April 6, 2023 Ι The Water Graduate School (WGS) is located at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE, Campus Essen) and provides a comprehensive programme to all doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in water research in the network of the Centre for Water and Environmental Research.

Opening Ceremony of the Water Graduate School

On 22 March 2023 the WGS was formally launched with about 120 participants, including speakers from the water sector (Prof. Dr. Hans-Curt Flemming, Prof. Dr. Torsten C. Schmidt (IAC-UDE)) and other graduate programmes (Dr. Thea Göhring (DFG) and Prof. Dr. Dittmer from (BIOME-UDE)). In addition to the traditional talks, Prof. Dr. Florian Leese, Jun. Prof. Dr. Anzhela and Dr. Dennis Schmiege presented a science slam about their research topics to the audience.

Various members of the ZWU network also shared their career experiences on stage (Christoph Koch (EAH Jena), Fabian Itzel (LINEG), Beate Krok (ZWU-UDE)), Daniel Teschlade (Ruhrverband), Sonja Rückert (UDE), Michael Eisinger (ZWU-UDE), Viktoria Berger (Wupperverband), Stefan Weber (Chemstars)) and their expertise at the network market (IWW, Green Ocean, Ruhrverband, Wupperverband, various working groups/projects of the UDE and RUB, Chemstars, EAH Jena, ZWU/ZMB, LINEG).  Many of the participating students and (post)doctoral researchers took the opportunity to chat and network.

The programme of WGS

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers joining the WGS will be part of a programme related to the core area of research (water quality, biodiversity or urban water cycle) or to the soft skill foci (supervision, teaching and project management). The programme includes various workshops, lectures, seminars and annual retreats as well as team building and outreach activities.

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers interested in joining the WGS can contact the coordinator Dr. Vanessa Kramer (vanessa.kramer@uni-due.de) or the WGS speakers PD Dr. Ursula Telgheder (ursula.telgheder@uni-due.de) and Prof. Dr. Alexander Probst (alexander.probst@uni-due.de) for more information. Membership is complimentary.