Past Meetings

8 – 9 June 2017, Hotel Aeschi Park, Aeschi bei Spiez
“Career planning for Climate Scientists”

How to make good decisions in life and find a decent job

Scope

PhD students and Postdocs have an excellent education, which is an important factor for successful careers in academia, administration and the private sector. However, other and more soft factors can be equally important for the professional life of a Climate Scientist.

The YRM 2017 focuses on making good decisions in life, and it discusses tools and strategies for career planning. It consists of keynote inputs, individual and group workshops, and plenary sequences on

• Predictors for a successful career
• Boosting personal resources for a specific career
• Strategies and tools to find a research grant
• Alumni presenting and discussing their personal experience

9 – 10 June 2016, Hotel Aeschi Park, Aeschi bei Spiez
“It’s a paper world” – How to read and publish research articles

Scope

We live in a paper world: Most activities of (climate) scientists are related to research articles. On the one side, we need to absorb, process and organize information from research articles in an efficient way. On the other side, we are engaged in the production, i.e., in the authoring and editing of research articles. As a participant of the 15th Young Researchers Meeting, you will be given the opportunity to

• train skills for both passive and active mastering of the paper world
• reflect on the (hidden) mechanisms of present-day paper publication.

11 – 12 June 2015, Hotel Aeschi Park, Aeschi bei Spiez
"Soft skills for hard-working researchers"

Scope

Many of you are in the middle of their PhD or postdoc projects and have already gained some experience with giving talks at conferences or writing articles for scientific journals. To be heard in the research community, it is not only important to have striking oral abilities and an accurate writing style. Being able to organise a research project efficiently is another key qualification for every successful researcher.

Hence, the 14th Young Researchers Meeting is focusing on soft skills for young researchers and gives you the opportunity to attend an advanced workshop

• to enhance your academic writing proficiency, or
• to present your research effectively to your scientific community, or
• to learn how to successfully manage research projects.

19 – 20 June 2014, Hotel Aeschi Park, Aeschi bei Spiez
"Science and Communication"

Scope

Disseminating scientific results to the public is a difficult but also an important task, e.g. to raise the awareness of the people for environmental issues. A prominent example is the broad interest of the news media in climate change, as for instance the recent release of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) has shown. Maybe you will also be asked or perhaps already have been asked by journalists for statements about climate change and about your personal research field. At the same time scientific results are often misunderstood, misinterpreted or even utilized to put the man-made influence on the Earth’s climate into question.

Hence, the 13th Young Researchers Meeting focused on science and communication and gave the opportunity to

• Understand how the media works
• Do a hands-on media training
• Learn how the IPCC handled communication while compiling AR5
• Analyze the arguments of climate skeptics
• Learn about additional means of outreach

6 – 7 June 2013, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten
"Marketing yourself"

Scope

PhD students and postdocs bring along an excellent education enabling them for leadership in both the public (e.g. academia, administration) and the private sector (e.g. industry). But when it comes to present the relevant skills, many fail by being too modest or forgetting to highlight skills besides the specialized expertise gained during their career as researchers.

The 12th Young Researchers Meeting shall help to market yourself optimally and to negotiate with a potential employer. This will be done in workshops in which
* the strategic thoughts for a job application are introduced
* a convincing and market-conform application dossier is compiled
* alumni will present and discuss their personal experience.

7 – 8 June 2012, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten
"Shaping the future of (your) climate research"

Scope

In view of the NCCR Climate and many individual PhD projects coming to an end, the 11th Young Researchers Meeting aimed at providing the participants with tools to shape their personal future as a researcher and get a sense of their needs with regard to Swiss climate research. On the first day of the meeting, everybody took part in a workshop with the goal of re-defining the Swiss climate research structure from a PhD or postdoc perspective. At the same time, helpful techniques to gather new ideas and to tackle questions from new angles were introduced. The second day of the meeting was dedicated to furthering the personal research career. Experts presented research programmes and funding sources for the career steps after a PhD. In small workshops, the participants gained hands-on experience in completing their dossier for a successful grant application.

9 – 10 June 2011, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten
"Soft skills for hard-working researchers"

Scope

To be heard in the research community, it is not only important to have striking oral abilities and an accurate writing style. Being able to organise a research project efficiently is another key qualification for every successful researcher. The goal of the 10th Young Researchers Meeting was to give the participants the opportunity to improve their soft skills and attend a workshop to enhance their academic writing proficiency, about communicating research effectively to the scientific community, or to learn how to manage research projects.

10 – 11 June 2010, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten
"Science and Communication"

Scope

The 9th Young Researchers Meeting was focusing on science and communication and gave the participants the opportunity to learn how to prepare texts for the mass media, practice interviews for radio or TV, and to analyse the arguments of climate sceptics. The goal of the meeting was to provide the participants with tools and background information to be ready for adequate communication with the media and to avoid that their scientific results are misunderstood, misinterpreted or even utilised to put the man-made influence on the Earth's climate into question.

4 – 5 June 2009, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten

Scope

The 8th Young Researchers Meeting focused on bringing together the NCCR Climate young researchers towards a concerted effort answering questions and finding solutions to the interdisciplinary research questions of the project. There was ample time for informal exchange, interaction, collaboration, building new contacts and strengthening of existing ones as well as for discussions. New scientific results were communicated.

12 – 13 June 2008, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten

Scope

30 young researchers participated at the meeting with many new members introducing themselves and becoming part of the NCCR Climate community. The meeting focused on professional perspectives after having completed university studies. During a panel discussion on "Career opportunities in the academic and the business sector", the young researchers had the opportunity to discuss with former NCCR Climate members, now either employed in academia or the business sector, and get information from experienced and specialised professionals on perspectives in both sectors. Individual research questions were discussed during the creative free time. New scientific results were presented and interesting collaborations arose among different projects.

7 – 8 June 2007, Centre Lœwenberg, Lake Murten

Scope

The meeting had as central point the preparation of the young researchers for the job market. The organised seminar focused on the application of modern marketing strategies to the task of finding a new job. The young researchers had the opportunity to informal exchange, interact, collaborate and strengthen existing contacts with young scientists from different projects and work packages. New scientific results were communicated.

18 – 19 May 2006, Gwatt Conference Centre, Lake Thun

Scope

The scope of the meeting was to enhance the communication of new results, scientific aims, common problems, within and between the projects and WPs, and the promotion of collaboration between the young researchers. 41 young researchers, at PhD and Postdoctoral level, attended the meeting. Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum (WHO) gave an excellent lecture on "Climate Change and Health".

15 – 17 June 2005, Gwatt Conference Centre, Lake Thun

Scope

This meeting was the first contact with the NCCR Climate organization for the numerous new members of the 2nd Phase. In consequence the meeting aimed at making the next generation of PhD and postdoctoral researchers familiar with the overall NCCR Climate goals, both in research and interaction, and to help identifying the role and individual contributions of the new young researchers to the big NCCR picture. 38 PhD and postdoctoral researchers gathered for a course in "English for Presentations" (Heather Murray, University of Bern), for a plenary session, a "Who is Who", and for workshops within the frame of the four Work Packages. A highlight of the special kind was the brilliant lecture delivered by Dr. Urs Fischbacher (University of Zurich) on "Strong Reciprocity and Human Cooperation", a key issue for effective collaboration within the NCCR Climate.

3 – 4 June 2004, Gwatt Conference Centre, Lake Thun

Scope

The workshop was held in the light of bringing results together and working towards a synthesis. Most people made substantial progress in their own work in the precedent year and the time had come to bring things together. The meeting promoted collaboration with PhD-students and post-docs from different projects and strengthened existing contacts. There was one day dedicated to scientific workshops and another day to be spent in methodological workshops. The scientific workshops focused on a specific aspect that was addressed by members of different projects.

25 – 26 June 2003, Münchenwiler Castle, Lake Murten

Scope

The purpose of the second Young Researchers Meeting was to promote the collaboration and cohesion within the work packages and the efficient communication of results. For this purpose and responding to suggestions from participants of the first workshop, a one-day media training (German) and a scientific presentation course (English) was organised. The workshop was be used to introduce new members of the NCCR Climate to the colleagues from the other projects. It also offered the opportunity for informal exchange and aims at strengthening the network of young researchers.

20 – 21 June 2002, Gwatt Conference Centre, Lake Thun

Scope

The first Young Researchers Meetin gof the NCCR Climate aimed at fostering cross-project interactions. All participants introduced themselves and their individual projects and everybody got the chance to interact with people from other projects in one of the workshops that were guided by the crosscutting themes of the NCCR Climate.