º£½ÇÖ±²¥

Benedikt Venn's interest in studying biology at what is now º£½ÇÖ±²¥ was sparked at a rock festival. A few years later, he organized an international conference as a data scientist. In between are intensive years of study, many hours in the lab and a doctoral thesis at the interface of biology and computer science. His path shows how diverse and varied a career with a scientific background can be.

When Benedikt Venn first heard about studying biology at what is now º£½ÇÖ±²¥, he was standing in a meadow at Rock am Ring. Between concerts and cans of ravioli, an acquaintance tells him about the degree program in Kaiserslautern. At this point, Benedikt Venn is actually already enrolled at another university. He decides to switch and has no idea that his acquaintance will become a close student friend - and that the switch will lead him to a doctorate.

More than classic biology

His start in Kaiserslautern initially felt like classical biology: In botany, the professor distributes different branches around the lecture hall - hardly anyone can identify them: "And you want to study biology?" asks the lecturer. The scene sticks. But it quickly becomes clear that biology is much more than just factual knowledge. It's not just about cramming material, but about solving problems, planning experiments and classifying data.

Learning and living in a community

What particularly helps Benedikt Venn during his studies are the people around him: "I'll never forget the many evenings and nights I spent with fellow students and friends at university," he recalls. "Be it at parties, study sessions during exams or later in the lab when we were working on a problem."

In order to make contacts and benefit from the experience of higher semesters, Benedikt Venn is involved in the biology student council: "Over time, I was allowed to take on more responsibility, was student council spokesperson and, as a member of the faculty council, was involved in appointments and course reforms."

It's not just his fellow students who guide him through the challenges of the first few semesters; the close support he receives from his professors and staff also helps him to find his bearings.

New field of research

A seminar with Professor Timo Mühlhaus gave him a decisive boost in his Master's degree. Mühlhaus is setting up a new theoretical research group at the department that focuses on data-driven methods. "This area is becoming increasingly important in modern biology because experiments are generating ever larger amounts of data," says Benedikt Venn. "This data can hardly be handled without computer-aided analysis."

For Benedikt Venn, this is his entry into a field that was initially new to him: data science. "Programming was completely foreign to me until then, but the possibilities quickly convinced me to hang up my lab coat and take up this branch of research," he reports.

Timo Mühlhaus also shapes Benedikt Venn's future path: he offers to supervise his Master's thesis, which he completes in 2018 as the best student of the year. In it, he works with image data from brain research and analyzes temporal activity patterns of nerve cells. The aim is to gain a better understanding of neurological activity patterns.

German scholarship helps finance his studies

In order to continue financing his studies, Benedikt Venn is applying for a Deutschlandstipendium scholarship. In addition to academic achievements, his social commitment, which he performs in the student council, also counts here. "I was lucky enough to actually be selected by a private sponsor," he says. "The Deutschlandstipendium enabled me to take part in exciting events where I was able to come into contact with people from different industries in a relaxed atmosphere. This showed me perspectives for my future career path."

Research with social relevance

After completing his Master's degree, Benedikt Venn initially decided to stay at º£½ÇÖ±²¥. He began his doctorate, in which he worked with data that records biological adaptation reactions over longer periods of time. Specifically, he is investigating how plants react to changing environmental conditions. "This field of research particularly appealed to me in the context of climate change," he adds. "A better understanding of such processes can help us to understand how plants and ecosystems could react to future changes."

Organization of an international conference

During his doctorate, Benedikt Venn is working on data science libraries that his research group is developing and making publicly accessible. These tools, originally intended for his own research, are attracting international interest: Benedikt Venn receives a LinkedIn message from a company that wants to use his system and would like his advice. He hesitates briefly - then replies.

The initial contact quickly developed into something more: together with other participants, Benedikt Venn organized an international data science conference in Berlin, which was attended by around 120 researchers. For three days, the focus was on "Data Science in F#". He reports: "I would never have dreamed that I would one day be involved in organizing an international data science conference. I wasn't a model student and had nothing to do with computer science. I then found a real passion during my studies."

From doctorate to career as a data scientist

After completing his doctorate, Benedikt Venn decided to switch to the private sector. Today, he works as a data scientist at the IT consulting firm Exxeta. There he works in various areas: "The project-based work, new questions and the change between topics appealed to me." Nevertheless, his work continues to be shaped by his research mindset: structuring complex problems, recognizing patterns and drawing reliable conclusions from data are part of his everyday life.

His tip: not everything has to be clear from the start

The º£½ÇÖ±²¥ graduate advises students and prospective students to keep an open mind and not to commit themselves too early. Not everything has to be clear from the start. It is important to seize opportunities and try out new things. His path shows that careers do not always need a ready-made plan. They are often a process, characterized by decisions, encounters and the enthusiasm to learn new things.