The second Klausurtagung of RESOLV took place from 09. – 11.03.2015 in Sportschloss Velen near Münster. After having severe problems with the long bus transfer to the last Klausurtagung in Bavaria near Munich, we chose a nearer location this year. Sportschloss Velen proved to be a comfortable, well-equipped conference site in an old castle, only one hour away from the Ruhr-University.
The Klausurtagung startet with a relaxed bus trip to the conference site. After the check-in and a welcome reception the new Participating Scientists Jörg Neugebauer, Thomas Happe and Frank Neese introduced their research fields to the RESOLV members. After that Christian Strippel gave an overview of the Public Outreach activities of RESOLV and invited the RESOLV members to contribute to the RESOLV exhibition about water. The first day of the workshop ended with dinner and drinks in the atmospheric castle basement and discussions continued on the skittle alley until late.
The second day started with overviews of the Research Areas of RESOLV given by the coordinators of the Research Areas. After lunch the group of RESOLV members was split into two subgroups: The PhD students and postdocs presented their projects and discussed about possible collaborations in the “Student’s discussion groups”. The participating PIs and PSs developed future scenarios and visions for RESOLV in the “Strategy Workshop Brainstorming”. In the late afternoon both groups came together again to enjoy talks about the highlights of different research areas of RESOLV.
On the third day the PIs and PSs continued their discussions in the “Strategy Workshop Brainstorming and Future Visions” whereas the Early Career members came together in the “Early Career Workshop”. The main topic of this year’s ECR Workshop was the GSS Internship. Two PhD students reported about their experience during the Internship and gave concrete advice and hints how to organize the stay abroad. Finally, the value of and the challenges for the completion of the GSS Training Schedule were discussed and reported to the dean of the ECR board.
After a delicious lunch in the castle restaurant the participants enjoyed a smooth bus transfer back to the Ruhr-University Bochum. All participants confirmed that it would be a great idea to go to Sportschloss Velen again next year.