The GSGS Research Conference was followed by a reception to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Graduate School of Geoscience. It was founded on 1 January 2014 as one of three graduate schools as part of the institutional strategy of the University of Cologne with funding from the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. 

After a positive evaluation in June 2015, the Steering Committee of the Institutional Strategy decided to continue funding the GSGS until the end of the Excellence Initiative phase (October 2017). As a result of a further positive evaluation by the Dean and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the Rector decided in March 2017 to make the GSGS a permanent structure of the University, supported by central University funds (from 1 November 2019).

To celebrate the success of the GSGS during the last 10 years, many people attended the reception. Dean Prof. Georg Bareth and GSGS spokesperson Prof. Boris Braun opened the event with speeches giving further insights into the Graduate School and highlighted milestones of the past 10 years. 182 PhD students and members of the GSGS graduated and successfully defended their thesis. This equates to approximately 18 successful defences per year. 

For the last ten years, Dr Karin Boessenkool has been the sole coordinator of the GSGS, until she and Dr Hannah Hartung became co-coordinators in 2023. Karin was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers as a thank you for all her years of holding the GSGS together. Thank you so much!

After the speeches, there was a delicious finger food buffet and a few drinks to toast to 10 successful years of GSGS. The next few hours were spent reminiscing and making plans for the future while looking at pictures from the last ten years. 

More impressions can be found here.