Internship reflections: Meeting Ferry Heinzelmann

This interview was conducted in May 2026.

We recently had Ferry Heinzelmann with us as an intern at our department from March to May through our internship programme.

Ferry is a Master’s student in Statistics at TU Dortmund University and is currently finishing the final part of his degree. During his time with us, he worked together with Mehdi Moradi on a project that led to the research article “On spatially-adaptive intensity estimation for spatial point processes”.

Before he left, we asked him a couple of questions about his time in Umeå.

How have you experienced your time at our department?

– It was a really good experience. I enjoyed the project a lot, and Umeå is a very nice city. When I arrived in March, there was still snow, and it felt more like a transition period. Now everything has started to blossom, so maybe March wasn’t the optimal time to come.

Ferry highlights both what he learned and the atmosphere at the department:

– For me, a big part was learning how to structure a research paper and how research is organised at a university. There is no strong hierarchy here, and you can talk to everyone in the same way, whether it’s students, PhD students or professors. That makes the environment very open. There were also many natural opportunities to talk to people during common lunches and fika, which made it easy to interact with people.

– There were quite a few interns at the same time, and almost all of them were from Germany. I already knew one of them from TU Dortmund, which made communication easier.

Did you feel supported during your internship?

– I got a lot of material at the beginning, which helped me get started, and it was always easy to talk to Mehdi if I had questions or wanted to discuss something. Everything on the practical side also worked well. It was easy to find accommodation, and I stayed in Ålidhem where most students live.

At the same time, Ferry shares some thoughts on what could work better during the internship;

– Maybe it was sometimes a bit too structured, since the overall framework of the project was already quite defined. I didn’t always have the chance to bring in my own ideas or work as independently as I would have liked. Also, since the project was originally planned for a longer period but finished earlier, it could be helpful to match the timeline more clearly with the actual internship duration.

When we asked what he had been doing outside of work during his stay, he points to both everyday routines and time spent in nature:

– I’ve been going to IKSU quite a lot, mostly using the gym. I also joined some buddy programme activities through Umeå University. I really enjoyed the nature here. It’s very hiking-friendly, and it’s easy to get out. We visited places like Höga Kusten and Abisko, and I travelled to Helsinki. We also went cycling to Hörnefors.

What are your plans going forward?

– I will finish my remaining courses and then start my master’s thesis. After that, I would like to start working. I’m interested in analysing data in areas like climate, sports or health.

Thank you, Ferry, and best of luck with the final steps of your Master’s!