On Monday, 24 August, 37 of our doctoral students met up, loaded the blackboards onto the bus and headed to Gérardmer in the Vosges. It was time for this year’s edition of the annual HGSFP Summer School!
Throughout the week, five invited speakers introduced us to a fascinating range of topics in physics, with engaging sessions on aerosols and climate change, (quantum) phase transitions, hydrodynamics, the self-organization of molecules, and quantum information. Our scientific program was rounded off by a set of excellent “special lectures” voluntarily prepared by four of our own students who shared their expertise on fractional calculus, Bayesian inference, the development environment ‘Nix’ and the interplay of fluid dynamics and machine learning.
Between the lectures, we had plenty of opportunities to explore the sunny Vosges region. We enjoyed time at Lake Gérardmer, went climbing, canoeing and hiking, and made the most of the excellent food at the La Jamagne Hotel, our home for the week. In the evenings, there was time to relax and socialize—with dancing lessons, games, music-making, plenty of conversations and getting “maximized” (on a breakneck ride at the fair next door).
A further highlight of the summer school was the poster session, where all participants had the opportunity to present their own work and discuss it with fellow researchers. The posters led to lively discussions that continued well beyond the allotted time. The winners of the poster prize were selected by public vote, with the trophy shared by Devika Magan, David Fritz, and Magdalena Winkelvoß.
Overall, we spent an inspiring and very enjoyable week in the beautiful Vosges. Besides learning loads of new physics, we got to bond and make friends with our fellow graduate students in an inspiring environment, all thanks to the enormous effort and support of the amazing team at the HGSFP back at home in Heidelberg.
We would especially like to thank our invited speakers, Félix Rose, Adrien Florio, Stephanie Fiedler, Igor M. Kulić, and Tobias Haas, for accepting our invitation and sharing their expertise with us through very engaging and pedagogical lectures.
We gratefully acknowledge the Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics for the generous financial and logistical support that made this summer school possible and are looking forward to next year’s summer school!
