HBIGS PhD Student Speakers
- Student Retreat July 2014 -
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Frankfurt am! Here we go! – Student Retreat July 2014
As every year, the beginning of summer is the time to take a break and go for a weekend with the HBIGS PhD student retreat!
This is not only an opportunity for PhD students to have some wonderful time together, but also to reflect on our work and our research. It is easy to get caught in a small field of interest and forget the big picture. Thus the key goals of the HBIGS student retreat are to bring together students from different topics in molecular and cellular biology, to share their ideas and results, to talk about science and not only; to learn a bit more about other fields of study, to network, interact and have fun, establish new collaborations and new friendships.
This year the chosen location was Frankfurt, an impressive city with a lot to offer. Some of the main ideas associated with Frankfurt are success, competitivity and existence of many possibilities. But the best part of this retreat was the one we brought with us from Heidelberg, the participants.
At the end of a hard working week :), we boarded the bus in front of the HBIGS center on a Friday afternoon. After a heavy rain on the highway to Frankfurt we arrived safely at the Youth Hostel located right in the center of Frankfurt, between the Innenstadt (with the old city center) and Sachsenhausen, a newer and lively neighborhood.
Right after checking into the rooms, we had dinner at the hostel and we started the introductory session and some scientific presentations. The first session contained 4 talks from PhD students, each about 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussions. The session had a facilitator to introduce the speakers and moderate if needed. Though a semi-formal meeting, we wanted to have a friendly, but professional environment and it certainly contributed to the overall quality of the talks and time keeping. For the rest of the evening we went out in Sachsenhausen for some Apfelwein, a typical drink for Frankfurt.
On Saturday we continued the scientific presentations with 2 more sessions of 4 presentations each. For each session the topics of the presentations were chosen such as to alternate topics and offer subjects for discussions from several directions. We had coffee breaks after each block, to freshen up, as well as to give everybody the opportunity to get into more details with certain presenters.
Before lunch we had a presentation from Dr. Daniel Parisotto, an HBIGS Alumni working in Frankfurt. Though he graduated fairly recently, he had already a fascinating experience beyond academia. He talked about PhD and beyond, consulting and science communication, his experience out of research and back, providing us with a lot of insights. It was a great opportunity to openly talk and reflect on success and career opportunities.
We had a small packed lunch that we decided to take outside by the Main River in order to enjoy a bit the sun and the wonderful skyline and city vibe. Some of us took advantage of the nice weather and went for a short walk to Römerberg, the core of the old city center, where we had a few pictures and a bit of fun.
The after lunch session started with a quick brainstorming session for 20 minutes. We split in groups by topic of research or main methods used and we reflected on the most useful courses we have attended and what other courses could be relevant. This was useful on a personal level to share experience and promote collaboration as well as gathering input. A short summary from the discussions was compiled.
We continued with 3 more sessions with presentation. In total throughout the retreat we had 22 presentations from PhD students, divided in 6 sessions. There were 24 scheduled, however we had 2 last minute cancellations. All participants were instructed to consider that we all have different fields and the talks were nicely adapted, informative as well as entertaining. As mentioned, each session was facilitated and the timing was optimal. Besides the student speakers, we would like to thank Isabel Schopp, Franziska Hentzschel and Antonino Montalbano for facilitating.
Before closing the day we had one last session to brainstorm about PhD standards and requirements, as well as about student activities and expectations from the student speakers. As with the previous session the input was compiled. We finished with a photo shooting session on the Main river with the beautiful Frankfurt skyline and our HBIGS branded t-shirts.
Before dinner we had a bit of free time in which some participants had the chance to go to the Main tower and see the city from above, visit a bit the city or just rest. For dinner we went to a traditional restaurant in the Innenstadt, to enjoy a bit more of the local flavors. The dinner was kindly offered by HBIGS, as well as the drinks on Friday evening, the accommodation, the other meals, transport and the Museum visit that followed on Sunday.
Last day started with checking out from the hostel, around 10 am, to enjoy the last few hours in Frankfurt. We left the luggage at the hostel and then carefully ducking the unfortunate on and off rain, we slowly crossed the city towards the Dialogue Museum. The visit went in groups of 6 or 8 and it was a great team-building, as well as a very special personal experience. The tour took us into a weird and unique world, a blind person’s life, a perspective that can hardly be described properly in words, but was certainly memorable.
Around 4 pm we took our rented bus back to Heidelberg, ending the 48 hours together. Overall it was an incredibly enjoyable retreat, we had great fun and great evaluations from participants and the weekend couldn´t have ended better; because great things come all together, Sunday finished with the World Cup Final!
We would like to thank HBIGS for the support, especially Dr. Rolf Lutz, Ms. Manuela Arlt, Ms. Martina Galvan and Ms. Sandra Martini; our guest Dr. Daniel Parisotto, and all the participants Eva Hasel, Antonino Montalbano, Chiara Zambarda, Franziska Hentzschel, Hrishikesh Das, Ibrahim Cemel, Julianne McCall, Julian Kellner, Yagmur Micoogullari, Slavil Peykov, Stefanie Große, Mario Lederle, Isabel Schopp, Nathalie Kühnle, Johanna Zierow, Zeribe Nwosu, Yulia Gryznova, Yihan Dong, Ali Ghanem, and, for us the students speakers, Sebastian Unger, Kathrin Tegeler, Ioana Goganau, mission accomplished!
On behalf of the 2014 HBIGS student retreat,
Ioana Goganau
Pictures from the Student Retreat 2014
