The sixth edition of DocColloq's interdisciplinary graduate conference “Knowledge creates change - ideas, processes and theories from research” was once again an inspiring forum for the exchange of diverse scientific research projects and new approaches, which were shared creatively and interactively by committed young researchers in various contribution formats.

The focus was on how research not only creates knowledge, but can also actively contribute to social change. The contributions and intensive discussions during the conference covered an impressive range and brought together doctoral students and, for the first time, master's students from very different disciplines. This created a platform where different approaches and perspectives came together and enriched each other. A central aim of the conference was to promote the complex exchange between theory and practice. The research approaches presented showed how scientific findings can be applied in socially relevant processes and contribute to overcoming the challenges of our time.

The participants addressed current issues ranging from the sustainable use of resources and digitalization to social justice and the demands of a globalized world. The exchange made it clear that the path to sustainable solutions is possible in particular by overcoming disciplinary boundaries and bringing together different scientific perspectives.

The communicative and collaborative nature of the conference provided valuable opportunities for exchange and joint learning. In addition to scientific presentations and media sessions, discussions at eye level not only promoted personal knowledge, but also enabled networking. The conference thus functioned as a dynamic think tank that encouraged participants to rethink and further develop the role of science as a driver of social change.

Looking ahead, it can be said that the conference has created many starting points for future research projects. The ideas and solutions presented offer a valuable basis for aligning scientific progress more closely with socially relevant problems and thus contributing to positive change. The interdisciplinary approach and continuous exchange initiated by the conference and continued in the new digital offerings are essential prerequisites for sustainably strengthening the scientific community and its role in a changing world.

Event details and the published conference proceedings are available via the Indico conference software.

The 6th Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference was organized by the DocColloq team, consisting of doctoral students Elena Freund, Leonie Kortmann, Martin Wendler and Laura Oswald as well as student assistant Leia Hermesdorf.

How far can environmental activism go? How can paratoxic leadership be recognized and prevented? And how can primary school teacher trainees be optimally prepared for their pupils' chronic illnesses? These are just some of the exciting questions discussed by young researchers at the 5th Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at Trier University. Under the title “For the future - learning, researching, living”, doctoral students from all over Germany presented their dissertation projects in eight lectures and five media session contributions and discussed doctoral projects, research results and their relevance for research and society.

Both conference days were opened by a keynote speaker. On Thursday, Prof. Dr. Nicole Ondrusch (Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences) gave a lecture entitled “What do we shape when we shape the future? An attempt to combine the topics of education, IT, diversity and responsibility in one lecture” on how education can be shaped against the backdrop of current and future developments. The aim must be to motivate learners not only to reproduce knowledge, but also to reflect on it and actively apply it. The second day was opened by Prof. Dr. Christof Schöch (University of Trier) with the lecture “More Open Science dare! - Current developments and paths to openness in science” and gave interesting and helpful insights as well as recommendations for the possibilities and applications of open science and open data practices. The focus was not only on application, but also on responsibility at a structural level.

Another important factor for the organizers was networking among the doctoral students. In a total of five online rooms, participants were able to exchange ideas, reflect on good and difficult phases of their doctorate, make contacts or get together for a caffeinated hot drink in the online cafeteria.

There was a special highlight on the second day of the conference: Lisa Budzinski, the German Science Slam Champion 2022, was invited to perform. In addition to interesting insights into the deepest interior of our intestinal flora, Lisa also gave us a few laughs and showed us that science communication is not just about journal articles, lectures and writing, but also about humor.

The 5th Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference was organized by the DocColloq team, consisting of doctoral students Christoph Maier, Elena Freund, Leonie Kortmann, Martin Wendler and Yannick Loeppke as well as student assistant Leia Hermesdorf.

What do environmental justice and feminism have to do with each other? How did life in Paris influence German painters of the 18th century? And how can understanding my own body signals help me to deal better with my emotions? We were able to ask ourselves these and many other exciting questions together this year. For the fourth time in a row, the Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference impressed with a wide range of subject areas and topics represented. Under the overarching theme “Third Mission (im)possible?! Options for action for young scientists”, this year's conference brought together young scientists from all over Germany and parts of Europe with 6 lectures and 5 media session contributions to talk about their research results and how to communicate them in the field of science communication.

This year, we welcomed two keynote speakers: On Thursday, Ricarda Ziegler (Wissenschaft in Dialog) explained the “Relationship between science and the public” and presented the results of the Science Barometer 2022. On Friday, Prof. Andrea Geier (Trier University) continued the discussion on the necessity of good science communication and, in her interactive presentation, focused on the “Opportunities and challenges of digital science communication” via Twitter.

Personal exchange and networking were also very important at our conference this year. Our digital “standing tables” offered participants the opportunity to talk about a wide variety of topics related to the PhD phase between presentations, especially on topics where we all usually feel alone - be it writer's block, funding, the interface of person and doctorate.

The 4th Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference was organized by the DocColloq team, consisting of PhD students Amanda Boyce, Christopher Groß, Tim Hartelt and Sarah Thiery as well as our student assistant Leia Hermesdorf - we would like to thank all speakers and participants!

In the published Book of Abstracts you can find the abstracts of all presentations, media sessions and keynotes as well as forewords from the team and the Graduate Center of Trier University. Furthermore, a few impressions of the conference were collected and the jointly developed product of the conference - a mind map on the conference theme - was printed.

• Conference Program

Surveying under space conditions, the distribution of bats, socio-emotional experiences at school or communists without a communist ideology - such a broad range of topics can only be found at very few conferences. At the 3rd Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference, however, doctoral students from a wide range of disciplines presented their doctoral projects in 6 lectures and 7 media session contributions. The doctoral students took part in the online conference from all over Germany and other European countries. The conference theme “Dissolving boundaries” was thus implemented in a variety of ways: Boundaries between disciplines and between different universities were broken down and an interdisciplinary exchange was made possible.

The keynote speech by Dr. Christina Möller (FH Dortmund), who spoke about inequalities in academic careers and presented empirical findings on inequality factors such as social background, migration biography and gender, was met with great enthusiasm by the participants - boundaries definitely still need to be broken down here! The refreshingly new format of the Media Session was also particularly well received: Here, the presenters presented videos and interactive posters, among other things, and thus used the diverse digital possibilities to communicate their research to a mostly non-specialist audience in an understandable way.

In addition to the presentations, there was of course also time for informal discussions, including during the “standing table talks” on topics such as “PhD and family”, “Academic publishing” and “Diversity and identity”. Origami folding provided a welcome opportunity for a short break from the screen. The origami paper as well as tea bags and plantable pens were sent to the participants in advance as part of a conference package as small give-aways and may remind them of the eventful conference as the plants grow.

The 3rd Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference was organized by the DocColloq team. The organizers included Amanda Boyce, Laura Simonis, Oksana Petruk, Sabine Lippert and Tim Hartelt.

• Conference Program
• Abstract volume
• Selected “Media Session” contributions
  • Antonia Hammer, University of Greifwald: Range expansion and dispersal in the Lesser Horseshoe Bat
  • Imen Helali, University of Liège: The boundary-INTERFACE: A Passage between the Levels of the Semiotic Practices Theory 
  • Jerome de Cooman, University of Liège: Something Old, Something New: Addressing Technological Innovation Through the Lens of Time
  • Jessica Gnas, Elena Mack & Julia Matthes, Trier University: Sind eine hohe intellektuelle Begabung und Leistungsstärke in der Grundschulzeit gut für das sozioemotionale Erleben von Schule?
  • Marie Rathmann, University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg: Entgrenzungen digitaler Lern- und Arbeitspraktiken. Erste Ergebnisse der Längsschnittuntersuchung des Projektes DigiTaKS*

Despite the - still - current corona situation in December 2020, the 2nd Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at Trier University took place on December 11, 2020 as a purely online format via Zoom. This year, around forty prospective, current and former doctoral students from all over Germany, Luxembourg and some even from overseas responded to the call for participation from the organizers, Camilla Haake, Ref. iur. and Natalie Tröller, M.A.

As with the successful first edition of the event in 2019, the participants were able to look forward to a varied program by and for doctoral candidates:

For this year's keynote lecture on the topic of “Science communication: 'Why' and above all 'how'?”, the organizers were able to win over Dr Michèle Weber, PhD immunologist and deputy editor-in-chief of the Luxembourgish science communication website science.lu. As a “best practice example” of successful science communication, Dr. Anna Stöckl, winner of the Klaus Tschira Foundation's “KlarText” award for science communication in the field of neuroscience in 2017, gave a keynote speech on the orientation behavior of night owls entitled “A good view through the night”.

In subsequent 15-minute short presentations, six doctoral students presented the research topics of their doctoral theses in the subjects of psychology, political science, finance and banking, philosophy, rock mechanics and mining as well as inventory development. Despite the new virtual format of the conference, the popular poster show was not neglected this year either: using the “Gather.Town” program, participants were able to marvel at six elaborately designed scientific posters and listen to their creators, also doctoral students from the fields of psychology, political science, education, sociology, joining technology and materials testing, explain them in five to ten-minute short presentations.

Small “conference packages”, consisting of information about the event and specially made give-aways with the new “DocColloq” logo, which the organizers sent to the participants by post in the run-up to the event, also provided the necessary “conference feeling” in this year of “social distancing”!

The official program of the 2nd Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference 2020 can be found here.