Reflections on My Early Weeks as a Visiting Researcher at FAU

Hello! Since late September, I’ve been staying in Germany as a visiting researcher at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), working on a project titled Joint Research on the Development of AI-based Image Processing Algorithms.

It has already been about two weeks since I started my visit, and today I joined the Colloquium for the first time—one of the most interesting research traditions at PRL (Pattern Recognition Lab), FAU. In this post, I’d like to share some of the lab’s research culture and what has impressed me so far.

1. The 50th Anniversary Celebration

Right after arriving in Germany, I attended the lab’s 50th-anniversary celebration, which was a major event.
Coming from a Korean research culture—where a single PI typically leads the lab—it was fascinating to see a group that has been continuously active for five decades, now under its third chair.

The two-day conference brought together around 400 participants, including professors, alumni, former members, and collaborators. It was an amazing opportunity to meet and talk with so many people across generations of the lab’s history.

I was pleasantly surprised to reconnect with several German researchers who had previously visited our Medical AI & Computer Vision Lab in Korea for collaboration. Being surrounded by hundreds of people sharing a common research heritage over half a century made me reflect deeply on the meaning of an academic community and continuity in research.

2. Lunch Together, Every Day

The PRL is quite a large lab—around 70 to 80 members in total. With so many people, you might expect everyone to stick to their own groups. But here, there’s a strong culture of having lunch together.

Except for those stationed at partner hospitals or companies, members usually gather at the ground floor of the lab building and head out together to the Mensa, the university cafeteria. On the way there, and throughout lunch, research discussions never stop.

Since the lab covers a wide range of topics—from medical imaging and computer vision to time series and signal processing—the conversations are always diverse and insightful. After lunch, people often take a short walk around the campus before returning to their desks.

Recent topics included the MICCAI 2025 conference held in Korea, colloquium, ongoing projects, and even cycling or hiking plans (They really love biking!).
The conversations flow naturally in English, as the group is truly international and open.

3. The Colloquium

Every member of the lab belongs to at least one research group, such as Computer Vision, LAMBDA, IPA, or Time Series.
Each group holds a weekly colloquium, where members present their work or invite speakers.

Today, I attended my first sessions—one for the Time Series group at 2 p.m. and another for LAMBDA at 4 p.m.
Typically, a Master’s student presents either an introduction or a final presentation of their thesis. After the presentation—covering background, methods, results, and future work—the entire group participates in discussion and Q&A.

For final presentations, PhD and post-doctoral researchers also provide formal evaluation and feedback. I was invited to join the evaluation myself, and, unfamiliar with the German grading system, I initially gave letter grades (A+, A, A-, etc.), which caused a small but funny misunderstanding before they kindly converted my input.

The evaluation criteria are transparent and well-structured, and the process encourages rich discussion before reaching a collective decision. In addition to thesis presentations, the colloquium sometimes includes guest talks and PhD progress reports, so I’m looking forward to attending more sessions.

4. Daily Routine and Research Goals

During this visit, I’ve been trying to make the most of my time through structured work and active collaboration.
Most lab members start their day around 8 a.m., focusing deeply during work hours to enjoy evenings off—something I’m gradually adopting (though late-night work still happens occasionally).

Everyone here seems highly motivated and efficient, balancing research, collaboration, and personal time remarkably well.
As our collaboration progresses, I hope to share more about the joint research itself in my next post.

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Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about the visiting research experience at FAU, feel free to contact me.