We were delighted to welcome members of the CRC SmallData and the public to a Bazaar Seminar on Synthetic Data today. The aim of this event is to create an opportunity for projects that are working with similar data structures or methodologies to share details of their research, with a view to identifying potential areas […]
Members of our CRC joined today for a seminar on the topic of “Similarity”, led by our principal investigators Johannes Hertel, from the University of Greifswald, and Nadine Binder, from the University of Freiburg. The goal of the session was to develop a common understanding of the concept of similarity and discuss how we approach […]
From November 13th to 15th, our doctoral researchers gathered at the Schwarzwald Lodge Rothaus for an unforgettable first SMART Retreat. Day 1: Hitting the ground running We kicked things off with parallel Write/Code/Collab/Discuss (WCCD) sessions, a structure that would continue throughout the retreat, with changing pitches each day. Doctoral researchers jumped straight into collaboratively working […]
The SmallData Symposium 2024 has concluded, and we are excited to reflect on the event’s many scientific highlights. From specialized talks delivered by our esteemed speakers to the lively discussions between panelists and participants, this symposium offered a wealth of knowledge for all attendees. The opening addresses by Stefan Rensing, Lutz Hein, and Frederik Wenz […]
We recently hosted an enriching Equity and Diversity Session, in collaboration with the ‘Women in Data Science Worldwide’ (WiDS) initiative*, entitled “Equity and Diversity in the Era of AI and Small Data”. This event brought together members of SmallData and the public to explore vital topics concerning equity and diversity within our CRC. The session […]
On July 5th, a group of our principal investigators, early career scientists, and members of the public gathered for another session on our SmallData Seminar Series. In this Bazaar edition, representatives from projects handling similar data structures presented some of their methodologies, showing insights into how they used some of their data analysis tools. Jacques […]
As part of her doctoral studies, Carola Heinzel (C01) visited Professor Jason Schweinsberg at the University of California, San Diego for about 10 weeks. During her time in San Diego, she focused on enhancing mathematical theory to estimate the net growth rate of cancer even for a small number of cells. This scientific exchange not […]
Most of us have at some point faced data of different sorts in a spreadsheet, from expense reports to medical records; this is what is called tabular data. Since the creation of data science, different tools have been developed to analyze and further learn from this information. What was once done by hand nowadays is […]
In December, our PIs, Carsten Dormann and Joschka Boedecker, published a paper in the Ecology Letters journal on their work on process-informed neural networks (PINNs). PINNs are neural networks that incorporate process based models into their prediction process. This combination is particularly useful in the field of ecology, as collected data is often sparse and […]
We’re excited to announce that SmallData will be participating in this year’s Girls’ Day on April 3, 2025! Girls’ Day is an annual event in Germany designed to inspire and empower girls and young women to explore career opportunities in fields where women are traditionally underrepresented. These include areas such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics […]
The recent progress in artificial intelligence has been facilitated by big data volumes and data-driven modeling approaches. However, there is a much larger number of applications where data analysis has to be performed with a relatively small number of observations. This can be addressed with knowledge-driven approaches, such as differential equations that incorporate biomedical domain knowledge, or by adapting data-driven approaches, e.g., neural networks, or ideally by combining the two types of approaches. When developing such methods for small data settings, three key areas need to be addressed: similarity, transfer, and uncertainty. This enables combination of similar observations, e.g., from different hospitals, and more generally transfer of information, e.g., between genome screening and mechanistic models, while quantifying and reducing uncertainty. For creating comprehensive solutions that fuse such exciting emerging ideas, our Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1597 'Small Data' (SmallData), which started on October 1st, 2023, integrates contributions from computer science, mathematics, and statistics/systems modeling, with input from biomedicine. Our doctoral program SMART is key for establishing a shared language across those disciplines. We are located in Freiburg, Germany, with external partners in Bochum and Greifswald. For more details see our scientific framework and interdisciplinary approach, or have a look at the individual research projects.
Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics,
Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center –
University of Freiburg
