Each year in February or March an IRTG workshop takes place either in Seoul or Bielefeld. The aim of these workshops is to further establish the existing research cooperations and to intensify the scientific exchange, in particular, between young researchers.
The fourth IRTG retreat took place 14–17 August 2023 at Tagungszentrum Springe in the Hanover Region. Having completed the hiring of the fourth generation shortly beforehand, all the PhD students from the third and fourth generation joined this event, along with our Korean Postdocs, two alumni and an exchange student. Ho-Sik Lee and Seokchang Hong gave two mini-lecture series, while the students of the third generation spoke about their ongoing PhD projects. The students got a short overview of good scientific practice and discussed the sticking points of the publishing process. The young researchers also took part in a one-day soft skill workshop “Make Yourself Heard” by Francesca Carlin. The programme was topped off by an excursion to Marienburg Castle in Pattensen.
The retreat took place October 24 - 27, 2021, in Ilsenburg (Harz mountains).
The second IRTG retreat took place in February 2019 on the island of Norderney. It was the first retreat in which two generations of doctoral students jointly took part. Also several exchange students from SNU joined the event. Stefan Neukamm from Dresden gave a lecture series about “Stochastic Homogenization”. Moreover, the young researchers took part in a 1-day training “Making an impact: Communicating, networking, and presenting” by Vera Leberecht and the second generation got a short overview about the publishing process and good scientific practice. The program also included several presentations by the doctoral students about their research projects as well as social evenings and a hike along the beach.
In February 2017 we went to our first retreat. We spent two days in Paderborn and enjoyed a varied program. Besides a lecture series by Armin Schikorra about “Harmonic Maps”, short presentations of various topics, including information about the qualification program of the IRTG, the life in Seoul, publications, were held. Some of our doctoral students gave talks about their current research. In addition, we explored the smallest river of Germany, made some bowling experiences, and fought for the retreat award.
On October 7, 2016, the IRTG was officially opened with an opening ceremony at Bielefeld University. After addresses by Prof. Dr. Martin Egelhaaf (Vice-Rector for Research Bielefeld University), Kyoungae Mun (Director Korean Education Center in Germany), Herbert Dawid (Bielefeld Graduate School in Theoretical Sciences) and Panki Kim (Spokesperson IRTG in Seoul), the Bielefeld spokesperson Moritz Kassmann talked about the doctoral education in East-Westphalia and East-Asia. The Spokesperson of the former IRTG 1132, Michael Röckner, reported on the 9 years of doctoral education within the former IRTG. A mathematical talk was given by the Mercator Fellow of the IRTG, Takashi Kumagai from Japan. The event was musically accompanied by the cellist Yoonha Choi from South Korea.