D-EAPS Doctoral Retreat 2025

The departmental doctoral retreat is a long tradition, serving as an opportunity to bring together doctoral students and researchers from various backgrounds in the department. This year, the D-EAPS Doctoral Retreat (the first one after the name change of the department), was held from the 22 to the 25 May 2025, in the beautiful municipality of Fiesch, in the vicinity of the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area in Valais. In the four days, the participants enjoyed a banquet of academic and social programmes.

The scientific talks this year spanned a wide spectrum in Earth and Planetary Sciences. From Prof. Cara Magnabosco's work on underground microorganisms, to Dr. Daniel Bower's talk on how the exploration and models of the Earth may be extrapolated to planets, the topics covered a vast range of time and length scales. Meanwhile, we also had a focus on mesoscale geoscience, where the relation between human and nature is most direct. Dr. Barbara Molnar's talk on invasive species demonstrated the cause and consequences of invasive species in the ecosystem around the globe and in Switzerland. Prof. Daniel Farinotti's talk on glaciers evaluated the current monitoring and state of glaciers and highlighted the projected global and regional consequences of glacial loss.

These talks emphasised the mutual interaction between the environment and
anthropogenic activities.

In addition to the scientific talks, the participants enjoyed a lively and fruitful panel discussion, where early career scientists, professors and grant office representatives shared their opinions on how to write a good scientific proposal. The retreat also offers a variety of workshops to help develop transferrable knowledge and skills. Participants discovered the unconscious biases, their formation and pros and cons in the diversity, equality and inclusivity workshop led by Dr. Raphaela Hettlage. In the philosophy of science workshop, Prof. Roy Wagner led discussions on how scientific knowledge can be perceived as artful models and designs rather than the laws of nature. Participants also had the opportunity to develop their taste buds in the coffee tasting workshop led by Arnaud Mercier, or to stretch their body and practise artistic movements in the dance workshop led by Marla Metternich.

On the last day of the programme, the participants had the chance to explore the various sport facilities and the surrounding nature. Participants visited the Great Aletsch Glacier, joined the hikes and bike rides in the valley, or tried their skills at the archery range. We look forward to the doctoral retreat next year!