Skills training is an integral part of active career development or career crafting, and that holds true at any career stage. It is one of the things we have in our hands. If you give it a try, opportunities are immense to either develop your profile and skills set both online or hands on, in or outside your institution.

This month, Kristina, 2nd year PhD student in the lab, took the opportunity to go to Milan, Italy to participate in the EMBO Practical Course „Deep learning for microscopy image analysis“, while Katja actively discussed with mentors and mentees from the current round of the ILAE Mentoring Program the ABC of career development, including career- and self-awareness, the benefit of transversal skills training, mentoring and coaching, identifying your peer group and building your own network early to grow strong together, the power of excitement and dedication, and also lived region or field-specific career obstacles.

We also had Cristina Reschke from RCSI, Dublin, Ireland, expert on microRNAs and circadian rhythm in epilepsy, as a visitor in the lab to work on new projects, develop ideas, and support Hendrik, med student in the Kobow lab, in his medical thesis project investigating how clocks tick in human focal epilepsy.