Collaboration in Medical Data Science - Symposium at the M3 Research Center

The third Data Scientist Symposium at the M3 Research Center brought together data scientists, physicians, clinician scientists, and researchers to explore one central topic: collaboration in medical data science. The event provided a platform for exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and establishing new interdisciplinary connections.

Organized as part of the University of Tübingen Medical Faculty’s Data Scientist activities, the symposium focused on the growing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in medical research. Data science and machine learning offered enormous potential for addressing complex medical questions, while successful projects increasingly depended on close cooperation between experts from different fields. The symposium created an opportunity for researchers to connect their methodological expertise with innovative medical research projects and to explore potential collaborations.

The program started with an introduction by Prof. Dr. Manfred Claassen, followed by an interactive speed-dating session led by Dr. Jan Lause. Under the motto “Get to know each other! Let’s talk about you and your projects,” participants had the opportunity to introduce themselves, exchange ideas about their research, and identify potential areas of common interest. The format provided an informal starting point for building new connections.

The symposium then featured several success stories highlighting different aspects of sustainable collaboration. Jun. Prof. Dr. Thomas Küstner, Group Leader of the Medical Image and Data Analysis (MIDAS.lab), spoke about “The Human Side of Sustainable Collaboration.” His contribution highlighted the importance of the people behind successful interdisciplinary projects.

After the lunch break, Prof. Dr. Carsten Eickhoff, Director of the Institute for Applied Medical Informatics, turned the focus toward the transfer of research findings beyond academia. His talk, “Turning Data into Business: Collaboration with Industry and Start-Up Creation in Medical Data Science,” explored how interdisciplinary findings could be translated into commercial products, start-ups, and collaborations with industry.

The afternoon concluded with a World Café, where participants discussed the topics raised during the presentations. Three discussion areas focused on the human challenges of collaboration, legal, technical, and administrative challenges, and the translation of interdisciplinary findings into commercial products, start-ups, or partnerships with industry. Afterwards, the event concluded with a wrap-up.

As host of the symposium, the M3 Research Center provided an environment in which clinical medicine, biomedical research, and data-driven approaches could come together. Bringing researchers from different disciplines into the same setting created valuable opportunities for direct exchange and helped connect methodological expertise with concrete medical research questions. The symposium demonstrated that successful medical data science was not only about technologies, algorithms, and data. It was also about people, communication, shared ideas, and the willingness to work across disciplinary boundaries. By bringing junior and experienced researchers together, the event offered a valuable opportunity to strengthen existing networks and establish new collaborations that could contribute to advancing medical research.

Find out more about the Talent Academy of the University of Medicine Tübingen:https://www.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/en-de/medizinische-fakultaet/talent-academy

and more specifically about data scientists of the Talent Academy: https://www.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/en-de/medizinische-fakultaet/talent-academy/data-scientist.

The pictures used in this post are made by Brigitte Lindenbauer from the Talent Academy.