Getting started…

SCALA officially started in December 2024 and we held our initial kickoff in Münster just before Christmas. At that time, the doctoral candidates (DCs) were still being recruited, so only the principal investigators and the associated partners got together to learn about what everyone else was up to in terms of research and to plan ahead for the project.

At the kickoff, all the partners presented what research they are engaged related to each of the PhD topics in SCALA. It became very clear that there are many promising connections between the research done by the different partners that the DCs will be able to explore. We also had a guest presentation from the TREND Doctoral Network, which covers a topic related to SCALA and is also coordinated by Münster University.

At the time of the kickoff, recruitment was still in full swing but now all but one position has been filled and many DCs have just started or are about to start. Over the coming weeks, we will update the website with their profiles and activities as we ramp up to the first training event/project meeting with all DCs, partners, and investigators.

So, the actual research work in SCALA is getting started now, and it will be exciting to see the first steps and results of the new DCs.