Cognitive Science 2025: Alumni Conference brings career opportunities to light!

Cognitive Science 2025: Alumni Conference brings career opportunities to light!

The annual conference of the Institute for Cognitive Science (IKW) at the University of Osnabrück will take place on June 6th and 7th, 2025. This event aims to bring together current and former Cognitive Science students and provide them with the opportunity to explore career options. The conference is aimed particularly at students and prospective students who are interested in the diverse career paths in the areas of research, industry and NGOs. This is reported by the University of Osnabrück.

The conference will include presentations from 15 alumni who will share their individual career paths and experiences. The presenting alumni include well-known personalities such as Maren Urner, professor of sustainable transformation, Moritz Stefaner, expert in data visualization, and Manu Ebert, a successful founder from Silicon Valley. Julia Kaltenborn, an expert in machine learning and climate activist, will also contribute her insights. A highlight of the conference will be a panel discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of a doctorate, organized by the AG Ethics and Critical Theories of Artificial Intelligence.

Diverse presentations and networking opportunities

In addition to the presentations, the conference will also allow discussion sessions in which participants can get in direct contact with the speakers. The focus of this event is to promote professional exchange and enable networking in a relaxed atmosphere. The conference is likely to be of great interest to participants, particularly in view of the alumni's career paths, which range from strategic AI consulting to neuroscientific research and the founding of start-ups in the field of virtual reality.

Participants can look forward to in-depth insights into various careers and receive practical advice for starting their careers. The contact for media inquiries is Dr. Oliver Schmidt, employee of the Communications and Marketing Department at the University of Osnabrück, who can be reached at oliver.schmidt@uos.de. Those interested can find further information and the opportunity to register on the IKW website.

Additional events on the topic of artificial intelligence

In addition to the alumni conference, a serious topic will be discussed on May 22, 2025 in the Osnabrück Theater. The Working Group on Ethics and Critical Theories of Artificial Intelligence invites you to a discussion about artificial intelligence and democracy. The event will focus on protecting democracy and the dangerous connections between AI and ultra-right movements. Admission is free and those interested can register via the Osnabrück Theater.

In further developments, the IKW recently published a new contribution to the social debate. The 43rd volume of the Free Academy's series of publications entitled "AI - a challenge for modern societies" deals with the historical developments and social inequalities in connection with artificial intelligence. This publication brings together numerous contributors who are often active at the IKW.

The IKW's efforts are also reflected in its most recent successes, such as the second place achieved by the team led by Julius Meyer and Prof. Dr. Elia Bruni at the Berkeley LLM Agent Hackathon 2024. With their project iVISPAR, which analyzes the spatial thinking skills of AI agents, the team was awarded a prize in the form of Compute Credits worth 8,300 euros.

The Alumni Conference and accompanying events underscore the ongoing development and relevance of cognitive science – a discipline of increasing interest in today's world. Those interested can find information about current developments at IKW at ikw.uni-osnabrueck.de and gk-ev.de.