Annual Retreat: Three Days of Scientific Exchange
At the beginning of the week, the SFB/TRR 417 came together for its annual retreat at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg. In a beautiful autumnal setting, doctoral researchers, MD fellows, and project leaders gathered to share their research, exchange ideas, and discuss the next steps in our research consortium.
Strengthening connections among our young researchers at the IRTG retreat
The retreat kicked off on Monday, October 19, with the meeting of our Integrated Research Training Group (IRTG), bringing together nearly 40 doctoral researchers and MD fellows.
Reinhild Feuerstein shared practical insights into successful collaborations, while Henner Farin introduced the principles of Good Scientific Practice. Building on these sessions, the young researchers discussed their projects in smaller groups and explored connections across the consortium. Guided by IRTG project leaders Henner Farin, Reinhild Feuerstein, and Claudia Günther, they created their own map of the TRR 417 network, making links between projects visible and highlighting opportunities for future joint work.
The program also included a workshop on Research Data Management led by Florin Ratajczak, a postdoctoral researcher in our central project S03, addressing an important topic for a consortium whose projects generate large and complex datasets.
Connections were also made beyond science. In an outdoor escape game in the beautiful Kurpark of Bad Homburg, the participants had to rescue the world from a pandemic.
Sharing our latest research across the consortium
Following the IRTG retreat, the full TRR 417 consortium gathered to present and discuss research across the network. Doctoral researchers took center stage once again, presenting the latest developments in their individual projects, alongside discussions of the consortium's central projects.
With the first year of funding behind us, the retreat marked an important milestone: researchers came together to share new results emerging from their work since the funding period began. The presentations and lively discussions offered an opportunity to reflect on achievements so far, exchange constructive feedback, and identify promising directions for future research and collaborations.
Beyond the formal sessions, there was plenty of time to discuss ideas and gain new perspectives across projects, further strengthening the sense of community within the consortium.
Looking ahead and building on a year of collaborations
The annual retreat highlighted the value of bringing researchers together to share knowledge, learn from one another, and advance our research.
As we move into the next year, we take with us fresh ideas, valuable feedback, and renewed motivation for the work ahead. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to these inspiring three days!
Photo credit: Ann-Kathrin Mehnert
