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Escape the benches! – The CPC Research School Retreat 2017

This year's CPC Research School retreat for MD and PhD students took place on June 28 and 29, 2017, at the Grasgehren mountain lodge, Allgäu. The event included presentations on the student's progress with subsequent expert feedback by the Research School Team, and offered opportunities for building research connections during the structured sessions, lunchtime sessions, and evening receptions.

Although not blessed with the best weather, the students enjoyed swapping the lab benches and office chairs with alpine tranquility and some outdoor activities at times when it did not rain cats and dogs. The main group activity was an outdoor mystery game in which the students had to solve a murder case as co-inspectors of the local police - enacted by a group of performers of "Der Hüttenkrimi" (http://www.huettenkrimi.de/).

Thanks to a great choice of food and drinks it was very easy to get in touch with each other and spend some quality time together. By the end of the second day, we were lucky to listen to an interesting career path by Dr. Gernot Klotz, a trained biologist who not only talked about his career and the decisions he made but also encouraged and motivated us to follow our passions and become good in what we do.

Overall, the retreat was a great success and, according to most, retreats could take place more often!

By Maximilian Strunz.