German Chapter Restart

Dear German Chapter Members,

Several of us put a lot of work into the German Chapter in 2015 and helped make the chapter the most active within MCAA in a very short time. Two of the chapters most prominent and active members (Marco Masia and I) were elected to the Board of MCAA in March 2016. Marco and I were responsible for many of the activities you have seen within MCAA during the last two years. The German Chapter became relatively dormant since our Career Seminar at EMBL in May 2016.

Some weeks ago, I announced a meeting to be held during MCAA's General Assembly in Leuven to discuss the future direction of the German Chapter. I thank all of those who showed up, gave their feedback and suggested new ideas for the development of this chapter. I was reelected Chair of the German Chapter at this meeting.

We would like to reanimate this chapter and find a way to learn from best practices in other chapters. The most similar chapter from the point of view of size and potential is the UK chapter, they run one big meeting per year, several smaller ones and engage with national partners. They have built a team that distributes responsibility widely. I was at their meeting in London last year and it was one of the most enjoyable MCAA meetings I ever attended.

On Saturday, we decided to focus on three areas:

1. Events: Supporting our chapter members to run meetings big and small throughout Germany. Running joint events with external partners, as well as, with other chapters and working groups.
2. Communication: Communicating the work of the Chapter to our members and the outside world on MCAA Web Portal and Social Media. Promotion of career and research funding opportunities.
3. Networking: Cultivating MCAA's network of external partners in Germany: Research in Germany, DAAD, Humboldt Foundation, DFG, EURAXESS Germany, MSCA NCP, KoWi, EMBL, DKFZ Careers, Volkswagen Foundation, Science March Germany, Max Planck Alumni, Max Planck PhDNet, Wissenschaft im Dialog and many more.

We will draw up an open annual planning process and consult widely with the chapter membership. Members will be free to add events and ideas to the document before it is submitted to the Board of MCAA.

Warm regards,

Brian