Message from the Dean

Dear Students,

Welcome to the Academic Year 2025–2026! It is my pleasure to welcome 80 new students who will be joining the ISTA Graduate School on September 15, as part of the 2025 PhD cohort. As has become custom, this milestone will be marked by our Welcome Day, a celebration of research and community at ISTA. Through poster presentations and social events, you will have an opportunity to begin exploring the scientific breadth of the Institute, and to connect with other scientists from different disciplines and backgrounds.

The new cohort consists of students from all over the world. You have demonstrated excellence and potential throughout a rigorous selection process, and we are delighted to welcome you to an Institute committed to educating the next generation of scientists. ISTA offers you a vibrant, international, and interdisciplinary environment set in beautiful natural surroundings, with cutting-edge laboratories and opportunities for engagement beyond academia, through technology transfer at XISTA, and science education at VISTA.

With new beginnings come possibilities to reinvent yourselves. The ISTA Graduate School is designed to encourage and help you to break boundaries. Through your choice of courses and rotations, we encourage you to step outside your comfort zone, explore the interfaces between disciplines, and develop new strengths. Discoveries often occur at these interfaces. Our rotation system allows you to experience diverse research areas and styles before you select your PhD project, and our structure provides multiple opportunities to find scientific mentors to support you in your work. The philosophy we aspire to is that everyone mentors everyone else.

Although you are at the beginning of your journey, I want to mention that time is your most precious commodity. Discoveries are hard to make, and PhDs are not as long as they seem at first. I encourage you to take risks, be curious, think and work hard, and build a community of peers who can sharpen your thinking and support you in your scientific and personal lives – these are the opportunities ISTA offers.

I wish you all an inspiring and fulfilling start to the year.

Warm regards,

Mario