The 13th annual GSGS Research Conference took place on 12th June 2026. The central theme of this year’s event was the Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through which 11 GSGS members have received a 4-year scholarship over the past 6 years.
GSGS coordinator Hannah Hartung opened the event an especially welcomed Antonela Mihaljevic, who represents the Graduate School Scholarship Programme at DAAD.
Fascinating talks were given by GSSP scholarship recipients Rizwan Khaleel, Tiago Menezes Freire and Ravel Quilestino-Olario and their supervisors Christina Bogner, Patrick Grunert and Sonja Berg. Their topics covered microplastics in floodplain soils, the evaluation of past changes in the Humboldt ocean Current, and hot and cold marine events in East Antarctica. You may find the full programme here.
19 People presented their (planned) doctoral research in two poster session. Highlight of the day where their 2-minute pitch talks at the start of each poster session. These were very well received by the audience and drew many people to the high-quality posters. They showcased the enormous breadth of research topics in our Department.
Following the first poster session, Boris Braun, GSGS spokesperson, and coordinators Hannah and Karin reported on the highlights, main events and important milestones in 2025 during the GSGS General Assembly.
Elections took place for the doctoral representative (student member) on the GSGS Steering Committee. Six people stood for election. Neelam Firdous Khan received most votes and is warmly welcomed onto the GSGS Steering Committee. Gibson Mulokozi was re-elected as her deputy. Both of you many thanks for committing to this office. We thank Felix Reize for representing the doctoral candidates on the committee with great involvement in the past two years.
The Research Conference ended with a short award ceremony for:
Diana López Serrano - Quantifying Short-Term Soil Dynamics Using Fallout Radionuclides and Luminescence (GSGS Audience Award – selected by the participants of the conference)
Ilga Staudinger – Representing sea-ice heterogeneities and the Arctic boundary-layer using a thermal heterogeneity parameter (GSGS Poster Award – selected by a selection committee)
Fabian Schemann - Transformative Learning for Sustainable Futures - Bridging Formal and Informal Pathways of Environmental Stewardship and Global Citizenship (Gateway Innovation Prize presented by Dadhichi Paretkar of the Gateway Excellence Start-Up Center)
Many congratulations!
A huge “Thank you” to everyone attending and to the many people who helped in the preparations, especially Hannah and Henrietta.
You can already view highlights from the day here. We look forward to welcoming you to next year’s Research Conference on 11th June, 2027!