From database management to data science BIFOLD's data systems community convenes for an annual exchange
The second Data Systems Retreat took place on April 7 and 8, 2026, at BIFOLD's premises on Franklinstraße, Berlin. The two-day event brought together researchers from four groups representing the full range of contemporary data systems research.
The participating groups were: Database Systems and Information Management (DIMA), led by BIFOLD co-director Prof. Dr. Volker Markl, Big Data Engineering (DAMs), led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Böhm, Management of Data Science Processes (DEEM), led by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schelter, and Data Integration and Data Preparation (D2IP), led by Prof. Dr. Ziawasch Abedjan. Together, these groups illustrate how the field of data systems has evolved well beyond its classical database roots, increasingly intersecting with machine learning, data engineering, and end-to-end data science workflows.
The scientific program featured presentations by Muaid Mughrabi, David Justen, Aljoscha Lepping, Mohamed Abdelmaksoud Mohamed, Olga Ovcharenko, Dwi Nugroho, Fedor Turchenko, Hao Chen, Anastasiia Kozar, Adrian Michalke, and Zeyu Zhang. Poster sessions provided a platform for Fatemeh Ahmadi, Pierre Lubitzsch (His paper was recently accepted for SIGIR 2026, Arxiv (the version accepted at SIGIR'26 is not published yet) ), Gereon Dusella, Afrasiyab Khalili, Grigorii Turchenko, Anna Richter, Leonard Rose, Lukas Schwerdtfeger, Lennart Behme, Jannik Lindemann, Leonardo Dominci, Alexander Wolotschai, Benedikt Maria Beckermann, Philipp Ortner, Xiao Ma, Martin Seyferth, Christiana Dionysio, Taha Tekdogan, Alejandro Rodriguez Cuellar, and Yannik Schröder. A gong show offered rapid-fire presentations from Rudi Poepsel, Guido Rocchietti, Patrick Damme, Carlos E. Muniz Cuza, Nikolai Merkel, Luca Zecchini, Ariane Ziehn, Athanasios Georgiadis, Arnab Phani, Haralampos Gavriilidis, and Samira Akili.
Beyond the scientific program, the retreat created dedicated space for exchange and networking. The group photo taken on the rooftop terrace of the BIFOLD building, marks what has become a growing tradition within BIFOLD's data systems research community: a space for scientific exchange beyond borders.
We are happy to share a few pictures of the event and some presentations shown within the two days.
