On April 3, 2025, 8 female students from various schools in the region had the opportunity to gain an exciting insight into the work of the Chair of Data Science in Economics at the Faculty of Economics at Ruhr-University Bochum and in particular into the research areas of Data Science.

The day started with a warm welcome and a short round of introductions at the chair. Prof. Astrid Krenz offered an insight into data science with a presentation and clearly explained the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence as well as the relevance of big data and programming in economics. Topics such as the importance of data analysis in the modern economy, the challenges of working with large data sets, and this field‘s exciting career opportunities were covered.

Afterwards, the Python programming language was introduced. The students were tought the basic commands and structures of the programming language and were able to apply their newly acquired knowledge directly to small exercises. A highlight of the day was the handling of real data. The students learned how to read a data set in Python and apply their first Python commands to the data set. This enabled them to get a practice-oriented insight into the work of a data scientist and allowed them to experience how valuable information can be obtained from data.

The students were also given information about the courses offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics at RUB before the chair‘s employees gave the students an insight into their work and research in the field of data science.

At the end of the day, the students also took part in a short campus tour and a joint lunch in the canteen. Here, the participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas and reflect on their impressions of the day.

Girls’ Day at the Chair of Data Science in Economics was a wonderful and successful day. We are already looking forward to the upcoming Girls’ Days in the coming years and to inspiring more students for the fascinating world of data science, artificial intelligence and programming in economics.