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Daniela Calvus (42) has been obtaining a doctorate in Computer Science - Computer Vision and Machine Learning at Hochschule RheinMain (HSRM) since 2023. She already knows HSRM from her studies. After completing a Bachelor's degree in Media Computer Science and a Master's degree in Computer Science, she worked as a lecturer for special tasks in the Media Informatics degree program. "The doctorate at HSRM was an obvious choice," she reports.

At first glance, the topic of her doctorate seems surprising. Her dissertation is entitled "Recording, analysis and visualization of activities of ground-dwelling wild bees".

The fight against insect extinction

The protection of wild bees is an important concern for Daniela Calvus: "They are an important part of our ecosystem and are underestimated by the general public." Insects, including wild bees, play an important role as pollinators and are indispensable for the global food supply. However, their populations have declined dramatically in recent decades. "The reasons for insect extinction are not yet fully understood, which makes it difficult to apply suitable protective measures," explains Daniela Calvus. It is therefore necessary to gain more information about the life cycles of wild bees in order to develop species-specific protection measures.

Camera-based monitoring of wild bees

To obtain such information, Daniela Calvus relies on camera-based monitoring systems that can be used to observe the behavior of ground-nesting wild bees. The information from the image and video material must also be processed in such a way that experts can derive suitable protective measures for wild bees from the data.

The results of their research could, for example, lead to regulations for pesticides. "This would mean a huge improvement in bee protection. The fact that I can apply my IT knowledge to this makes me very proud, especially because there are only a few computer scientists with this research focus," says Daniela Calvus, sharing her enthusiasm for her research topic.

Balancing family and doctorate

She finds it challenging to reconcile family and doctorate: "I take a lot of thoughts home with me from my doctorate and a lot of family thoughts into my studies. " She therefore advises future doctoral candidates to "consider beforehand whether the family offers sufficient support and freedom to be able to concentrate on a doctoral topic over a longer period of time". In the future, Daniela Calvus would like to continue her academic work and is aiming for a HAW professorship after successfully completing her doctorate.