Research School Section Days 2007 - A comment
With the completion of the Section Days the Research School, established almost one year ago, has a chance to reflect on the reasons and principles behind its concept. It wanted to create a network of fellows from within and across each discipline, to promote long term contacts and initiate scientific dialogue between them. This philosophy was and still is the vision held by all those involved with the Research School.
As one of the Research School´s doctoral fellows, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the outcomes and summarise the objectives and successes following the Section Days.
First, the impression from the feedback received regarding the Section Days were that, overall, they had been a success. It was predominantly organised by the doctoral representatives of each scientific section. They organised the schedule, invited the speakers and moderated the Section Days. I, for my part, was very impressed by their organisational success and felt that opinion was shared by the other representatives.
Insight Gained
The anticipated and desired objective, to promote communication within the sections, was realised and I am really glad to report that the doctoral fellows were all very interested in each others research projects and experiences. This is evidence of our interest and open-minded attitude towards other topics.
The number of doctoral fellows who participated underlines the enthusiasm within the Research School, out of 134 participating students 104 presented posters.
Open Dialogue
I experienced not only an immense amount of interest towards other topics, but also the desire for scientific exchange. During the poster session it was inspiring to observe some healthy discussions resulting in contentious but constructive ideas. That alone was exciting for me as these are the Research School`s aspirations.
Keep In Touch
After establishing that first contact I hope that the sharing of ideas will continue into the future and grow beyond the Research School. The reasons the doctoral fellows gave, when exchanging business cards, was the desire to create an alumnus network after their graduation. If you also include the Research School as part of your network then I would consider the event an overall success.
Despite the success of this year´s Section Days, the next Section Days will still be a challenge for all of us. I am hopeful that the Research School can persuade you that the Section Days are not only worth one credit point, but offer a really good opportunity to build networks, expand your areas of expertise and initiate dialogue between different disciplines.
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the role that we would like you to take in the development of the Research School. It is supposed to be an organisation that addresses the needs of the doctoral fellows. Therefore, it is important that we contribute to, and help shape future events. This collaboration will hopefully ensure that we will continue to benefit from future Section Days.
Finally, I would like to thank the organizers for, in my opinion, three very fruitful days that make me look forward to next year´s Section Days.
Editor: Romy Marx ((Fellow of the Research School)