Message from the Dean
Dear students,
Welcome to academic year 2022-23!
Together, we have experienced two years of COVID-restrictions, with few in-person events and many online classes. I want to commend all of you for your resilience, and extend a special thank you to those of you who went above and beyond to maintain the “community feel” that is so important to our campus.
A few recent Graduate School events are worth highlighting. This year’s Graduation Ceremony in June honored a record number of 73 students – those who completed their dissertations since July 2019. On September 15th, we welcomed an incoming cohort of 64 new students. In addition to our annual BBQ tradition, this year’s welcome also included a poster session highlighting the science that we do, and a Fayre to present social activities and groups on campus. Thanks to all of you who contributed to making these important events memorable and welcoming!
For the upcoming academic year, all of us of course hope to continue with holding in person classes and events. The Open Meeting will be held on 30th of September at 11am in the Raiffeisen Lecture Hall, where we summarize recent developments in the Graduate School. You can find the Opening Address and more information about the Annual Consultations on the PhD Website.
Together with the Deputy to the Dean, we are also planning to hold regular student lunches on Mondays to discuss specific topics related to your experience as graduate students – I sincerely invite you to join these! Should you prefer to discuss topics with me personally, you can always come to my regular office hours on Thursdays, during teaching periods, at 4pm in the Sunstone Building (Room O1.107).
In the long run, one certain thing is that ISTA will grow. The campus will be extended, new research groups are being hired and expansion into new areas of research is taking place. It is certainly an exciting time to be at ISTA now!
With that I wish you a happy beginning of the new academic year!
Eva Benkova
Dean