Over the past two days, our Annual Status Meeting 2026 took place – our final major event of the year, bringing together our all doctoral researchers and MASc students from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and the University of Waterloo (UW) in a hybrid format.

With participants meeting in person at both locations and connecting online, the event once again demonstrated the strength of our international collaboration.

A central part of the meeting was dedicated to our doctoral researchers, who presented their latest research results, shared their progress, and outlined their plans for the months ahead. These presentations provided an excellent opportunity for scientific exchange, feedback, and discussion across the different research projects.

Our MASc students from the University of Waterloo also contributed to the programme by presenting their research in online poster sessions, using virtual breakout rooms to engage with fellow researchers and discuss their work. The meeting concluded with collaborative group work in breakout rooms, giving all participants the opportunity to exchange ideas, explore new approaches, and further develop opportunities for collaboration across research projects and institutions. For hybrid meetings like this, we highly recommend online poster sessions and discussions in these private rooms. It worked out very well again.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year’s Annual Status Meeting such a productive and engaging event! We look forward to seeing these discussions and ideas translate into new collaborations and exciting research developments in the coming months.

Of course we also did something fun and as in Duisburg the christmas market just started we ended up there.