ZIH-Info No. 198, May/June 2026
Table of contents
Editor: Jacqueline Papperitz
New CTO: Weidendorfer strengthens ZIH research
With Prof. Dr. Josef Weidendorfer, the ZIH has gained a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) as of April 1, 2026. In addition to his Chair of Emerging Computing Technologies at the Faculty of Computer Science, he will use his experience at the interface of research and infrastructure to support the strategic development of the ZIH, particularly in the area of scientific use of high-performance computing. After his habilitation at the Technical University of Munich, he worked at the Leibniz Supercomputing Center, where he most recently headed a research group on the further development of future HPC systems. His expertise in high-performance computing strengthens the core areas in which the ZIH, as a national NHR site, contributes important impulses to Germany’s HPC landscape. (Contact: Prof. Dr. Josef Weidendorfer)
Microsoft 365 introduction
Together with the Support Center Digitization (SCD), the ZIH was commissioned by the University Executive Board of the TUD to implement the phased introduction of Microsoft 365 (M365). This is based on the Microsoft state contract, which provides universities with M365 as a platform for digital collaboration. The provider has created the prerequisites for data protection-compliant use by November 2025. The central tasks include assessing the data protection consequences and configuring the platform in accordance with data protection regulations. A preliminary project is currently examining whether Exchange Online can resolve the known problems with Outlook use at TUD; the University Executive Board will decide on the next steps on this basis. At the same time, requirements and conditions for the possible use of M365 services are being developed together with various user groups and the limits of use are being defined in order to ensure legally compliant operation as well as compliance with data protection requirements. The existing SharePoint system will remain in operation on-premise; however, the editing of documents in the browser will be discontinued at the end of the year. From 2027, documents can only be edited using locally installed Office applications. Further information about the project is available on the intranet. (Contact: Tel.: HA -40000)
BigBlueButton 3.0
The ZIH has updated BigBlueButton at TU Dresden to version 3.0. New features include an absence mode that deactivates the microphone and webcam and informs other participants via an avatar emoji and a message in the chat, as well as a push-to-talk mode that enables speaking at the touch of a button. Switching between listening and speaking mode now also works without having to dial in again. Since the update, content can be shared in a more versatile way: Web pages can be displayed directly, and it is also possible to switch to the presentation when screen sharing is active. The chat supports replies, emoji reactions, editing and deleting messages as well as Markdown. The whiteboard offers additional annotation tools and surveys can be designed as quizzes with the correct answer marked. Another new feature is the automatic transfer of the profile picture from TU Dresden's central self-service portal. Further information: https://faq.tickets.tu-dresden.de/v/ItemID=443. (Contact: Tel.: HA -40000)
Selection process for reproducibility award
Together with international partners, the ZIH department Innovative Methods of Computing (IMC) is organizing a competition for computational models in the life sciences with a high degree of reproducibility and FAIR publication. A total of 18 nominations from four continents have been received for the competition, which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. These cover a broad spectrum of programming languages and simulation platforms. The models were published according to the FAIR principles in research data repositories such as Zenodo or the MorpheusML Model Repository operated by IMC. A jury is currently reviewing the submitted models by retrieving them individually, executing them locally and evaluating them for reproducibility using a catalog of criteria, as well as discussing the documentation together with the authors. The award ceremony will take place at the joint conference of the ESMTB and SMB professional societies from July 13 to 17, 2026 in Graz (Austria). (Contact: Dr. Lutz Brusch)
ScaDS.AI and ZIH at the ISC 2026
Under the motto "Connecting the Dots", ISC'26 invites the international HPC community to Hamburg from June 22 to 26, 2026. ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig (booth G12) and the ZIH are among the approximately 200 exhibitors and will present their work jointly at the conference. The team will also participate in interactive formats at the booths of the Gauss Alliance (L19) and the NHR Association (J10) and will be represented with several contributions in the scientific conference program. At ISC'26, manufacturers, universities and research institutions will come together to discuss current trends and innovations in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing – with a wide range of focal points. (Contact: Gina Valentin)
International AI and Big Data Summer School
From June 22 to 26, 2026, ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig invites you to the 12th International Summer School on AI and Big Data. This year's focus is on neurosymbolic artificial intelligence. The summer school will take place in Leipzig; the language of the event is English. In addition to basic and advanced courses on neural methods and symbolic thinking, there will be a varied supporting program. Doctoral students, master's students, researchers and practitioners interested in AI are cordially invited to attend. Registration is now open. Further information: www.scads.ai/summer-school-2026. (Contact: Dr. Filippo De Bortoli)
23rd Dresden Science Night
The 23rd Dresden Science Night will take place on June 26, 2026. The ZIH and ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig will once again be presenting their research work in the fields of computer science, AI and high-performance computing. In the ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig Living Lab, interactive demonstrators invite visitors to playfully discover AI applications, machine learning and language models. The ZIH offers half-hourly guided tours of the data center, during which the supercomputers and storage systems as well as the associated infrastructure can be viewed. Further information: https://www.wissenschaftsnacht-dresden.de/. (Contact: Jacqueline Papperitz)
ZIH Colloquium
On Thursday, 28 May 2026, at 15:00, the ZIH colloquium with Dr. Fridtjof Brauns (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems) on the topic "Self-organization of active epithelial mechanics" will take place in Nöthnitzer Str. 63, room A103. The lecture presents a mathematically elegant and algorithmically particularly efficient model class for cell mechanics and shows its application to the morphogenesis of biological tissues. Further information: https://tu-dresden.de/zih/kolloquium. (Contact: Dr. Hartmut Mix)
Events
- 06.05.2026, 09:15–16:45: Building Open Science: Exploring Research Data with LEGO (SLUB Open Science Lab)
- 07.05.2026, 08:30–13:00: Introduction to HPC at ZIH (online)
- ONYX basic course: 11.06. and 25.06.2026, each 09:20-10:50 a.m. (online)
- Softphone consultation hour: 11./18.05. as well as 01, 08, 15, 22 and 29.06.2026, each 10:00–11:00 a.m. (online)
- Open Q&A session for users of the NHR@TUD computing cluster: 11./18.05. and 01, 08, 15, 22 and 29.06.2026, each 13:30–14:30 (online)
- 19.05.2026, 13:30–16:30: Data management plan for Horizon Europe projects (online)
- 20.05.2026, 11:10–12:40: #6 Reshape Reality – Questioning Claims of Neutrality for Inclusive TechnoFutures (online)
- 21.05.2026, 09:20–10:50: OPAL advanced course (online)
- 27.–29.05.2026: MATLAB in HPC 2026 (NHR-Tutorial; hybrid)
- 28.05.2026, 09:20–10:50: ONYX advanced course (online)
- OPAL basic course: 04.06. and 18.06.2026, each 09:20–10:50 a.m. (online)
- 11.06.2026, 09:00–12:00: eLabFTW Hands-On-Workshop, Electronic Lab Notebook (Graduate Academy; online)
- 15./22.06.2026: Traceable handling of research data as a central component of good scientific practice (2-day workshop, Graduate Academy)