365 days happen to pass extremely quickly, especially during the buzzing university terms. Yet, regular discussions, making sure our plans still fit the main mission to provide significant services to the global community, are of uttermost importance.

A yearly group retreat allows us to take some distance from the everyday rush, changing the perspective and therefore helping the development of new ideas and projects.

This year, we decided to do our group retreat in the premises of “museum schaffen.” Located in the former buildings of the “Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik” (SLM), “museum schaffen” recently opened a work lab with all kinds of tools, creating an inspiring and empowering atmosphere for a retreat.

We set out to define our visions for the next 12 – 24 months in scientific projects, services and teaching. While identifying our own strengths and weaknesses, we started by getting to know each other better and ended with generating a clear plan for the next two years. For teaching, this involved the identification of potential topics for Bachelor- and Master theses. For scientific projects and services, we focused on parallel activities in the field of weather, climate & environmental protection including aviation emissions, on mutual coaching activities and on potential publications to be tackled soon.

Because intense brainwork needs some physical activity as compensation, the afternoon was spent in the climbing hall “6a+“. While Jazz & Lukas got a professional introduction by Damaris, our climbing teacher, Curdin & Julien got a serious brush-up on indoor climbing technique. We all ended up having sore forearms and cramped toes, but filled with endorphins and ready to conquer the next 365 days of work!