The first summer school for doctoral students of the HFT doctoral programme HIRE on the topic of "Digital Twins and their Applications" took place on 6 and 7 August in Schwäbisch Gmünd. During the two days, the doctoral students and their supervisors - professors from the HFT Stuttgart - took part in seminars and workshops. The event was framed by team-building activities and input workshops on the topic of 'Impro-Theatre and Communication".
Prof. Dr. Volker Coors, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Gülch, Prof. Dr. Ursula Voss and HIRE project academic Dr. Svetlana Valger gave keynote presentations on technologies and perspectives for the development of urban digital twins, on methods for collecting and analyzing data in urban environments and on on applications of digital twins in urban simulation.
One of the main events of the Summer School was the presentation of the PhD students' research projects. Within the framework of the doctoral programme, 6 doctoral students are working on a wide range of issues related to the development and application of technologies for urban digital twins: from the challenges of urban microclimate modeling and urban acoustics to the application of machine learning methods for laser scanning data processing and geospatial visualization in VR and AR. The Summer School thus became a platform for effective scientific communication within the PhD program.
As part of the Summer School, the participants also attended the workshop "Representing urban areas in PALM-4U using the PALM-4U GUI", which was led by guest speaker Johanna Henning from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP). They learned about the PALM-4U urban modeling software package and worked with the geodata processing module for the numerical simulation of urban climate problems.
In addition to the extensive scientific program, the doctoral students also took part in an improvisation workshop aimed at developing soft skills, particularly skills such as self-presentation and teamwork. Dr. Daniela Claus and invited speaker Martin Esters facilitated the impo-theatre workshop and team-building activities, where a marble run made of wooden tracks had to be set rolling in a very short time.
Muhammad Alfakhori, a PhD student from the HFT doctoral program, shared his impressions of the summer school: "The Summer School was an amazing experience... I got to learn so much more about my colleagues' research, and it really opened my eyes to new opportunities for collaboration. The team-building activities were a lot of fun and helped us connect on a deeper level. Plus, getting to hang out with our supervisors in a more relaxed setting was a great way to build stronger relationships with them "
Doctoral student Michaela Marxt also saw the event as a good opportunity to strengthen scientific collaboration between the research teams of the doctoral program: "The first Summer School was particularly enriching as we were able to get to know the different doctoral students and their topics better. Through the two days of teamwork, connections were strengthened that allow for productive and professional collaboration. Through this community, each of us can benefit in a special way on the further path to our doctoral thesis."
A big thank you to all participants of the summer school, the professors Dr. Volker Coors, Dr. Eberhard Gülch, Dr. Ursula Voss, Dr. Berndt Zeitler and Dr. Christina Simon-Philipp, the guest speakers M.Sc. Johanna Henning and Martin Esters as well as the organizers of the summer school 2024/Summerschool 2024, Dr. Svetlana Valger and Dr. Daniela Claus.
Further information on the HIRE doctoral program: here
Author: Dr. Svetlana Valger
