NHH Norwegian School of Economics in Norway, University of Toulouse Capitole in France, University of Nebraska at Omaha, United States, Hanken School of Economics in Finland, Tilburg University in the Netherlands and, of course, the University of Mannheim – all of these top-class universities were involved in the Data Science in Action lecture series, which was hosted for a second time in the fall semester of 2023 by the Mannheim Center for Data Science in cooperation with the European University ENGAGE.EU. Every week between September 28 and December 7, the internationally renowned speakers shared their latest research findings with a large online audience and were available for questions and discussions after the approximately one-hour presentations.
When compiling the syllabus, Prof. Heiner Stuckenschmidt, who initiated and organized the series, placed particular emphasis on interdisciplinarity in addition to internationality in order to cover the application areas of data science as broadly as possible. The topics ranged from “Forensic Data Science” (Evelina Gavrilova-Zoutman) to “Researching Research” (Mikael Laakso) and “Data Science for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship” (Elisabeth Huis in t' Veld). The University of Mannheim was represented by professors from the Business School, the School of Social Sciences and the School of Business Informatics and Business Mathematics.: Kevin Bauer (Junior Professorship for E-Business and E-Government), Raik Stolletz and Seyed Mohammad Zenouzzadeh (Chair of General Business Administration and Production), Beatrice Rammstadt (Chair of Psychological Diagnostics, Survey Design and Methodology), Marc Ratkovic (Chair of Social Data Science) and Margret Keuper (Chair of Machine Learning), who were both recently appointed to the University of Mannheim.
The series was once again very popular; in addition to students from the Mannheim Master in Data Science and doctoral students from the Mannheim Graduate School (GESS), Master's students from engage.eu partner universities were also able to apply for a place on the course and take an exam. However, all lectures were also open to the public, which was very popular – over 180 registrations were received.
The MCDS is planning to continue the series in the fall semester 2024 and is looking forward to welcoming many interested participants.