Written by:
Camilla King and Cheryl Sjöström, ClimBEco graduate research school.
Each autumn, the graduate research school ClimBEco hosts an annual meeting for its approximately 40 PhD students from Lund University, University of Gothenburg and Chalmers. These meetings are usually kept local to Skåne or Gothenburg, but this year we decided to place the meeting in Hamburg as a way to expand the academic networks of our participants and to further develop an ongoing cooperation with the graduate school SICSS at Universität Hamburg, UHH.
The goal with our trip was therefore to introduce our research environments and young researchers to each other, creating more surface area for potential collaborations and, more generally, making the distance between Lund and Hamburg feel less big. Just one train connection in Copenhagen and a few hours later you’ve arrived in the heart of this European hub city.
To support the additional costs of placing the meeting internationally, most of our participants applied for Erasmus + staff training. With the guidance of colleagues in Hamburg we booked rooms at a jazzy hotel/hostel in the Sternschanze area of the city. Despite a few bouts of intense rain, (‘Welcome to Hamburg!’ was a common retort to the weather) we had an amazing 2-day programme of socializing, sharing PhD research topics through presentations and LEGO® Serious Play®, study visits to research facilities, high-profile lectures and get-to-know each other activities. We experienced cultural sites including walking up the Feldstraßenbunker, seeing the city by ferry on the Elbe, and the water light show at Planten un Blomen as the finale on the last evening.
Photo: Cheryl Sjöström
Photo: Véronique Slomski
Tips for travelling with a group of colleagues to and from Hamburg:
- Pack food and drinks for the Hamburg-Copenhagen trips, as there is not always a bistro available.
- Make a Whatsapp or other group for communicating before, during and after
- Make time in the schedule for the unknowns. For example, your breakfast place only having one coffee machine making cappuccinos for 30 people, one at a time…
- Having good local collaborators is amazingly helpful.
- Remind all participants that yes, you will likely need to show your passport on the train even though it’s within Schengen.
- Make a travel-safety checklist that is relevant for your participants. LU has a great page that you can tailor to your needs. Travel safety checklist, Lund University
- You can purchase group tickets for local travel in the city one week in advance, very easy and worth avoiding the hassle on-site.
- Getting invoices from restaurants was a bit of additional work, but it worked out in the end.
- If you apply for Erasmus funding, dedicate someone in the group to liaise with the Erasmus office in Lund to follow up applications and final reporting.
Ylva van Meeningen
Sounds like an amazing trip! Thank you for sharing!