Anglo-French-German Workshops (Summer Schools) on Skin Cancer Biology

During the 3-year course of a PhD student’s life in the RTG, the RTG organizes a yearly “Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology” in which also part of the London and Paris project partners actively participate. In the first year of each cohort of PhD students, the RTG holds the “Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology” in Mannheim as a kick-off meeting to introduce the students to each other and to the Faculty of the RTG.

The workshop includes plenary lectures from selected London/Paris project partners, project presentations by the students and the introductory courses on the rules of good scientific practice, on research involving animal experiments and on research data management. Inaugural Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings are held in parallel, but if the proposed date is not suitable, TAC meetings can also be organized on an individual basis. For the 3rd cohort of PhD students, the kick-off meeting will be complemented by a summer school held in Paris in 2021 to introduce them to the Paris Faculty and the Institut Gustave Roussy.

The “Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology” during the 2nd year of each cohort is organized together with our partners in London. These Workshops are centered on the specific competence and scientific excellence of the London partners. During these Workshops, the students will be provided with tasks that stimulate their scientific creativity and support scientific reflection. London project partners will attend and actively participate in these Workshops in London in 2019 and 2022 to allow for intense scientific and project-related interactions accompanied by the TAC meeting of the second year of each cohort. Furthermore, time will be reserved for the students to visit the labs of the selected collaboration partners.

In the third year of each cohort and as an additional important active task, the students of the RTG will organize the “Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology” as an international 3-day “Hallmarks of Skin Cancer” conference (HoSC) in Heidelberg. The first HoSC conference organized in full responsibility by the students in Heidelberg in November 2017 was a great success with more than 240 participants from 9 countries, 70 submitted abstracts, and 17 invited high-ranking international speakers. For the HoSC conferences organized by the 2nd and 3rd cohort of RTG students in Heidelberg in 2020 and 2023, respectively, the PIs and the Steering Committee of the RTG will again give their full support. The London and Paris partners will also play an active role in this international scientific Dermato-Oncology conference.

The 8th Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology, held at King’s College, London, was titled "Melanoma from myriad perspectives“. The goal of the School was for students to appreciate the complexity of cancer and its treatment, and the diversity of approaches that can prove incisive. Talks given by renowned London scientists as well as group work activities enabled the students to distill practical scientific approaches that accommodate complexity without losing focus.

The 7th Anglo-French-German Workshop on Skin Cancer Biology was held in the Mannheim Castle form June 25-27, 2018. The three-day-event provided our PhD and MD students the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing projects with experts in the field.