First steps in CREEP
CREEP brings us, 16 early career scientists together by offering PhD positions under best conditions at different universities distributed in Europe. We have the chance to present our progress in frequently occurring workshops. Moreover, secondments to companies from the private sector show us the connection between research and its impact in industry. Acquiring management and networking skills is also a part of the project.
Students from all over the world, ranging from America, to India, Europe and China are doing their first steps in the research world together. Therefore, we were all excited to see each other for the first time in Sete, France, where the starting workshop was held.
1st CREEP workshop – fun and educative!
The first CREEP workshop from 28th to 31th January 2016 took place in Sete, a beautiful port town, placed at the Mediterranean in Southern France.
Besides the lecture we could enjoy the beautiful sides of Sete
At the first evening a scientific speed dating was organised, where the opportunity for an exchange between us and all other non-PhD students was given. It was interesting to see how this project brings together specialists and students with such a wide range of different expertise: from geo- and fluid dynamics to seismology, mineral physics as well as material science.
During the next days different sessions were organised and we could listen to talks given by several senior scientists to get an idea of their research fields and expertise.
In between the talks, each of us presented a three-minute summary of our PhD topics to give a taste of all projects, followed by a poster session, where everyone could discuss its work with the other participants. Two main poster sessions were organised in order to get curious and ask questions to the authors on the spot.
At the end of the workshop, we recapped all session and presented a short summary of each talk. By showing the main points, we had the possibility to clarify remaining questions. For this purpose we worked together in small groups. It was an interesting first taste how to cooperate within this amazing ‘international’ team.
During leisure time we could get to know each other – for example by playing ping-pong!
What follows..?
The first months were amazingly exciting for all of us. We all came to a foreign country, to a new environment. The launch of the project was a great success. We are looking forward to the next years, dealing together with all upcoming challenging and appealing tasks. So what follows… a lot of fun – That’s for sure!
Philipp, Giacomo, Linfeng and Wen
