The Rheinland-Pfalz & Scotland x Life Sciences Partnership in cooperation with ReALity and the IQCB, is pleased to announce “AI in Bioscience: Converging Interests and Joint Solutions”, a workshop by and for young researchers, taking place on 27 and 28 October 2026 in FAVORITE Parkhotel Mainz, Germany.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming research in bioscience, yet meaningful collaboration between computational and experimental scientists often remains hindered by disciplinary boundaries, differing research cultures, and unresolved methodological challenges. Rather than showcasing completed projects, this workshop will provide a dedicated forum for PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and selected keynote speakers from bioscience and AI to openly discuss current bottlenecks, unmet needs, and emerging opportunities at the interface of both fields.
Through interactive discussions and participant-driven problem-sharing sessions, the workshop aims to identify common challenges, such as limitations in biological data analysis, issues of model validation and interpretability, the entire scientific research workflow, and barriers to translating computational advances into experimental practice. By focusing on problems rather than achievements, the event seeks to foster mutual understanding and establish a shared foundation for future interdisciplinary collaboration.
As part of registration, attendees are invited to submit a “Blind Spot”: a dataset they don’t know how to model, or an algorithm in search of a bioscience use case. Submitted Blind Spots form the basis for selection, as places are limited to around 50 participants. The results of these two days – the clustered gaps, breakout-group findings, and literature search – will be carried forward into a separate follow-up retreat. There they are the basis for a community-driven white paper on future teaching of biosciences.
What We Aim to Achieve
- Deepen dialogue and mutual understanding between researchers in bioscience and artificial intelligence.
- Identify and cluster shared methodological and conceptual challenges (” Blind Spots”) presented by speakers and attendees, as a basis for interdisciplinary approaches.
- Bring academic and industry representatives together for direct exchange.
- Produce a structured summary of gaps and breakout-group results to carry forward into a separate, subsequent retreat.
- Lay the groundwork for a concrete teaching curriculum (developed during the subsequent retreat that is not part of this workshop), that prepares the next generation of quantitative bioscientists to bridge exactly these gaps.
Who Should Attend
The workshop is aimed at PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers with hands-on experience in bioscience or computational research, alongside selected keynote speakers from bioscience and AI, and industry representatives. Participation is open to researchers from outside JGU Mainz and from abroad.
The workshop is funded by the Ministry of Science, Further Education and Health of Rhineland-Pfalz, the Scottish Government and ReAlity and organised by the Scotland HUB Mainz and SULSA as part of the Rheinland-Pfalz & Scotland Life Sciences Partnership in cooperation with ReALity Mainz (a joint initiative for resilience, adaption and longevity research at JGU Mainz) and IQCB (The Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences) Mainz.
Dr Hajk Drost – University of Dundee
Dr Georges Hattab – Robert Koch-Institute, Wildau
Dr Konrad Rawlik – University of Edinburgh
Dr Beck Strohmer – University of St Andrews, University of Copenhagen
Alexander Treber – Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH
Dr Paula Wagner Egea – BioMed X, Paris
In order to register as a participant, please fill out this registration form until Monday, 28 September 2026.
Tuesday, 27 October 2026 &
Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Academic Leads:
Dr Maximilian Sprang
masprang@uni-mainz.de
Nicole Johnstone
nj35@st-andrews.ac.uk
Collaboration Partners:
The Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences (IQCB)
ReALity Mainz -a joint initiative for resilience, adaption and longevity research at JGU Mainz
Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA)
Contact:
Alison.Hughes@glasgow.ac.uk
Event Manager:
Marina Getto
rlp-sco-lifesciences@uni-mainz.de