Unveiling Novel Insights and Engaging Discussions
The retreat kicked off with a stimulating talk from RESOLV Board Member Prof. Dominik Marx, setting the stage for a series of enlightening discussions. The first invited guest, Dr. Marwin Segler from Microsoft Research AI4Science, shared his insights on the opportunities for the design and synthesis of functional molecules with Machine Learning techniques, sparking a wave of inspiration. While RESOLV’s Early Career Researchers held their annual general assembly, the PI and PSs engaged in the first of three fruitful brainstorming sessions on the future research of RESOLV. RESOLV’s early career researchers presented their results, covering a wide spectrum of Solvation Science in the poster session.
Nurturing Ideas and Fostering Inclusivity
The subsequent day unfolded with renewed vigour and discussions on the progress in the three research areas of RESOLV. A workshop was offered to overcome obstacles and provide the ground for more diversity and quality. In the workshop “Unconscious Biases", the participants were confronted with the realization of how unconscious bias influences our daily decisions. By fostering an environment of awareness and mitigation, RESOLV encourages all researchers to cultivate and promote inclusive practices. For the PI and PS a workshop on mental health followed and provided valuable insights into maintaining an atmosphere of inclusion and respect.
Scientific Discourse and Inspiring Exploration
On the last day, the participants followed the lectures of invited guests Dr. David van Craen, from TU Dortmund University, who spoke about charge-neutral containers for efficient anion recognition in competitive solvents and Prof. Majed Chergui, EPFL Lausanne, who provided an overview of the progress of solvation dynamics by ultrafast optical and X-ray spectroscopy. After another fruitful brainstorming session the retreat was concluded with two special highlights. The best three posters presented at the poster sessions received the RESOLV Poster Prize. First place was awarded to Christian Chodun for the presentation about “EC-RISM/MPNN-based hydration free energy models with application to tautomer equilibria”. Last but not least, Adrian Buchmann and Sebastian Lütge presented their research in the form of a science slam. Martina Havenith, spokesperson of RESOLV, ended the conference. As every year, the retreat was a great opportunity for exchange, collaboration, and enlightenment, We are looking forward to the RESOLV 3.0 proposal and beyond.