International Summer Schools
Every second year, CEPLAS and the Food Security Network organize an international summer school on a specific topic in plant sciences. At the summer school, up to 60 PhD students and Postdocs from all over the world come together for one week to learn more about specific topics in plant sciences, participate in workshops and network with other researchers.
Usually we partner for the event with other research institutions to promote exchange and collaborations. So far, summer schools have been organized with members of Washington State University, UC Davis, Michigan State University and IPK Gatersleben.
CEPLAS/ IPK International Summer School 2024 - "Translational Plant Biodiversity Research"
40 early career researchers from CEPLAS and IPK met for 5 days for the second joint summer school in Drübeck (Harz)
Monastery and science - this combination apparently works very well. After the premiere in May 2022 in Steinfeld Monastery (North Rhine-Westphalia), more than 40 young scientists from CEPLAS and the IPK Leibniz Institute met this week in Drübeck in the Harz Mountains for the second joint International Summer School. Where Benedictine nuns once lived according to the rules of St. Benedict of Nursia and worked in the kitchen, garden and fields after early mass, everything revolved around the topic of “Translational Plant Biodiversity Research” for five days in ten sessions and several workshops.
The organizers were not only able to attract scientists from CEPLAS and IPK for the lectures at Drübeck Monastery, but also from many international research institutions, including many European countries as well as Kenya and Malaysia. The program also included a number of workshops on very practical topics, such as scientific writing, science communication and networking.
“On the one hand, we wanted to get young people interested in plant research and impart a lot of specialist knowledge, but on the other hand we also wanted to present our institutions - CEPLAS and IPK - and highlight career options there,” says postdoctoral researcher Laura Armbruster (UoC). She was a participant herself at the last summer school and was now part of the organizing team, which also included IPK event manager Lisa Schlehuber.
It was important to the organizing team that the groups were well mixed. “We had coins in different colors for this. And before lunch, everyone had to draw a coin and sit down at the table with the respective color,” reports Laura Armbruster. She shared the management of the ten sessions with Stanislav Kopriva (University of Cologne), Sebastian Samwald (Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne) and Gabriel Ragazzo (IPK).
“The keynote lectures were given by top-class speakers from very different fields of knowledge, including CRISPR-Cas techniques, plant-microbiome interaction, plant nutrition, cytogenetics and structural proteomics,” reports Gabriel Ragazzo, Head of the PhD Student Board at IPK and the Leibniz PhD Network. “The young researchers had the opportunity to present their respective work in talks or with posters. And the feedback we received was very positive.”
CEPLAS and the IPK have been working together successfully for years to further develop translational biodiversity research. This involves fundamental research into biological phenomena, but also application-oriented innovations. CEPLAS and IPK also founded TRANSCEND, an alliance for innovative plant sciences, in 2023. “And the International Summer School is a great opportunity to get young scientists excited about our research and to build international networks at the same time,” explains Stanislav Kopriva, Scientific Director of the event. “It's just fun to see people discussing science until late in the evening, slowly losing their shyness and talking freely with the PIs.”
The Summer School concluded with a trip to the IPK. During guided tours, all participants were given an insight into the gene bank and the PhenoSphere, the Institute's two most important research infrastructures. In the gene bank, more than 150,000 samples of crops such as cereals and pulses are not only preserved at minus 18 degrees, but are also available to researchers. And in the PhenoSphere, plants grow under field-like conditions in containers and in root boxes, known as rhizotrons. In this globally unique facility, relevant environmental factors such as light, temperature, CO2 content and wind can be adjusted in a controlled and reproducible manner and the plants can be exposed to a wide range of climate and stress scenarios.
And what happens next? “I believe that the Summer School was a complete success and achieved its goals with excellence,” says Gabriel Ragazzo. His colleague Laura Armbruster from the organization team was also extremely satisfied. “People were still fully engaged late into the evening during the poster presentations, which really impressed me and exceeded my high expectations.” So it's no surprise that the format is to be continued in 2026. And until then, there is sure to be another beautiful monastery.
(Text: Christian Schafmeister, IPK)
CEPLAS/IPK International Summer School 2022 - "Translational Plant Biodiversity Research"
53 PhDs from 19 countries met at the monastery Kloster Steinfeld in the Eifel.
Participants of the Summer School took part in a program in the Eifel region at Steinfeld Monastery, whose historical beginnings go back more than 1,000 years, that extended over five days and included numerous workshops and lectures.
For example, the competence area "Food Security" of the University of Cologne offered a workshop on global food security with discussions on current challenges to achieving and maintaining food security. Other workshops focused on "Resilience for Scientists," "Publishing," and "Self-Presentation."
Among the numerous speakers of the Summer School were Andreas Weber, speaker of CEPLAS, but also some working group leaders of the IPK Leibniz Institute. A poster prize and a prize for the best presentation were awarded. Stan Kopriva, Scientific Director of the Summer School, emphasized that "we have brought together a very diverse group of PhD students who all have one thing in common, namely a fascination for plant sciences. I am impressed by the quality of the students' contributions so far and their active participation in the discussions. We have all clearly missed this coming together."
Meanwhile, Dr. Dorit Grunewld, organizer of the "Food Security: Thinking Outside the Box" workshop, spoke of an "inspiring workshop" on economic issues related to food security. "This one showed everyone once again how important it is to think outside the box. For us plant biologists, the workshop helped us to better understand the complex situation of global food security and to link it to our own work."
Jens Freitag, co-organizer from the IPK Leibniz Institute, emphasized at the event that "in addition to the joint organization and design, the importance of direct scientific exchange and intensive discussion after the experience of the Corona pandemic was felt to be of particular value by all those present."
The IPK/CEPLAS Summer School was aimed at PhD students and young postdocs. They learned more about recent developments in translational biodiversity research in plants as well as the exciting research being conducted in CEPLAS and IPK. In addition, participants had the opportunity to present their results to a broad scientific audience and also further build their professional network by interacting with young and internationally renowned researchers in plant sciences.
The Summer School was the prelude to a series of joint events with which the two partners CEPLAS and IPK intend to expand their already existing contacts into a lasting cooperation.
International CEPLAS Summer School 2019 "Transatlantic Summer School - Frontiers in Plant Sciences"
Transatlantic Summer School - Frontiers in Plant Sciences
May 27 - 31, 2019, Maria in der Aue, Wermelskirchen, Germany
The international CEPLAS Summer School, co-organized with researchers from WSU, UC Davis and MSU offered an opportunity to learn about current topics, to delve into state-of-the-art plant science and to network with fellow early career scientists and well known experts in the field.
The programme was complemented by workshops on science related subjects such as science communication, or resilience for scientists. Additionally, the competence area “Food Security” of the University of Cologne offered a special workshop on global food security with enriching discussions on current challenges to achieve and sustain food security.
International CEPLAS Summer School 2017 – „Emerging Frontiers in Plant Sciences“
The first CEPLAS Summer School took place from 5th to 9th June 2017 at the Sportschule Hennef. The Summer School gave 47 participants from 10 countries, mainly PhD students, the opportunity to learn about the newest developments in plants science from CEPLAS investigators and three international guests (Ben Blackman, Ian Graham and Rob Last). The aim of the CEPLAS Summer School was to provide a platform for PhD students to learn about CEPLAS topics and promote an information exchange between peers and PIs.
For many participants the programme started at the University of Cologne with a "Peer2Peer" satellite event organised by CEPLAS postdocs led by Antonella Succurro. The programme targeted three pillars of scientific life in an informal way: careers, networking and conflict management. To break the ice the event started with a “speed dating” set-up. The event ended with an introduction to the concept of „peer coaching“. All participants of the satellite event went by bus to the Sportschule Hennef where the main programme of the Summer School commenced with a short introduction to CEPLAS and its mission by the main organiser, Stan Kopriva.
The honour of the first talk was given to one of our foreign guests, Ian Graham from CNAP in York, UK, who gave a fascinating review of the approaches to understand the synthesis as well as to increase the production of plant metabolites for human health.The scientific programme for the four following days consisted of lectures by CEPLAS PIs, invited external speakers and selected talks from PhD students. Andreas Weber presented an overview of approaches to improve plant photosynthetic productivity and George Coupland offered insights into his programme to understand mechanisms underlying the onset of plant reproduction. Erich Kemen talked about the assembly of leaf microbiome and Ben Blackman from the University of California in Berkeley explained how plants adapt to their local environments. Their talks were accompanied by presentations of PhD students Franziska Kuhnert, Silke Weckopp, Andrea Tkacz, Camila Ribeiro and Sorin Tanasa. On the next day Alga Zuccarro showed her progress in understanding the mechanisms of interaction of plants with fungal endophytes and Maria Albani explained the different effects of vernalisation on annual and perennial plants. Maria von Korff showed in her presentation on inflorescence development in barley how to work directly with crops. Later Lutz Schmitt introduced the family of plant ABC transporters and Stan Kopriva explained how to use quantitative genetics to dissect nutritional traits. PhD students Colleen Friel, Kevin Lehner, Varanya Kittipol and Suraj Sharma presented their projects in a short talk. On Thursday Andreas Meyer (University of Bonn) talked about redox homeostasis in plants and how it affects root growth and Peter Dörmann, also from the University of Bonn, shared his interest in lipids. Matias Zubriggen introduced some synthetic biology concepts and Rob Last from Michigan State University focused on a group of interesting metabolites from tomato trichomes.
On two of the five days of the Summer School the programme finished with well attended poster sessions. After dinner most students made use of the sports facilities at the Sportschule Hennef. This was followed by informal get-togethers at the sports bar which gave participants the opportunity to get to know each other and to discuss scientific and other matters with their peers and PIs.
During the second half of the week students attended workshops which focused on communicating, networking & career building (led by Mary Williams), research misconduct (Leonid Schneider) or science journalism (Claudia Ruby). This day finished with a barbecue, sports activities and a practical session of networking.Friday, the last day of the summer school, started with the dissection of light signaling presented by Ute Höcker and continued with an interactive session on the topic „Food Security“ led by Andreas Weber. This session ended in a lively discussion on the role of scientists and education of the public.
A prize was awarded to Katie Rogers and Ji Yun Kim for presenting the best posters at the Summer School.
After the end of the main Summer School programme a number of participants, who had some spare time before their journey home, took a short city tour of Cologne, organised by CEPLAS students.
