iScience members, iScience friends, and colleagues from joint DFG projects (like Lilly Roth from the University of Tübingen) had an extraordinary 4-day mid-semester break event this week.

Thanks to precautionary health safety measures (like the free, daily PCR tests of the University of Konstanz), the event took place on-site in Konstanz even in turbulent COVID-19 times, thus enabling a face-to-face exchange of our often remotely working team (with colleagues distributed, for example, in Konstanz, Kreuzlingen, Zürich, Luzern, Tübingen, and Hamburg).

We spent the time together discussing the future of our research, our research tools, and how we can further improve innovative projects and academic collaborations. 

For example, our iScience Research Colloquium (FoKo) with a series of knowledgeable and passionate presentations was an excellent opportunity for us to learn about the wide range of research being done by the different iScience team members. As a result, many conceptual synergies have emerged, leading to new research ideas.

The event also included various coding workshops, methodological discussions, and thus a lively exchange of skills and knowledge. For example, one workshop topic was about current developments in Open Science and the debate on how we can make our research and iScience research tools (like WEXTOR) even more accessible, transparent, and collaborative.

And there were also many opportunities for informal exchange: Team events in restaurants, coffee breaks in the cafeteria, and a hiking trip through the Mainau forest were great ways to celebrate and spend time with colleagues.

At the end of the 4-day event, we all felt inspired and energized to take on new challenges!