BioIntAkt Spring School

The BioIntAkt project hosted an international spring school on the topic of Bioacoustics and Species Recognition using Artificial Intelligence from 23-27 March 2026. Almost 35 participants joined the event in Volpriehausen, Germany, for a week full of lectures, workshops, networking opportunities, and a field trip. By specifically addressing the intersection of AI applications and biodiversity research, the spring school has catered to the interdisciplinary exchange between participants as well as with the expert lecturers.

Photo by PixabayPhoto credit: Mina AndersPhoto credit: Chingiz Seyidbayli

Speakers

David BennettDavid Bennett, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
Kevin DarrasKevin Darras, INRAE, France
Camille DesjonquèresCamille Desjonquères, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
Burooj GhaniBurooj Ghani, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, The Netherlands
David SingerDavid Singer, Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt, Germany
  • Stefan Kahl and Raja Charlotte Seifert, TU Chemnitz, Germany
  • Dan Stowell, Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Program

Monday, 23 March 2026

  • Welcome address
  • Presentation of the BioIntAkt project
  • Participant posters session 1/2
  • Icebreaker activities

Tuesday, 24 March 2026

  • Guided bird walk
  • Participant posters session 2/2
  • Talk “Passive Acoustic Monitoring for Biodiversity Conservation” (Kevin Darras)
  • Talk “Acoustic Insect Monitoring” (Camille Desjonquères)
  • Workshop “Detection of Specific Animal Sounds” (Burooj Ghani, Dan Stowell)

Wednesday, 25 March 2026

  • Field trip to Julius Kühn-Institut Braunschweig

Thursday, 26 March 2026

  • Talk “Bird Monitoring” (David Singer)
  • Workshop “BirdNET” (Stefan Kahl, Raja Charlotte Seifert)
  • Talk “Sound analyses with Raven” (David Bennett)

Friday, 27 March 2026

  • World Café on open research challenges in acoustic monitoring

Sponsors

The spring school has received financial support by the following sponsors:

The spring school is receiving partial financial support by the BMFTR through its funding of the BioIntAkt project.
The GI/ITG Special Interest Group on Communication and Distributed Systems (KuVS) is sponsoring key components to make the hands-on workshops possible.
The IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Community on Computer Communications (TCCC) is sponsoring additional components that enable us to run the hands-on workshops.

Participation fees and invoices

Depending on the selected room category (pending availability), the total cost of participation ranged between 480 and 600 EUR. This amount included all costs (accommodation, all meals, participation in all workshops and activities, as well as the field trip) except for people’s individual travel expenses to get to/from the event location. Tax invoices have been provided by the hotel.