Winter retreat 2020
Over the course of the 15th and 16th of October 2020, the Ph.D. students of the research training group π³ met for the annual winter retreat.
The main goal for this retreat was getting together the complete 2nd cohort, since the last students joined the group as late as September.
Originally the plan was to stay at the Ludwig-Windthorst-Haus in Lingen (Emsland) from 14th to 16th October, but given that a global pandemic currently undermines all plans to meet in person the plans were quickly changed and the retreat was elevated into the digital realm! Originally the arrival day would start with an introduction to the new members followed by a discussion on the life inside the RTG and how to make it more beneficial for all. The second day should have been dedicated to a time and self management Workshop led by Dr. Nadine Binder. On the last day the plan was to discuss the given structures and obligations of the RTG. During the whole retreat there should have been small personal Pecha Kucha’s (presentation format with only 20 pictures and 20 seconds each) to get to know each other better outside working life.
Acting fast and reorganizing everything within days, the accommodation was cancelled and the organization team decided to make a two days online retreat. Therefore we started into the very informative ‘Time- and self management’-Workshop on Thursday. We got to know many tools, which we could set up and explore interactively. Also we got an insight into goal-setting and action planning techniques and discussed many methods about how to manage stress during the PhD.
The second day was focused on the life inside the RTG where we talked about how to stay connected and improve collaboration despite working from home. One achievement was the formation of groups, beyond the boundaries of the working groups, with similar research interests to form reading courses.
The retreat was a success in bringing the members together and to find a common basis for a good cooperation. The next retreat will be organized by Louisa Kinzel and Vladimir Vutov.