Course Archive

Location: UoC, Institute for Genetics (day 1); UoC, Cologne Biocenter (day 2)

Time: 9:30 - 16:00 (day 1); 9:30 - 13:00 (day 2)

Max. number of participants: 20

Trainers:

• Dr. Günter Strittmatter, CEPLAS Consultant – Technology Transfer & Cooperation Management; Innovation by Research Consulting
• Frank Röber, Susanne Groh, Gabriele Schween, Alberto Sanzand, representatives from Corteva Agriscience^TM

Content:

Day 1: Status and Future of Plant Breeding

• Breeding Methodology
• Mendel Genetics vs. Quantitative Genetics
• Molecular Breeding: Genomics, Marker Diagnostics, Genetic Engineering
• Outlook

Day 2: Working at a globally leading agriscience company: Corteva Agriscience^TM

• Introduction to Corteva Agriscience^TM
• Working at Corteva Agriscience^TM
• Career Perspectives
• Qualifications
• Working Environment
• How to apply
• How to be successful in industry

Registration is opened until June 17, 2018. To register for the course, please follow this <link https: docs.google.com forms d edit external-link-new-window internal link in current>link. 

Instructors: Prof. Dr. Maria von Korff Schmising, Dr. Artem Pankin

Content:

• Natural Diversity 

• Population Genetics 

• Evolution 

• Quantitative Genetics 

• QTL Analysis 



Date: May 23 – 24 2017 
Time: 9:00 – 16:00 (day 1), 9:00 – 13:00 (day 2) 

Location: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, 50829 Cologne 

Max. number of participants: 12

<link https: docs.google.com forms d e viewform external-link-new-window internal link in current>Registration

Instructors:

• Dr. Günter Strittmatter, CEPLAS Consultant – Technology Transfer & Cooperation Management; formerly Head of Research & Development at KWS SAAT AG
• Matthias Enders, Bioinformatician at NPZ Innovation GmbH
• Dr. Steffen Rietz, Phytopathologist at NPZ Innovation GmbH

Content:
Day1: Status and Future of Plant Breeding

• Breeding Methodology
• Mendel Genetics vs. Quantitative Genetics
• Molecular Breeding: Genomics, Marker Diagnostics, Genetic Engineering
• Outlook

Day 2: Professional Perspectives for Plant Scientists in a Plant Breeding Company; meet current employees from NPZ Innovation GmbH

• Breeding Companies
• Qualifications
• Working Environment
• Career Perspectives
• How to apply
• Working at NPZ Innovation GmbH
• How to be successful in industry

Time: 9:30 – 16:00 (day 1), 9:30 – 13:00 (day 2)
Location: University of Cologne, Institute for Genetics, Zülpicher Str. 47a, 50674 Cologne, 4th Floor, Lecture Hall
Max. number of participants: 15 – 20

This interdisciplinary workshop aims at bringing together a dievrse group of researchers working on non-photocheical quenching mechanisms in plants and marine organisms. It will provide a platform for a focussed discussion and and exchange of cross-disciplinary ideas and results. The topics of the workshop will include various aspects of NPQ, ranging from molecular mechanisms of quenching, over new measuring techniques to constructing theroetical descriptions of the process and mathematical modelling. Side of lectures conducted by worldwide experts in NPQ research, there will be a significant time devoted to gain hands-on experience in using mathematical models. The workshop is designed to bring together a group of around 20 participants in an early stage of their scientific career.

Content:
Day 1

• Basics of Plant Breeding with short exercises

• Breeding Methodology

• Mendel Genetics vs. Quantitative Genetics
• Molecular Breeding: Genomics, Marker Diagnostics, Genetic Engineering
• Outlook


Day 2

• Professional Perspectives for Plant Geneticists in a Plant Breeding Company (meet current employees from KWS SAAT AG)
• Breeding Companies
• Qualifications
• Working Environment
• Career Perspectives
• How to apply
• Working at KWS
• How to be successful in industry


Instructors:
Dr. Günter Strittmatter (formerly Head of Research and Development at KWS SAAT AG), 2 employees from KWS SAAT AG (Florian Bruhns – Human Resources / Employer Branding and Talent Sourcing, Dr. Markus Nießen – Scientific Researcher)


Population genetics, quantitative genetics, QTL mapping, association mapping


The plant module is a theoretical course that presents on the one hand typical plant topics to the students and on the other hand trains in a workshop style in skills which a scientist needs. These skills are analysis and critical thinking, asking critical questions, critical reviewing of published articles, suggesting experimental approaches for scientific questions, suggesting grant applications in furtherance of known projects to mock juries, and more.

TOPIC →

In this workshop, you will learn how to communicate data graphically for exploratory data analysis, papers, reports and web based graphics.

Graphical visualization is the main medium to communicate data; designing and programming a data visualization is a nuanced skill, that can be challenging but fun to master.

SCHEDULE →

The workshop will take place over three days, with 2 x 4h sessions per day. Each session is hands-on.

1. Programming in R (optional)
2. Data visualization basics: the semiology and the grammar of graphics.
3. Exploratory data analysis.
4. How to improve your graphs.
5. Graphics for whom? Target your graphs to your audience.
6. Data Driven Reports.

Participants that already feel confident with R and Tidyverse, can skip the first session. A quick self assessment exercise will be made available weeks before the workshop starts.

FOR WHOM →

The workshop is targeted to CEPLAS young scientists.
During the workshop we will design and program dataviz and data driven
report with R, Quarto and a bit of Javascript. Everyone is welcome to join the
workshop, and no previous knowledge is required.
Every session of the workshop is hands-on , participants should carry their
own laptop.

MEET THE TRAINER →
Otho Mantegazza is a CEPLAS alumnus. He holds a PhD in molecular
genetics from the University of Milan, and has experience in the life science
field both for lab work and data analysis.After moving out of academia, he worked at Accurat, a information design
studio dedicated to graphic design, data visualization and web development.

Start-Your-ARC - Workshop series

You have probably heard about DataPLANT’s Annotated Research Context (ARC). This three-session workshop series demonstrates the ARC concept and introduces how to build a first ARC for your own research project and annotate the data in your ARC.

Key Dates
Dates: May 10th + May 31st + June 14th (Wednesdays)
Time: 10:00 to 11:30 am
Location: HHU, ZSL (22.07), Room U1.025
Participants: 
Max. 20 (first come, first serve)
PhD-students, postdocs, group leaders, (lab) data managers
Contact: Dominik Brilhaus (brilhaus[at]hhu.de)

Content
Session 1: Introduction to the ARC (demo)
Session 2: Build your ARC
Session 3: Annotate your data

• We will try to record and share sessions with slides afterwards
• Sessions 2 and 3 are hands-on and require a laptop

Location: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Trainers:

• Dr. Alisandra Denton, Institute of Plant Biochemistry, HHU Düsseldorf
• Dr. Dominik Brilhaus, CEPLAS Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Laboratory, Düsseldorf 

The workshop focuses on hands on exercises in RNAseq analysis, interspersed with explanatory talks.  

[Further details on course content and organization]

March 15-16, 9 am to 12:30 pm

online workshop via Zoom

To register please write an Email to Gradschool@ceplas.de

Description
So you are a PhD student now. The initial phase might be quite overwhelming with all new roles that you need to step into: sometimes becoming a writer, sometimes a technician, teacher or presenter. Additionally there are so many essential questions that have not been necessarily answered during your undergraduate studies. How to set a satisfactory literature search? Where to look for funding options? How to network (and even more urgent, where, since everything is locked down?) How to manage the references? Which tool is the best to keep track of my working time? Hence, the beginning is all about finding your feet as a researcher. And this workshop will help you to get a solid grounding and help to organise your work at the beginning of their PhD. In addition to short lectures, interaction between the participants is highly encouraged. Asside from group discussions, participants will have a chance to work in small groups in virtual breakout rooms. The workshop is divided into two half days, because we want you to stay fresh and focused.
 
Trainer
Dr. Anna Matuszyńska is a mathematician by training and a plant biology scientist, affiliated with Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.  She studied in three European countries observing, comparing and benefiting from three distinct educational systems. As a Marie Curie Fellow, she had a chance to pursue a multidisciplinary topic in an international team of scientists, and additionally went through an intensive training that enhanced her transferable skills portfolio. As a starting Group Leader, she is experimenting with what she wants to bring to the scientific community beside her research. This course is a result of one of such experiments in which she aims to support researchers at their earliest career stage, so they can be better prepared to pursue and enjoy their doctorate studies. Anna Matuszyńska was a member of the CEPLAS Graduate School from 2014 to 2016 and since 2020, she is a CEPLAS CI.

Location: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Trainers:

• Dr. Alisandra Denton, Institute of Plant Biochemistry, HHU Düsseldorf
• Dr. Dominik Brilhaus, CEPLAS Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Laboratory, Düsseldorf 

The workshop focused on hands on exercises in RNAseq analysis, interspersed with explanatory talks.  

Participants: 22

Day 1 – Monday Sept 17th, 9am to 6pm

• Welcome
• Linux/command line introduction
• Experimental design
• Illumina RNAseq
• Illumina: read pre-processesing
  • Handling
  • Quality control
  • Trimming
• Illumina: from reads to quantified transcripts
  • Quantifying against reference transcriptome with Kallisto
  • Mapping to reference genome with Hisat2 + htseq-count
  • Cross species mapping with BLAT + count
  • De novo assembly with Trinity

Day 2 – Tuesday Sept 18th, 9am to 6pm

• Read counts to characterization
  • Import and setup
  • Overview clustering
  • RNAseq statistics
    • Differential expression
  • Functional enrichment (GO, MapMan)
  • Targeted analyses
    • Including external information
    • Individual plots or heatmap of genes of interest

Day 3 – Wednesday Sept 19th, 9am to 4pm

• Long read RNAseq (IsoSeq, Direct RNAseq)
• Long read: read preprocessing
  • Handling
  • Quality control
• Long read: application
  • Clustering and consensus
  • Gene annotation
• Questions and discussion

Location: Haus der Universität, Schadowplatz 14, Düsseldorf

Time: 9 am to 4 pm

Max. number of participants: 45

Target group: Doctoral researchers and postdocs interested in the high-potential and efficient gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9; participants should be familiar with basic molecular biology

Presenters:

• Prof. Dr. George Coupland, Max Planck Insitute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne
• Dr. Florian Hahn, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK
• Dr. Youbong Hyun, Max Planck Insitute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne
• Dr. Claire Kamei, Max Planck Insitute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne
• Dr. Ailbhe Brazel, Max Planck Insitute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne

Course content

The course covers the discovery and theoretical background and presents
applications of CRISPR technology in plants. There will be room left for general
discussion and problem solving for participants.

Topics covered:

• CRISPR bacterial genetics, discovery and nomenclature;
• Inducing mutations with RNA-protein complexes not employing transgenes
• Design of guide RNAs
• Identifying mutations after double strand cleavage using single guide RNA
• Types of mutations – insertions; deletions. Beware of restarting translation after a frameshift might give an active protein
• Genetics including segregation from Cas
• Range of available vectors (promoters driving Cas9) and cloning guide RNAs (Shared with Claire)
• Mutations in non-protein coding genes and in tandem duplicates; also Lipmann experiments for promoter engineering
• Resequencing to identify off target effects
• Employing CRISPR for gene replacement
• Using Cas9-cytidine deaminase for base mutagenesisUsing enzyme fusions to Cas9 to induce changes in histone modifications
• Controlling transcription with Cas9
• General Discussion including regulatory issues and design of experiments (guide RNAs, strategies) or problem solving for participants

Instructor: Jonathan Fritzemeier, Computational Cell Biology (Prof. Martin Lercher), HHU Düsseldorf

Content:

Day 1: Introduction to R (as needed)

Day 2: plotting data with ggplot2

Day 3: hands on: creating figures with your own data (on demand)

Time: 9:30 - 16:00
Location: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Room 25.02.01.25
Max. number of participants: 10

This course is divided into lecture and course:

Lecture: Introduction in the different mass spectrometric methods used in protein science (MALDI-MS and ESI-MS). Interpretation of mass spectra, de novo sequencing, data base search

Lab course: If available and desired analysis of own samples. Starting with protein digest (in gel or in solution) with following mass analysis and spectra interpretation.

Content:

• what is statistics? what is it good for? What can and cannot be done with statistics?
• hypothesis-based research
• experimental design
• simple statistical tests with R

Application of fluorescence methods for protein localisation and interaction studies in vivo; this course will include FLIM, FRET, FCS, FRAP and other advanced methods to investigate the dynamic behaviour of proteins in plant tissues. Basic knowledge of Excel required. Note: Participants are selected by the trainer team based on short motivation letter including an overview about your previous experience and the importance of this method regarding your project.

LaTeX is a markup language based on the typesetting system TeX. It is widely considered as the standard for professional and good looking text documents (theses, papers, reports...) in the scientific community. Based on the WYSIWYM concept (What You See Is What You Mean) in contraposition to the WYSIWYG approach (What You See Is What You Get) of Word and OpenOffice, LaTeX has many useful features that automatically take care of things like bibliography management, cross-text linking and referencing, figures and tables labelling etc. In these two days we will go through the basics of the LaTeX language (structuring a document, using bibliography, customize appearance, manage floating environments like tables and more), providing example templates of journal articles and PhD theses that the participants can use.

Basic commands and concepts; learn to access your data files and work on them to retrieve specific information. Learn about installing and executing software. Request: If you would like to participate in this course, please add to your registration a few sentences why you are interested to learn perl or linux and what specific problems you wish to solve. This information will help Ganga to get an overview about the specific requirements of the participants and will help to shape the content of the course.

The aim of the workshop is to bring macromolecular structure determination closer to the non-experts in the field. The workshop will introduce the participants to what structural information crystallography can provide, the basics of crystallographic techniques (protein crystallization, x-ray diffraction, data collection and data analysis), structure determination, model building and refinement, structure validation, analysis and interpretation.
The basic theory on X-ray crystallography will be provided in an introductory session followed by practical sessions on protein crystallization, data collection, data analysis, model building and model validation.

Projected topics of the seminar:

• Discovery and background, general application to plants
• Practical description of how to design guide RNAs, identify mutations and follow their inheritance
• Outlook of what might be possible in the future

Analysis of primary metabolites (selected sugars, amino acids and organic acids) by GC-MS in a small pilot experiment (max. 12 samples): experimental design, metabolite extraction, hands-on GC-MS measurement, data analysis.

Application of fluorescence methods for protein localisation and interaction studies in vivo; this course will include FLIM, FRET, FCS, FRAP and other advanced methods to investigate the dynamic behaviour of proteins in plant tissues. Basic knowledge of Excel required. Note: Participants are selected by the trainer team based on short motivation letter including an overview about your previous experience and the importance of this method regarding your project.

Content:
Day 1: Descriptive Statistics + Experimental Design
Day 2: Inferential Statistics (tests)
Day 3: Exploratory Data Analysis (clustering, principle component analysis, ANOVA & multiple comparisons)

Instructor: Prof. Gerald Schönknecht  (Oklahoma State University, currently on sabbatical leave at HHU)

Application of fluorescence methods for protein localisation and interaction studies in vivo; this course will include FLIM, FRET, FCS, FRAP and other advanced methods to investigate the dynamic behaviour of proteins in plant tissues. Basic knowledge of Excel required. Note: Participants are selected by the trainer team based on short motivation letter including an overview about your previous experience and the importance of this method regarding your project.

Gender- und vielfaltssensible Sprache ist eine essenzielle Kernkompetenz im kommunikativen Umgang, um die vorhandene Diversität der Menschen sichtbar zu machen und keine Personen/ Gruppen auszuschließen. Neben Gründen für eine umfassende Umsetzung und der Diskussion aktueller Diskurse und Konzepte werden auch Best Practice Beispiele sowie Umsetzungsstrategien im universitären Kontext Thema des Vortrags sein

Trainer: Lisa Mittischek

Videos in Science: Writing, shooting and editing

Adam Polczyk, Presse und Kommunikation, Uni Köln, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

2 days workshop, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Building 22.07 (ZSL), U1, Room 25

Date: November 25 and 26, 10am to 5pm

Day 1:

• basic rules of image composition and visual storytelling
• what I need: overview and selection of technical equipment
• practical exercises: filming video on a smartphone
• practical exercises: cutting and adding sound
• enhancing awareness of key criteria

Day 2:

• Prepare your video for the Planter’s Punch or get to know new formats like audio podcasts

Registration

Science Communication and Social Media

Jörg Weiss, con gressa GmbH, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

1 day workshop

Date: October 26, 9am to 5pm

Location:  Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Building 22.07, Level U1, Room 25, Universitätsstr. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf

Topics:

Who am I on social media? What are my messages? Who is my audience? These are some of the questions we want to answer during this workshop. We will provide an introduction to science communication in social networks. In addition to practical examples and exercises - what works well, what doesn’t? -  basics and strategies for the main social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) will be introduced.

Testimonial: Robert Hoffie, "Forscher Robert" on Twitter

Successfully communicating your research – Journalistic writing and communicating to the media

Anna-Lynn Wegener, European Southern Observatory, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

2 days workshop

Date: September 30 and October 1, 10 am to 5 pm

Topics:

• Why communicate? The need for and value of science communication
• Different models of science communication
• Key principles of successful (science) communication & science journalism
  • Know your audience: tailoring the message to the intended audience
  • Pick your topic and frame your message: making science exciting for a lay audience
  • Know your medium and pick the right channel: an overview over the media landscape and which media to use to communicate which content landscape and which media to use to communicate which content
• An introduction to journalistic science writing
  • News articles: how to write concise and informative news pieces; Features: how to structure and present longer articles
  • Style & language guide: the do’s and don’ts of science communication

• Conducting a successful interview

• Visualising science: images in science communication

• Overview of career paths in science communication and journalism

Testimonial: Susanne Günther, former editor CRISPR Whisper

Registration

The Science Communication module offered in 2021 consisted of the following workshops:

• Basics of Science Communications, August 31 and September 1, 2021
• Successfully communicating your research - Journalistic writing and communicating to the media, September 30 and October 1, 2021
• Science Communication and Social Media, October 26, 2021
• Videos in Science: Writing, shooting and editing, November 25-26, 2021

Please check the course list for more details on the individual workshops.

Participation in individual courses is possible. For receiving a certificate on the Science Communication module, participation in the first three elements is mandatory, participation in the course "Videos in Science" is voluntarily.

For questions please contact Dr. Petra Bracht.

Basics of Science Communications

Nationales Institut für Wissenschaftskommunikation, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

2 half days workshop, ONLINE

Date: August 31 and September 1, 9am to 12.30 pm

Topics 

• the main actors and changes in the science communication landscape
• the NaWik arrow as a framework for successful science communication
• identifying stakeholders and segmenting target audiences
• getting your message across clearly with your own core message
• the factors underlying trust in science – and in scientists

Location: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Trainer: Richard Twyman

Content:

Peer-reviewed scientific publications are the most important way that scientists communicate with each other because published papers establish a permanent, publicly-accessible record of research. The ability to attract funding and thus make career progress is often tied to the quality and quantity of publications. Writing excellent scientific papers is therefore a necessary part of scientific training. Editors use strict quality criteria aided by the peer-review process to choose among submitted papers and there is strong competition for the highest-ranking publications. It therefore pays to have an edge when submitting manuscripts.

No matter how good your research may be, it will not be published if it is poorly communicated. Editors and reviewers will be put off by confusing, poorly constructed and badly written papers. The best scientific papers show perfect balance between brevity, clarity, organization and style, which make the writing efficient at conveying information and entertaining to read.

The aim of this course is to train scientists to communicate effectively by writing excellent and convincing manuscripts that deserve publication. The lingua franca of scientific communication is English and it is therefore imperative for scientists with English as a second or third language to learn how to write strongly, clearly and efficiently in English.

The course begins with an overview of the art of writing a scientific paper, starting from a blank page and a laboratory notebook. We will discuss strategies to organize data well and tell an interesting story. Scientific writing must be formal, but it need not be artless and dull. The best scientific papers convey excitement without hyperbole and digression. Having mastered data organization, we will then discuss the techniques required to write each part of a scientific manuscript in turn, starting with the most important part – the results. On each day of the course we will tackle a different section of the paper – the results, the title/abstract/introduction, the methods and the discussion. Finally, we will discuss how to fine tune a manuscript, obeying language conventions and ensuring the reader is delighted, rather than annoyed, by the text they are reading. The course will consist of a mixture of lectures, showing these writing techniques by example, followed by individual and group sessions to develop manuscripts into a finished product. There is an optional email-based follow up period to get the paper into a state ready for submission to your journal of choice..

Prerequisites:

• comprehensive review/knowledge of the related literature
• first draft (a first version of the text and results as figures)
• working title of the paper, co-authors, planned submission date

Participants: 8

Registration has closed.

If you have any questions about the course, please contact <link>juliane.schmid@hhu.de

Trainer: Monère Renoir Wanner, <link http: mw-imageconsultancy.com index.html external-link-new-window internal link in current>Monère Wanner Image Consultancy

Time: 10:00 - 17:00

Location: University of Cologne, Biocenter, Room 4.004

Workshop Content:

Know Your Worth:

• You Are Worthy
• Why You Need to Believe It
• Steps to Take When Self Worth is Low (practical exercise/examples)

Upgrade Your Body Language:

• The Invisible Body Language
• Body Language and Your Confidence
• Spotting Winners Through Body Language (practical exercise/examples)

Manage First Impressions to Your Advantage:

• Your Appearance
• Your Voice
• Verbal Content

Integrate & Harmonize Your Masculine and Feminine Energy:

• Healthy & Unhealthy Expressions of Feminine and Masculine Energy
• Self Assessment in the 7 key areas of life
• 3 Keys to Integration for Wholeness (practice exercise/examples)

Uplevel Your Listening Skills:

• What Makes a Person a Good Listener
• The Top Five Traits of a Good Listener
• The Three Types of Listening (practical exercise/examples)

Amplify Your Winning Personality:

• The Importance of Being Likeable
• How to Attract People
• How to Win People Over (practical exercise/examples)

Connect with People:

• Be prepared
• Be a connector
• Be Unforgettable
• Struggles That Only Introverts Have (practical exercise/examples)

Strengthen Your Discipline – Muscle:

• Discipline In Bite-sized Steps
• Discipline Is Empowering
• Accountability And Self Discipline (practical exercise/examples)

Registration: Register <link https: docs.google.com forms d edit external-link-new-window internal link in current>here. Registration deadline is October 1, 2017.

Purpose: Enables Life Scientists to Write Grants and Fellowships That Get Their Research Funded

Participants Learn How To

• View proposal writing as a competition in a marketplace of research ideas and as an instrument for career advancement.
• Develop and sell a research idea by matching it to the goals of the targeted funding body.
• Convince reviewers of the relevance and importance of the research idea.
• Develop a work plan with milestones, deliverables and contingency plans.
• Understand reviewers’ reading behaviour.
• Engage the reviewer to advocate on their behalf to the review panel.
• Comply with formalities and manage timelines and deadlines.
  
  

Description:
This two-day workshop takes a practical approach to teaching researchers in the life sciences how to apply for third-party funding. Through examples and relevant exercises as well as class discussions, each participant learns how to develop their funding idea by matching it to the goals of a targeted funding program. As a starting point, the workshop uses participants’ written outlines of their own funding ideas. Group exercises help participants not only to structure proposals that comply with funding agency requirements but also to write proposals that reflect the reading behaviour of reviewers. The interactive nature of the workshop is designed to pool the experience, ideas and opinions of the instructors with those of the students in order to enhance the learning experience for all participants.

The basics of science communication and journalistic writing for scientists

Science plays an important role in our society and impacts on every aspect of our lives. News about science, technology, health and environment are some of the most exciting and important storied for the media and for the public. But it often is a challenge for scientists to convey the wonder of new findings and make complex research accessible to a lay audience.
One reason for this difficulty is that communication to a lay audience is very different from the peer -
to - peer communication that researchers normally engage in. It follows ist own principles, style and structure, designed to simultaneously entertain and inform. Luckily, science communications is a skill that can be learned and perfected with practice. This two-¬day seminar aims to provide an introduction to the basics of science ommunication, particularly focusing on science journalism and journalistic writing.

Workshop Rationale and Objectives
Researchers are increasingly faced with expectations to raise 3rd party funds if they want to pursue a successful research career. Yet, applying for 3rd party funds is not an end in itself and could even be detrimental to research careers, if disconnected from own scientific or life plans or scientific goals. This workshop, thus, aims to clarify which kinds of funding opportuni-ties are suitable for the participants’ respective purposes. In addition, it offers insights into the objectives and practices of research funding institutions.

On the second day, individual short coaching sessions or a peer review simulation will take place (to be determined by CEPLAS). The aim of the coaching sessions is to help the partici-pants pave their way towards successful applications in view of their needs and ambi-tions. During a peer review simulation, participants get a feeling for such an event by present-ing a proposal abstract in a nutshell and by receiving feedback both from colleagues and the trainer.

Social Networking – Sie kennen den Spruch “Kontakte schaden nur der, die keine hat” – fühlen sich aber selbst nicht zur großen Netzwerkerin berufen? Lernen Sie im Workshop die Grundlagen für professionelles Netzwerken kennen und finden Sie den Weg, der zu Ihnen passt. Dabei sprechen wir nicht nur über “Soziale Netzwerke” im Internet, sondern auch über die Möglichkeit bei Messen, Vorträgen etc. zu netzwerken. Und natürlich behandeln wir nicht nur den Aufbau, sondern auch die Pflege und Wartung Ihres Netzwerks – bis hin zu den Fragen “wie werde ich einen Kontakt wieder los” und “wie kann ich die Anfrage ablehnen, ohne zu verletzen”.
Reputationsmanagement – Sie erleben in der Tagespresse, wie schnell der Ruf einer Person ruiniert sein kann? Und was tun Sie, um Ihren Ruf bzw. Ihre Reputation – gerade im Zeitalter von Internet und Sozialen Netzwerken – zu schützen? Gemeinsam überprüfen wir die jetzigen Infos über Sie im Web und erarbeiten eine individuelle Strategie, Ihren – hoffentlich noch tadellosen Ruf – auch in Zukunft zu gewährleisten. Gar nicht im Internet präsent zu sein ist oftmals nicht die beste Lösung…

This workshop provides you with tools to increase your resilience to stress, anxiety and burnout, and to enhance your overall well-being as well as navigate everyday work and the challenges you face as an early career researcher.

Overview:
Academia is an ultramarathon that we try to run as a sprint. This approach tends to leave us with little time or energy for life outside of work and very few resources to cope when we face challenges. But a healthier approach to research is possible and is essential if you want to build a sustainable career in academia (or anywhere else in this fast-paced, competitive world we live in).
Despite our increasing diversity, academics tend to harbour a common chorus of voices in our heads. Voices that demand perfection, or that tell us we aren’t good enough and we don’t belong here; voices that have driven us to excel, but that also charge a pretty high tax. A tax on our emotional, mental and physical health.
Yes, the environment is a contributor to the unhealthy, counterproductive lifestyle many of us live. However, we as individuals can address the way we approach academia to buffer us against stress and burnout, worry and fear, and the toxic competition we are often surrounded by.

Topics to explore, among others,  in the full-day workshop:

• Self-critical inner voices that sabotage your motivation and enjoyment for your work;
• How your mindset can help or hinder your day-to-day life and your future career prospects;
• How certain maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., procrastination and avoidance) maintain these self-sabotaging thought and behaviour cycles.
• How to reshape your thinking (e.g., imposter syndrome)) and behaviour patterns to work for you in pursuit of your goals

Trainer: Desiree Dickerson  

Desiree Dickerson PhD is a clinical psychologist who specialises in academic mental health and well- being. A former researcher herself, Desiree is now based in Europe and works with leading academic institutions, lab groups, and academics themselves in the pursuit of a healthier approach to research.
As a former postdoctoral researcher in the neurosciences and a clinical psychologist, Desiree has worked at both ends of the spectrum - from (lab) bench to bedside. After working in research in New Zealand, Australia, and Austria, she now lives in Spain and spends her time helping academic institutions and academics themselves pursuit a healthier approach to research:

• reframing maladaptive thought and behaviour patterns that hinder our performance.
• developing habits and lifestyle choices that allow us to think, feel, perform and grow with clarity and intention.
• increasing resilience to highly stressful environments.

Despite a variety of equality measures, women are still underrepresented in academia – especially in higher levels. Why is that? Do women just not want to pursue scientific careers or into higher positions? In this talk, we shed light on several scientific areas and how implicit gender biases and gender stereotypes manifest in scientific careers. For instance, gender publication biases show, that women are less invited as authors and reviewers or that abstracts are evaluated worse with a male vs. than a female author. Even more important, strategies and measures, how these gender biases can be reduced in order to support excellence and diversity in science, are presented.

Trainer: Dr. Lisa Horvath

When evaluating people in the university context like students or applicants, we face various challenges when taking tenets like excellence as well as diversity seriously and acting accordingly. One important factor in the process of perceiving and evaluating individuals is how our brain can trick us with unconscious or implicit bias. For instance, the more people are similar to us, the better we evaluate them or the likelier we hire them (similarity bias); a lot of information go unrecognized (focus of attention), or stereotypes about social groups (women, men, professors, students,…) can distort the perception and the evaluation of an applicant’s performance record. In this talk, not only various examples of implicit and group biases, as they can happen in the university context, are presented, but also strategies and how these biases can be reduced are offered. 

Trainer: Dr. Lisa Horvath

To register please write an Email to equality@ceplas.de

Overview:
Academia is an ultramarathon that we try to run as a sprint. This approach tends to leave us with little time or energy for life outside of work and very few  resources to cope when we face challenges. But a healthier approach to research is possible and is essential if you want to build a sustainable career in academia (or anywhere else in this fast-paced, competitive world we live in).
Despite our increasing diversity, academics tend to harbour a common chorus of voices in our heads. Voices that demand perfection, or that tell us we aren’t good enough and we don’t belong here; voices that have driven us to excel, but that also charge a pretty high tax. A tax on our emotional, mental and physical health. Yes, the environment is a contributor to the unhealthy, counterproductive lifestyle many of us live.
However, we as individuals can address the way we approach academia to buffer us against stress and burnout, worry and fear, and the toxic competition we are often surrounded by.
 
Explore
- how your mindset and the mental models you hold shape your thoughts, your mood, and your choices, and your productivity;
- Address the critical inner voices that drive perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt that sabotage your motivation and enjoyment for your work;
- Learn how to shift your mindset in order to create more mental space and energy to think, create, be present, and thrive.
 
Trainers’ Bio:
Desiree Dickerson PhD is a clinical psychologist who specialises in academic mental health and wellbeing.
A former researcher herself, Desiree is now based in Europe and works with leading academic
institutions, lab groups, and academics themselves in the pursuit of a healthier approach to research.
She has also contributed to the dialogue around mental health and well-being in academia through
recent pieces in Nature and Science on imposter syndrome, perfectionism, grad school mental health
and Mental health strategies during COVID.

To register please write an Email to equality@ceplas.de

Overview:
Academia is an ultramarathon that we try to run as a sprint. This approach tends to leave us with little time or energy for life outside of work and very few  resources to cope when we face challenges. But a healthier approach to research is possible and is essential if you want to build a sustainable career in academia (or anywhere else in this fast-paced, competitive world we live in).
Despite our increasing diversity, academics tend to harbour a common chorus of voices in our heads. Voices that demand perfection, or that tell us we aren’t good enough and we don’t belong here; voices that have driven us to excel, but that also charge a pretty high tax. A tax on our emotional, mental and physical health. Yes, the environment is a contributor to the unhealthy, counterproductive lifestyle many of us live.
However, we as individuals can address the way we approach academia to buffer us against stress and burnout, worry and fear, and the toxic competition we are often surrounded by.
 
Explore
- how your mindset and the mental models you hold shape your thoughts, your mood, and your choices, and your productivity;
- Address the critical inner voices that drive perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt that sabotage your motivation and enjoyment for your work;
- Learn how to shift your mindset in order to create more mental space and energy to think, create, be present, and thrive.
 
Trainers’ Bio:
Desiree Dickerson PhD is a clinical psychologist who specialises in academic mental health and wellbeing.
A former researcher herself, Desiree is now based in Europe and works with leading academic
institutions, lab groups, and academics themselves in the pursuit of a healthier approach to research.
She has also contributed to the dialogue around mental health and well-being in academia through
recent pieces in Nature and Science on imposter syndrome, perfectionism, grad school mental health
and Mental health strategies during COVID.

In collaboration with STARTPLATZ Düsseldorf CEPLAS organizes its first design thinking workshop on Sept 7, 2017 in Düsseldorf.
The workshops starts with a short introduction on start-up culture with different founders introducing their companies, followed by the design thinking part.

Originating in Silicon Valley, Design Thinking is a very creative, powerful technique to effectively structure team work and brain storming processes and develop innovative user-oriented solutions. During the one-day workshop, participants are guided through a complete Design Thinking process ending with a self-made prototype.

Registration is closed.

Business Model Generation

CONTIO Düsseldorf, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

How can you transform an idea into a viable business model? What has to be considered, which decisions have to be taken? Which key factors are important and how do you know if there is a market at all for your product?

The course “Business Model Generation” gives you first answers to these questions and introduces most important tools to develop a business model and do perfom small market research.

The workshop is planned to take place ON-SITE (HHU Campus) with an option to switch to online if necessary.

CEPLAS Start-ups in green biology and biotechnology lecture, "We grow"

Peter Diessenbacher, We Grow

In an online event, the startup-company “WeGrow”, located in Tönisvorst, Germany, will be presented by one of its founders. With innovative approaches, „WeGrow“ develops and sells fast growing Kiri tree seedlings for sustainable, environmentally friendly  large scale production of high-value wood, as an alternative to classical wood production systems. Founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the research area „Renewable Raw Materials“ at the University of Bonn, „WeGrow“ has rapidly developed into a successful and steadily growing company which connects science with practice for actively designing the future of sustainable wood production, on an international market. From the first idea to the present business success, the founder will report about his personal experiences with regard to: requirements and prerequisites for the foundation and economic growth of a startup-company, obstacles to pass, success factors, mistakes to avoid. There will also be sufficient time for questions and discussions!

In this workshop, we focus on the strategies and possibilities on how biases can impact personnel selections in the university context. After an introduction of cognitive as well as group biases and the respective bias management strategies, participants are invited to develop their very own approaches and guidelines for their upcoming personnel selections. This should help to achieve not only excellent research in CEPLAS, but also diversity in the sense that every person can fully contribute and use her*his*their potential.

Trainer: Dr. Lisa Horvath

Design Thinking

Protostart Düsseldorf, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

On-site workshop, 9 am - 5 pm

Originating in Silicon Valley, Design Thinking is a very creative, powerful technique to effectively structure team work and brain storming processes and develop innovative user-oriented solutions. During the one-day workshop, participants are guided through a complete Design Thinking process ending with a self-made prototype.

CEPLAS Start-ups in green biology and biotechnology lecture, Alpha Protein

Elena Werner, Alpha Protein

In an online event, the startup-company “Alpha-Protein”, located in Bruchsal, Germany, will be presented by its founders. With innovative approaches, “Alpha-Protein” produces and sells insect-protein as an alternative to conventional protein sources to feed and food industry. Founded in 2017 and starting with two employees, “Alpha-Protein” has developed into a successful and steadily growing company, in the meantime, with currently more than 30 employees. From the first idea to the present business success, the founders will report about their personal experiences with regard to: requirements and prerequisites for the foundation and economic growth of a startup-company, obstacles to pass, success factors, mistakes to avoid. There will also be sufficient time for questions and discussions!

The ENTREPRENEURSHIP module offered in 2022 consisted of the following workshops/events:

• Start-ups in green biology and biotechnology lecture: May 24, 2022
• Design thinking: on-site workshop on June 8, 2022
• Business model generation: on-site workshop on October 18-19, 2022
• IPR Protection: the course unfortunately had to be cancelled

Please check the course list for more details on the individual workshops/events.

Participation in individual courses is possible. For receiving a certificate on the Entrepreneurship module, participation in the first four elements is mandatory, participation in courses offered by regional organizations active in supporting startup foundations voluntarily

For questions please contact Dr. Günter Strittmatter.

Some group leaders operate on a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy with their group members and students when it comes to one’s life and its challenges. Some of you may have the sense that your people are struggling and simply not know how to approach them or the subject. In this interactive session you’ll develop a toolbox for navigating your students’ mental health and well-being. 
 We will explore:
 -       How to ask the right questions.
-        Why number of interactions matters
-        Having a genuine open-door policy.
-        The role of belonging, self-worth & capability and how to foster it.
-        Caring for yourself first

Trainer: Dr. Desiree Dickerson

IPR Protection

PROvendis, Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

1,5 day workshop (online)

Date: October 19-20, 2021

Topics Day 1 (9 am - 4 pm):

• Introduction to commercial Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
• Patents
• Special aspects of IPR in Life Sciences
• Other forms of IPR beyond patents
• „Arbeitnehmererfindergesetz“, ownership rights in IPR beyond patents
• Contracts in technology transfer (CDAs, MTAs, Licensing Contracts, Cooperation Contracts)

Topics Day 2 (9-12 am)

• Patent Search, FTO analysis
• patent search exercises

Business Model Generation

CONTIO Düsseldorf, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

1 day online workshop

How can you transform an idea into a viable business model? What has to be considered, which decisions have to be taken? Which key factors are important?
The course “Business Model Generation” gives you first answers to these questions and introduces most important tools to develop a business model.

Design Thinking

Protostart Düsseldorf, organized in collaboration with CEPLAS

online workshop

9 am - 5 pm

Originating in Silicon Valley, Design Thinking is a very creative, powerful technique to effectively structure team work and brain storming processes and develop innovative user-oriented solutions. During the one-day workshop, participants are guided through a complete Design Thinking process ending with a self-made prototype.

Presentation of Examples for Startup Foundations (Biology/Biotechnology)

Phenospex, Heerlen (NL)

online event

Registration and participation will take place via Zoom: The zoom link will be sent to all CEPLAS doctoral researchers and postdocs before the event

The ENTREPRENEURSHIP module offered in 2021 consisted of the following workshops/events:

• Presentation of Examples for Startup Foundations (Biology/Biotechnology): First event on June 16, 2021
• Design thinking: workshop on June 24, 2021
• Business model generation: workshop on June 29-30, 2021
• IPR Protection: Next workshop on October 19-20, 2021

Please check the course list for more details on the individual workshops/events.

Participation in individual courses is possible. For receiving a certificate on the Entrepreneurship module, participation in the first four elements is mandatory, participation in courses offered by regional organizations active in supporting startup foundations voluntarily

For questions please contact Dr. Günter Strittmatter.

The start-up phase of the doctorate
Identifying opportunities and challenges – setting the compass

online workshop

Trainer: Dr. Simon Golin, Golin Wissenschaftsmanagement

A doctorate is a complex and long lasting project. If it is not usefully structured from the beginning it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and often also motivation in a maze of possibilities.
Developing a full understanding of your goals – for the doctorate as well as for the labour market entry which follows – is a prerequisite for an efficient working process. This will allow a strategic and reflexive approach starting with the selection of a suitable topic through to the realistic conceptualisation of the different phases of work.
In the workshop a small group of participants will each set personal objectives and then convert these into an individual outline plan for their doctoral thesis. The doctoral candidates will identify the central phases of their doctoral project as well as possible stumbling blocks and areas where further skills development is needed. Additionally, the framework requirements of doctoral research and the relationship with the supervisor will be discussed.

The following topics are at the core of this workshop:

• The basics of doctoral research: Developing constructive objectives
• Setting the course: The tailor-made doctoral topic
• Doctoral research as a process: Setting priorities, defining milestones
• Keeping the bigger picture in mind: Self assessment and evaluating objectives
• My skills profile: What additional qualifications do I need – now and later?
• My own project in context: Aligning objectives with the supervisor
• The doctorate: My next steps

Location: Forschungszentrum Jülich

For more information or registration please contact Juliane.

Instructor: Dr. Christian Dumpitak, iGRAD, HHU Düsseldorf

This seminar, which is organised by iGRAD for CEPLAS doctoral researchers and postdocs, is a fundamental introduction to the principles for safeguarding good scientific practice as proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It focuses on the perspectives of (post)doctoral researchers by introducing and discussing the following topics:

•     Introduction to and definitions of Good Scientific Practice
•     Potential areas of conflict in research
•     Dishonest scientific practice, behaviour and possible consequences
•     Data preparation and documentation
•     Publishing, publications and scientific collaborations
•     Supervision and organisational culture
•     Strategies to prevent and to deal with potential problems and conflicts

To register for the course, please write an Email to Juliane.

Instructor: Dr. Christian Dumpitak, iGRAD, HHU Düsseldorf

This seminar, which is organised by iGRAD for CEPLAS doctoral researchers and postdocs, is a fundamental introduction to the principles for safeguarding good scientific practice as proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It focuses on the perspectives of (post)doctoral researchers by introducing and discussing the following topics:

•     Introduction to and definitions of Good Scientific Practice
•     Potential areas of conflict in research
•     Dishonest scientific practice, behaviour and possible consequences
•     Data preparation and documentation
•     Publishing, publications and scientific collaborations
•     Supervision and organisational culture
•     Strategies to prevent and to deal with potential problems and conflicts

Instructor: Dr. Christian Dumpitak, iGRAD, HHU Düsseldorf

This seminar, which is organised by iGRAD for CEPLAS doctoral researchers and postdocs, is a fundamental introduction to the principles for safeguarding good scientific practice as proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It focuses on the perspectives of (post)doctoral researchers by introducing and discussing the following topics:

•     Introduction to and definitions of Good Scientific Practice
•     Potential areas of conflict in research
•     Dishonest scientific practice, behaviour and possible consequences
•     Data preparation and documentation
•     Publishing, publications and scientific collaborations
•     Supervision and organisational culture
•     Strategies to prevent and to deal with potential problems and conflicts

This seminar, which is organised by iGRAD for CEPLAS doctoral researchers and postdocs, is a fundamental introduction to the principles for safeguarding good scientific practice as proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It focuses on the perspectives of (post)doctoral researchers by introducing and discussing the following topics:

•     Introduction to and definitions of Good Scientific Practice
•     Potential areas of conflict in research
•     Dishonest scientific practice, behaviour and possible consequences
•     Data preparation and documentation
•     Publishing, publications and scientific collaborations
•     Supervision and organisational culture
•     Strategies to prevent and to deal with potential problems and conflicts

This seminar is a fundamental introduction to the principles for safeguarding good scientific practice as proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The following topics will be discussed: Potential areas of conflict in research, Dishonest scientific practice, behaviour and possible consequences, Data preparation and documentation, Publishing, publications and scientific collaboration, Supervision and organizational culture, Research with human beings/ Research with animals, Strategies to prevent and to deal with potential problems and conflicts.