Brandenburg, 13.11. - 14.11.2015
The winter workshop 2015 was held from 13th - 14th November at the Axxon Hotel in Brandenburg an der Havel.
This town is the third largest in the federal state Brandenburg with 71.000 inhabitants. Its history reaches back more than a 1000 years and its center still has its medieval structure.
The location could be reached from Magdeburg by train in one and a half hours and the hotel provided adequate facilities for the workshop program. The workshop had 29 contributions in the form of presentations and a poster session. In 15 presentations each participant was given 15 minutes to present current research results followed by a 5 minute discussion with the audience. This proven format allowed to identify helpful approaches for sticking points as well as to ignite further discussions during coffee breaks and social activities. Two new members of the graduate school were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and their field of research in a short presentation. During the poster session 12 participants first introduced the content of their poster in a few presentation slides. Afterwards there was time for all participants to study the presented posters and discuss questions with the presenters in detail.
As usually the academic program was accompanied by a social event. The participants went together on a guided tour through a Slavic museum village. This tour not only provided the members of the graduate school with knowledge about the history of this part of Germany but also allowed the group to grow together and to integrate the new members. A group dinner on the same evening served this social aspect as well which is of great importance in an interdisciplinary graduate school.
The workshop format was proven successful more than one time when discussions after presentation had to be cut off by the chairmen of the session and were continued in coffee breaks, during meals or along the social event. The workshop also included a board meeting where the decision was made to summarize the presented contents in the form of workshop proceedings which will be available from the participating chairs.
Here you can find the program.