Ph.D. Retreat 2021
The 2021 Ph.D. Retreat took place from June 7th to June 10th, 2021 – and could be held as a combined, i. e. hybrid event, with two days in person in the lecture halls of the Klinikum Großhadern, plus two online days via zoom due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions thereto.
28 students, several supervisors, two alumni and four guest speakers enriched the Ph.D. retreat, thus allowing a vivid exchange, interaction, and fruitful results.
Each Ph.D. student presented his/her project during the first two days in the Klinikum Großhadern, where we had not only the opportunity to stream the session in lecture hall III, but also to allow those students, who attended remotely to present their work to the audience as well – thanks to Fernando Tábora.
The focus of the presentations was mainly on describing the progress of the project, including both “ups and downs” and the current situation of each Ph.D. student within the program, rather than to present perfectly elaborated conference presentations which, altogether, lead to a deeper understanding among all – “We are all in the same boat.”
Dr. Kufre Okop, University of Cape Town / South Africa, shared his expertise in “Citizen Science” during his presentation:
“Using participatory citizen science approach to co-develop cardiovascular disease risk prevention strategies and advocacy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from the CEBHA+ project”. Afterwards, the Ph.D. students could address questions to him and Dr. Kerstin Sell, IBE/LMU Munich, to get a more in-depth insight into this subject matter.
Dr. Sabine Hoffmann, IBE/LMU Munich, offered a very interesting Modelling Session: ‘Sources of uncertainty in statistical modelling’, followed by a vivid exchange and discussions in breakout sessions, where Prof. Anne-Laure Boulesteix and Prof. Ulrich Mansmann joined as experts.
Special thanks to André Kellner, a qualified psychologist and coach, who organized our active breaks and also held a highly appreciated presentation about “Controlled by Stress or Stress under Control?
With the presentation “We came to stay”, by Dr. Isolde von Bülow, Head of the GraduateCenterLMU, and the following discussion with Dr. Catherine Mason and Dr. Maximilian Schielein, both Alumni of the EPH-Ph.D. program, we could close our retreat successfully and say good-bye with some meaningful take home messages.