Sep 24, 2026
Looking Back: PhD Day 2026
Friday was PhD Day at our Faculty of Environmental Sciences - and our Chair of Geoinformatics joined with two contributions: an NFDI4Earth booth and a PhD poster.For NFDI4Earth, it was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the data and learning materials our early-career researchers are looking for. Their needs cover a broad range - from historical Saxon geodata to European tree species, urban green spaces, and climate data such as ERA5. When it comes to learning, interests are just as diverse: while some of our forestry students are curious about developing basic Python skills, others are keen to dive into machine learning.
With our NFDI4Earth booth, we had a simple message to share: Share your data openly and FAIRly in a disciplinary repository whenever possible. And check out our OneStop4All (https://onestop4all.nfdi4earth.de) to discover data, repositories, and learning materials all in one place.
Our colleague Tom Niers presented his PhD research on "Unlocking the spatial and temporal context of research work." His poster sparked interesting conversations about how capturing the spatial and temporal dimensions of research work opens new ways to discover, connect, navigate and evaluate scientific knowledge. The discussions made clear that early-career scientists are eager for discovery tools built around space and time, an impression reinforced by the fact that virtually every poster presented at the PhD Event had its own 'where' and 'when‘.
A big thank you to Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen, Andreas Hartmann, and Matthias Mauder for inviting us and for organizing such a great event!
