From Code to Career: Highlights of Helmholtz Career Day for Data Science 2025
The Helmholtz Career Day for Data Science connected qualified applicants with data science backgrounds from all over the world with Helmholtz Centers and partners. This was the fifth edition of the virtual career day.
The HIDA team put a lot of effort into organizing the fifth Helmholtz Career Day for Data Science on November 26, 2025 - and it truly paid off: 524 highly qualified participants from 53 countries joined the virtual event.
At the Career Day, the participants had the opportunity to connect with scientists and recruiters from Helmholtz Centers and partners. The focus was on career paths in data science in the six Helmholtz research fields: energy, earth & environment, health, aeronautics, space and transport, matter and information. With around 1000 registrations in the build-up to the event, the overwhelming interest in a job in these professional fields became clear.
Special highlights this year were two keynote talks. In them, Helmholtz researchers traced their career paths in data science and shared career advice.
Martin Schultz, head of the “Earth System Data Exploration” research group and co-head of the “Large Scale Data Science” division at Forschungszentrum Jülich, looked back on the early days of data science in weather and climate research.
He encouraged participants to think big:
So really communicate, and don’t feel shy about approaching the big shots. That’s something that has driven much of my career: always reaching out to the people I looked up to.
Annika Reinke, head of the “Validation of Intelligent Systems” research group at the DKFZ, also reflected on her first steps in science. She recounted how she initially wasn’t sure which path she wanted to take and ended up in data science more or less by chance.
When she applied, she wasn’t even certain she wanted to pursue a PhD - and today she leads her own research group.
Based on her experiences, she advised participants to stay flexible, as you never know what unexpected opportunities may arise.
Following the keynotes, a panel discussion took place on the topic “From Research to Impact: Data Science Jobs at Helmholtz.” In addition to Annika Reinke, the discussion featured Alissa Aarts, HR Marketing Officer at Forschungszentrum Jülich, and Pradeep Ghosh, Head of International Cooperations & Programmes at GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research. They talked about the experiences international researchers have when working in Germany and offered participants valuable advice for applying to positions within the Helmholtz Association.
Later, the Career Day offered researchers who had open positions and projects the opportunity to interact with participants in short video chats. In addition, participants could learn more about the centers and partners in a virtual exhibition area - and who knows - perhaps even meet their future employer.
The Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy is excited to learn how many participants found new positions at the centers during this year’s Career Day - please let us know via e-mail: hidacareerday@helmholtz.de
Did you miss the Helmholtz Career Day for Data Science 2025? You can find the recordings of the keynotes below.
