro-Symbolic Integration with Information Constraints."
Congratulations to both award winners!
The following BBQ provided a pleasant and relaxed evening, offering plenty of space for informal exchange and enjoyable conversations. It gave participants an opportunity to connect beyond the scientific programme and contributed to the welcoming and collaborative atmosphere of the Summer School.
The final day included an invited lecture by Prof. Dr. Claudia Seitz on Digitalization and Data Governance in AI-Driven Healthcare: Between Innovation Incentives, Risk Regulation and Fundamental Rights Protection, which stimulated interesting discussions among the participants. Elections were also held, with Alexander Lodemann elected as the new Student Representative and Uliana Vedenina as the new Equal Opportunities Advisor.
The Summer School concluded with a KEMAI Talk by Dr. Gesina Schwalbe on explainable AI. Overall, the KEMAI Summer School 2026 successfully combined scientific exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community building. The event at Reisensburg Castle provided an inspiring environment for discussing current research, strengthening professional connections, and developing new ideas for future collaboration.