Martina Brockmeier has been President of the Leibniz Association since July 2022. Among the 97 member institutes of the Association, LIfBi was now on Brockmeier's itinerary. In Bamberg, the former chairwoman of the German Science Council was informed about the work at LIfBi and exchanged views with the institute's management on strategically important topics such as the Leibniz Research Associations and methodological innovations of and new data spaces for panel studies such as NEPS.

During a tour, the president was given a practical insight into LIfBi's infrastructure work. Exemplary were interactive presentations on "Measuring Digital Competencies in the New Secondary School Cohort" by Sümeyra Tural (small picture above), staff member in the NEPS Competencies Unit, and on "Using Data with Biometrics-based Remote Methods" by Dr. Daniel Fuß, head of the Research Data Center at LIfBi

The visit concluded with a keynote speech by the Leibniz President on the current challenges facing Leibniz institutes, in which Martina Brockmeier appealed to the LIfBi staff present to share experiences and knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. In the subsequent Q&A session, topics such as quality in research or synergies for challenges in the IT sector were discussed with the Leibniz President.

A few days prior, another high-ranking guest, Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State for Science and the Arts, had made his way to Bamberg, where he was introduced to the research profile of the university and LIfBi, particularly with regard to digitization.

Director Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt emphasized the importance and innovation potential of digital technologies for the panel studies conducted at LIfBi, especially the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). For example, multimodal data collection and the enrichment of panel data with different, also generated data types are not only innovative techniques, but also important fields of research. Prof. Dr. Corinna Kleinert also provided insights into LIfBi's research results on effects of the Corona pandemic. Due to already existing and strategically important new cooperations, especially in the field of digital information technologies, LIfBi Director Cordula Artelt also addressed the establishment of a Leibniz Science Campus as an important perspective to strengthen the cooperation between LIfBi and the University of Bamberg.