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At the international early-career conference ICYMARE 2025, the DSC supported young marine researchers through expert inputs, dedicated exchange formats, and targeted data skills development — from a keynote to the newly introduced Data Corner.

The “International Conference for Young MArine REsearchers” (ICYMARE) is a yearly conference organized by early-career scientists. In 2025, the conference took place from 8–13 September at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, bringing together 230 participants from 37 countries. The program covered a wide range of topics, including marine biogeochemistry, sustainable marine governance, marine conservation, and marine bioacoustics. The program featured various keynotes, round tables, interactive workshops, a poster session, as well as an excursion to the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven.

The Data Science Center (DSC)supported the conference as a sponsor through a DSC Seed Grant (read more here). For the DSC, ICYMARE is a great venue for addressing data skills early in academic careers. Early-career researchers increasingly work with complex, data-intensive methods, yet often lack structured training in research data management and data science. Through its involvement, the DSC helped raise awareness of data-related topics and communicated them in a practical, discipline-specific way. At the same time, direct exchange with early-career scientists provided valuable insights into concrete needs and challenges, which feed directly into the ongoing development of the DSC’s consulting, training, and support services.

The DSC was also actively involved in the conference program:
Dr. Lena Steinmann, coordinator of the DSC, delivered a keynote entitled “Recognizing Your Data Skills: How to Expand Your Career Horizons as a Marine Scientist,” highlighting how data skills can broaden career perspectives in the marine sciences.
In the poster session, Nils Leusmann, research associate at the DSC within the BMFTR-funded project INDIFUN-AI, presented his work “A semi-automatic image clustering pipeline to support taxonomic plankton classification.”
In addition, Sarah Büker, Data Scientist in the BMFTR-funded DataNord project, organized the conference’s first Data Corner – an open exchange format that enabled participants to discuss data, code, workflows, and everyday research challenges in an informal setting. Due to the very positive response, the Data Corner is expected to remain part of the ICYMARE program in the future. Sarah Büker also moderated a roundtable on Neurodivergence in Science, creating space for personal exchange and discussion.

Why This Matters

ICYMARE clearly demonstrates the value of low-threshold, community-driven formats for early-career researchers. The DSC’s engagement highlights its commitment to fostering data skills not only centrally, but also in a domain-specific and practice-oriented way.

We are already looking forward to ICYMARE 2026, which will take place in Bremen from 7–11 September 2026.