A changing of the guard, a data cloud and a Stammtisch without a table
The biodiversity of the future may be smaller than you think. Small enough to fit in a child’s hand, and made of plastic. In a brainstorming session on how bayklif2 would like to present itself at trade fairs, BaySenseAI proposes building a landscape out of Playmobil elements. Visitors photograph it with their smartphones and, much as in the project’s real research, data are extracted from the images to assess the biodiversity on display. A plastic deer would at least have the advantage of standing still.
It was just one of many agenda items discussed on 13 October 2026, when the Second Bavarian Climate Research Network bayklif2 met for its 4th General Assembly. The host was Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT), and around the table sat representatives of all six research projects, the coordination office and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts (StMWK). Frauke Preißinger, Ministerialrätin at the StMWK, opened the session. Prof. Dr. Christoph Moning, HSWT’s Vice President for Research and Knowledge Transfer, welcomed the guests with a statement that suits a university with this profile: sustainability is a core topic here, which is why the network is of great importance to HSWT.
Then came the actual changing of the guard. As of this assembly, Dr. Julius Reich has taken over as Managing Director of the network. Dr. Ulrike Kaltenhauser, who previously held the post, is moving to a different position: she remains in the coordination office and takes on a supporting role. Dr. Reich thanked her for her decades of service to Bavarian research. In a world that tends to think in funding periods, decades are a remarkable unit of time.
Climate researchers naturally have a relaxed relationship with clouds. This one, however, does not rain, it stores: all projects now have access to the Data Science Storage (DSS) of the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) for sharing research data across projects, complete with detailed instructions for members. To make sure the cloud does not end up like so many basements, where nobody quite remembers what is in the boxes, Dr. Reich also presented an internal, web-based database for building a metadata catalogue. It describes the raw data according to the DataCite Metadata Schema 4.6, and entries can be exported as JSON and reused elsewhere.
The projects also proposed a regular virtual AI Stammtisch (an informal get-together of regulars). A Stammtisch without a table, then, but with expert exchange on applications and current developments in artificial intelligence across all projects. When and how often it will meet is still to be agreed.
As always, that leaves a look into the future: for the 2027 retreat, the coordination office is collecting suggestions from the project leads. Keynote speakers, external guests and workshops that promise new perspectives and more collaboration across project boundaries. To close, Dr. Julius Reich thanked Prof. Dr. Chris-Carolin Schön for her outstanding commitment as the network’s spokesperson in 2026. The role now moves on: for 2027, BaySenseAI will nominate the network’s next spokesperson.
