Activities IDC students beginning 2024

Activity: Scientific illustration workshop

Thanks to the financial support from the IDC, student representatives Sebastiano Zanini and Friederike Barkmann organized the second edition of the scientific illustration workshop “Visual skills for academia and beyond”. Conducted by Cirenia Arias Baldrich, PhD on March 6th and 7th 2024, the workshop provided valuable insights into sketching techniques and graphic design fundamentals to all participating PhD students. Using drawing software, attendees translated their newfound skills into practice. Many have already found these skills beneficial in creating scientific posters for conferences and graphical abstracts for articles. Follow our workshop instructor on Instagram @CireniaSketches for more insights.

Activity: Movie screening & debate

Last 10th of April, the screening of the documentary "Picture a Scientist" (official selection of the TRIBECA Film Festival 2020), followed by a film discussion on "Diversity in Science", took place at the Department of Botany. This event was the result of an expressed interest by many PhD students to understand the importance of including people from diverse backgrounds in science during the WS2023 IDC meeting. During this meeting, the IDC's role in changing the status quo of science in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion was also discussed. The film event was organised by IDC members Lucía Laorden and Tania Sosa and moderated by Mag. Dijana Simić (Centre Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Innsbruck) in cooperation with PhD. Sujatha Subramanian, and M.A. Henrike Bloemen, Monika Schamschula and Juliana Krohn. The PhD students participating in the event discussed their own experiences as victims or witnesses of discrimination against women and people from minority groups. Many suggestions for possible changes were also debated, such as mandatory diversity workshops for university employees and the creation of an office at the departmental level where the victims of harassment or discrimination could seek help and support from an impartial university member. These and other topics will be included in the follow-up workshop currently being organised for the winter semester (2024/2025). More detailed information on how to register will be sent out by email in the upcoming months. Despite the ecological and scientific nature of the IDC, the success of this event underlines the importance of addressing social topics and the need for institutions such as the IDC to keep supporting these initiatives.