On February 24, 2017, the 40th Anniversary of Gesellschaft für Klassifikation e.V. (GfKl) was celebrated at Karlsruhe Palace by GfKl.
The afternoon was opened by local organizer Prof. Dr. Geyer-Schulz, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Subsequently, the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at KIT, Prof. Dr. Frank Schultmann, greeted the guests in Karlsruhe and handed over the microphone to Prof. Dr. Berthold Lausen (chairman of GfKl eV) from the University of Essex, who also greeted the guests form Germany and Europe. The welcome was concluded by a speech of Prof. Dr. Andrzej Sokolowski, Cracow University of Economics, for SKAD (Section on Classification and Data Analysis of the Polish Statistical Association). During his speech, Prof. Dr. Sokolowski handed over an honorary medal from SKAD to Prof. Dr. Lausen.
The first talk was held by Prof. Dr. Joachim Buhmann, ETH Zurich, on “Resilient algorithmics: How much information is extracted from an algorithm from my data?”. Prof. Dr. Buhmann informed the interested audience about the extraction of data using algorithms. He also looked at current topics in the area of Big Data.
Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Manfred Wilhelm, KIT, Institute for Technical and Polymer Chemistry, talked about “In Vino Veritas?! Wine, health and NMR spectroscopy “. Prof. Wilhelm explained in a humorous way how alcohol invades the brain and showed how to answer the question of what wine actually contains by applying NMR spectroscopy.
The following reception offered the opportunity to strengthen and exchange with other members of the Society. With a glass of sparkling wine and a small snack new contacts were made. In addition, the guests had the opportunity to browse the scientific literature produced by members of the Society.
The second part of the celebration was opened by Prof. Dr. Tim Friede,, University of Göttingen, with his medical lecture “Combining evidence in clinical research: applications in adaptive designs and meta-analyzes”. Prof. Friede explained how to analyze data in clinical analysis.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Hermann Bock, RWTH Aachen University, reviewed the history of the Gesellschaft für Klassifikation e.V. in his speech “40 years of GfKl – from Taxonomy to Big Data”. Prof. Bock presented the development of the Society from its founding on February 12, 1977 in Frankfurt to its current state. The presentation also focused on the Society’s prehistory since 1960, as well as on its scientific results. At the end of his talk he gave a thematic outlook on the possible development of the Society.
At the end of the official part of the celebration, the BRCA Data Analysis Award was assigned to the bioinformatics scientist Ms. Corinna Ernst by Prof. Dr. Hans Kestler. Corinna Ernst works at the University Hospital of Cologne and convinced the jury with the topic “A generalized additive model framework for CNV detection on multi-gene panels”.
For the unofficial part of the evening, all participants were invited to the nearby Besitos restaurant, where the participants were able to exchange in a comfortable atmosphere. There was the opportunity to end the evening in a cozy round.
We would like to thank all participants of the festivities for their attendance and the participation in the sociable GfKl life! We hope that you and your company have spent an interesting afternoon and look forward to further joint projects with you!
Victoria-Anne Schweigert
The slides of Prof. i.R. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Bock’s presentation are available here.