04.11.2025 Annual Retreat to Herborn castle over Halloween

This year's three-day Retreat of GRK2937 had an editor-in-chief, VR experiences and a spooky figure to offer.

The main topic at MiNu's Retreat this year was how to write a paper. We were very happy to welcome Dr. Kerstin Brachhold from the publisher Wiley, who in one and a half days dove deep into the dos and don'ts of good scientific writing and had our PhDs practice a lot - from titles and abstracts to the use of AI and what editors do. Kerstin is editor-in-chief of the journals "Advanced Biology" and "BioEssays".

In addition to Kerstin's invaluable expertise, several PhD Lectures and PI Presentations as well as MiNu issues were also on the agenda. The PhDs organised the evenings with, for example, a hardcore microbiological quiz and VR equipment, both demanding full physical exertion. Good job on all sides!

Several PIs came along as well, making this Retreat a perfect outing - over Halloween, at that. The lovely little castle of Herborn was a more than fitting backdrop for some evening fun, and we even had a visit of a fairly green but silent alien. S/he came in peace, though, and obviously had no abduction business, as no PhD or PI was reported missing on the final day of our Retreat.

Herborn, we will come back!

Almost the full group of our PhDs, with Kerstin Brachhold (6th from left) and our PI of Project 1 and VP of Marburg University, Gert Bange (to Kerstin's left)