News of January 23, 2026
Shaping the future with IDEAS
Saxon research institutions join forces in new Helmholtz graduate school
IDEAS, a new graduate school of the Helmholtz Association, was launched in January 2026. It offers doctoral students an excellent, interdisciplinary education at the interface of data science and environmental, life, and health sciences. The aim is to prepare early-career researchers to analyze large and complex datasets and to develop data-based solutions to key societal challenges. The initiative is jointly led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), in close collaboration with Leipzig University and TU Dresden.
IDEAS offers PhD positions across a broad range of topics – from bioinformatics and climate impact research to biodiversity, toxicology, sustainability, and cancer research.
Source: HZDR/André Künzelmann
Many questions in the environmental and life sciences are based on large, heterogeneous datasets, the analysis of which is often complex and associated with uncertainties. This is precisely where IDEAS – the Helmholtz School for Integrated Data Science in Environmental and Life Sciences – comes in. It combines state-of-the-art data science methods with domain-specific expertise in order to develop new, robust approaches to societally relevant research questions, ranging from the challenges of climate change to medical image analysis.
Key areas of focus include linking date-driven methods with physically and biologically based models, working with unstructured data, and developing robust and transparent AI approaches. Doctoral researchers acquire these skills within an interdisciplinary doctoral program: each project is supervised by at least two scientists from different institutions – typically jointly by a Helmholtz Center and a university.
“At a time when we are generating enormous amounts of data while simultaneously facing global crises, we need exactly these kinds of bridge builders,” says Sandra Hille, IDEAS coordinator at UFZ. “People who combine data science with domain expertise and use new methods to develop concrete solutions – in research, in application, and with a view to societal decision-making.”
“The IDEAS school is giving our research another boost in terms of digital methods,” adds Prof. Guido Juckeland, head of the Computational Science Department at HZDR. “Outstanding talents will have the opportunity to work on digital issues and topics from the fields of energy, health, and matter in an interdisciplinary manner. At the same time, we are delighted to be deepening our collaboration with the AI competence center ScaDS.AI in Dresden and Leipzig, which supports us in supervising the PhD candidates.”
Eight doctoral projects are being advertised at the start, forming the basis for the first IDEAS cohort. The topics range from environmental pollution and biodiversity research to text and citizen science analyses as well as explainable and trustworthy AI methods, for example in toxicology.
Further information on IDEAS and the application process for the doctoral positions can be found on the IDEAS website.
Additional information:
Prof. Guido Juckeland
Computational Science at HZDR | Head
Phone: +49 351 260 3660 | Email: g.juckeland@hzdr.de
Anne Pidt
IDEAS Coordinator at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4716 | Email: a.pidt@hzdr.de
