The MMGS Retreat is an annual event for the MMGS doctoral students to expand their personal, professional and mathematical horizon. If you are interested in co-organizing the next retreat, don't hesitate to get in touch with your representatives!
The 2024 Retreat took place in the last week of September, in the pictoresque Kloster Ommerborn. The secluded nature of the place allowed the students to spend the whole time with each other. The participants spent four days bonding over cooking together, playing games and hiking. On top of the social activities, the Retreat also featured a classical flash talks session, where each student had a chance to present their work. It was followed by a mini-workshop in science communication, with exercises on storytelling and learning to isolate the crucial information and target for research talks. Later in the week, a forum took place, where students gave feedback and ideas for future activities of the Graduate School.
In the first week of October 2023, the annual retreat of the PhD students of the MMGS took place at Lake Sorpesee, located in a small mountain chain close to Münster. This year saw a record attendance of new students, providing a great opportunity to integrate into the math department in an informal setting.
As always, the main part of the retreat consisted of 5 minute mathematical talks, given by the students about their future areas of research. Further, two alumnis of the MMGS were invited to talk about their job experience inside and outside of academia. This gave the participants the possibility to discuss and reflect on their future career goals.
In their free time, many students played board games in the evening and enjoyed swimming in the lake. There was also a hike trough the beautiful landscape of the sauerland, and some students even decided to spontaneously organize a run around the lake.
In the first week of October 2022, the PhD students of the MMGS traveled to Horn-Bad Meinberg, near the famous Externsteine. In this peculiar natural setting, they started off the 2022 Retreat by playing a few games to get to know each other – several of the participants were new PhD students, who had just started their doctoral studies in Münster. True to its purpose, the Retreat served as a great occasion for new students to integrate themselves in the community of the MMGS. The organizers designed several moments for students to present themselves and their work in short 5 minutes talks, which ranged from mathematics to discussions about the ‘best artificial fruit flavor’. There were also two external contributions, from a set theory professor presenting her path in academia to a former PhD student recounting his path outside of academia. Both talks were genuine, engaging, and heartfelt, leading to many conversations among the participants. There was also a moment to truly breathe the fresh air of the countryside, with a hike to a nice hilltop. After a visit the local open-air museum in Detmold (where the MMGS members rediscovered themselves as architects, building bridges and arches), and a final bonfire, the curtains closed on three days of bonding, sharing, and laughter.
After two Corona years with little human contact, the annual retreat of the MMGS mathematicians in the last week of September 2021 offered a great opportunity to make up for this. The organisational team, consisting of Sahana, Martina, Dennis and Johannes, was able to invite a total of 30 PhD students to Brilon in the Sauerland region, where a varied programme awaited the participants.
On the academic side, there was an exchange with former assistant professor Thomas Timmermann, who gave many insights into his difficult decision to leave the academic career path in a discussion round. Furthermore, each participant had the opportunity to present a part of their research or an exciting mathematical curiosity in a short talk. So there was no shortage of fun either, thanks to topics such as the nonsensical distribution of postcodes in Germany or solving cubic equations with origami. Furthermore, the participants' rhetorical skills were developed under the expert guidance of rhetoric trainer Dr. Elisa Franz.
The beautiful region around Brilon offered the opportunity to spend a lot of time in nature. For example, the doctoral students climbed the volcanic rock formations of the Bruchhauser Steine and explored the Bilsteinhöhle - a large dripstone cave that is open to visitors. This year, almost twice as many people as last year were able to attend the retreat and make many new social as well as mathematical contacts.
The first MMGS retreat took place in Duisburg. This event contributes to the networking of the members of the Graduate School. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, the MMGS Retreat was an important networking tool in the MMGS.
The retreat focused on personal future planning. In addition to a series of lectures on the application process in an academic and non-academic environment, there was also a workshop on finding professional and personal goals in life.
The professional and personal exchange also did not fall by the wayside. There was enough time during the evening events to have interesting conversations, to get to know each other and to exchange ideas about his own research topics.
A few impressions can be seen here