PIER Computing and Data Science“We are pooling our strengths”

3 March 2025

Photo: PIER PLUS/Hohenwarter

Prof. Dr. Gregor Kasieczka (left) and Prof. Dr. Chris Biemann.

The PIER PLUS scientific platform brings together 22 Hamburg universities and research institutions that cooperate closely in six specialized profiles, but also in overarching common fields of action. One of these common fields is “PIER Computing and Data Science”. Computer scientist Prof. Dr Chris Biemann and experimental physicist Prof. Dr Gregor Kasieczka speak about the joint VISTA program.

How is PIER Computing and Data Science designed?

Chris Biemann: Computing and data science has been an interdisciplinary topic in PIER PLUS since 2019, with the goal to strengthen cooperation in these areas in Hamburg. A central part in this is the Hub of Computing and Data Science (HCDS): it promotes key networking activities between the PIER PLUS partners via the KIEZ of Computing and Data Science and supports the visibility of this activity in the Hamburg metropolitan region.

Gregor Kasieczka: Excellent research across scientific disciplines requires knowledge and expertise in data science, computer science and artificial intelligence. In order to fully capitalize on the potential of the Hamburg metropolitan region, it is necessary to strengthen skills in these areas through the exchange of expertise, through networking activities and through the coordination of future developments for more intensive cooperation in research and education.

A specific project on this has been running since October 2023, can you tell us more about that?

Biemann: In October 2023, the partners held two PIER PLUS sessions as part of the “Digital Total” event, which has since given rise to the Hamburg Virtual Initiative for Science & Technology in AI (VISTA). VISTA aims to create a dynamic data science ecosystem for Hamburg and promotes collaboration and the open exchange of knowledge in order to strengthen innovation and technical expertise in dealing with big data. The focus is primarily on AI research, particularly in its application in the natural sciences.

Kasieczka: VISTA brings together important PIER PLUS partners for this project – UHH, DESY, HSU, TUHH and LIV – with the common goal of further strengthening regional skills development for the region, making it more visible and enabling synergy effects through inter-institutional research. VISTA is therefore an important component of PIER Computing and Data Science.

In 2024, a separate program for graduates was launched as part of VISTA.

Kasieczka: Exactly. The VISTA School of Graduate Research (VISOR) was created as a central measure, which is to be funded proportionately by the PIER PLUS Seed Fund and the participating partner institutions. The cooperative format gives the young scientists involved the opportunity to benefit from basic research in AI as well as to find solutions to application-related problems, particularly in the natural sciences. The aim of VISOR is to use the joint preliminary work, particularly in the combination of basic research in AI/machine learning and scientific application, to acquire a collaborative research format in the future.