Press release: Göttingen Research Images of the Year
No. 20 - 03.03.2026
Exhibition opens 11 March at Forum Wissen – the knowledge museum of Göttingen University
How can researchers communicate the complexity, significance and beauty of their work? This question inspired Göttingen’s Science Communication Network to consider how best to showcase and share the diversity of research at the Göttingen Campus. The Network knew that sometimes a single image can make a greater impact than a thousand words, so they organised a contest to collect Research Images of the Year. The top 20 images are due to go on display at a special exhibition at the University of Göttingen’s Forum Wissen from 12 March to 10 April 2026.
Researchers across the Campus – in all disciplines and at all career levels – were invited to submit a photo, illustration or other visualisation that brought their work to life. Submissions were featured on an online gallery and the public were invited to vote. To generate a fair result, voters were shown pairs of images at random for 25 rounds and asked to pick the one that explained the research most clearly and creatively. Over a thousand people took part. Then an expert panel – made up of artists, science communicators and other professionals – made their choice. And now the resulting winning entries are on display at the Forum Wissen – the knowledge museum of the University of Göttingen.
Posters of the top 20 will be shown, the top five will be framed and on display and all the remaining entries to the contest will be projected on a screen at the Forum Wissen. The first choice of the public and the first choice of the expert panel will be announced at the opening event on 11 March, where researchers will talk about their research and how they generated their winning images.
Opening Event: Wednesday 11 March at 18:00-20:30
Forum Wissen Göttingen, Vestibule, next to the museum café. Everyone is warmly invited to join (in English, questions in German are welcome).
Event schedule:
- 18:00 welcome and short talks
- Greeting and introduction, Professor Christoph Bleidorn, Scientific Director, Forum Wissen
- Dr Sandra Potsch, Head of the Museum of Knowledge, Forum Wissen
- Dr Hyojin (Jin) Kim, organiser of the contest and Göttingen’s Science Communication Network
- Selected members of the expert panel
- The Top 5 winners
- Refreshments and discussion
Info for visitors: entry is free of charge. Forum Wissen, Berliner Straße 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Further information: www.forum-wissen.de/event/research-image-of-the-year/
Contact for Göttingen’s Science Communication Network and Research Images competition:
Dr Hyojin (Jin) Kim
Computational Neuroscientist
Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
Göttingen, Germany
Email: hyojin.kim@uni-goettingen.de
https://goettingen-campus.de/postdoc
Science Communication Network Göttingen