We are happy to inform you that despite of the difficult situation due to the Corona pandemic, (almost) all RIGeL events and courses could/can take place. Our RIGeL Organizing Groups are also active and organizing talks and events. And last but not least, we also have public office hours where PhD students have the possibility to come to the RIGeL Office for RIGeL ‘Welcome’, to submit their Leistungsheft, ask questions or discuss problems concerning the PhD. But you have, of course, also the possibility to get in contact with us via email, telephone and we can also offer office hours via Zoom. That means, RIGeL is full in operation despite of the Corona situation since the summer term 2020!

Our RIGeL Summer Schools in June and September 2020 took place via Zoom. This was a new field and experience for all of us. Fortunately, both events have been carried out successfully without any technical problems. Even the poster and talk sessions could be organized similar to an in-person summer school. However, we hope that our Summer Schools next year can be organized as in-person events and we can spend three days together in Ensdorf (24.-26.06.2021) and Plankstetten (16.-18.09.2021).

Also the RNA Lecture Series organized by the Graduate Research Academy RNA Biology could be continued in the summer term 2020. The lectures took place via Zoom and were really well visited by PhD and masters students. As a result of the good experience with Zoom, the RNA Lecture Series will take place in the winter term 2020/21 via Zoom again. For the lecture dates please visit our Event Calendar: https://www.rigel-regensburg.de/index.php?browse=54

RIGeL and the Graduate Research Academy RNA Biology also continue offering soft skills courses. The workshop Präsentationstraining could take place as a classroom lecture end of October (before lockdown). In July and November the workshops Good Scientific Practice and Scientific Writing have been carried out as online workshops. 2021 there will be 6 workshops on different topics such as Job Application Training, Conflict Resolution or Good Scientific Practice (https://www.rigel-regensburg.de/index.php?browse=35&newsid=192&offset=) . Whether the courses next year can take place as classroom lectures or as online workshops will be decided at short notice. We will keep you informed.

However, currently there are no trade fairs or job fairs, and even though visiting companies is not possible, the RIGeL Excursions and Industry Relations group managed to organize the third Lecture Series on Biopharmaceutical Industry by Roche Diagnostics GmbH. Young group leaders from Roche will give four interesting lectures and give an insight into the work processes of a big pharmaceutical player. For the dates of the lectures please visit our Event Calendar: https://www.rigel-regensburg.de/index.php?browse=54

After a short break in the summer term our Graduate Colloquium and Alumni Talks groups are planning new guest lectures via Zoom for the winter term 2020/21. On the 29^th of October we had Dr. Balint Marko from the BabeÈ™-Bolyai University in Romania as a guest speaker of the Graduate Colloquium group. Further talks will follow in the winter term. The next Alumni Talk by Dr. Josef Simmel from the Natural Science Museum Karlsruhe will take place on the 3^rd of December 2020. For more information on the guest lectures see our Event Calendar: https://www.rigel-regensburg.de/index.php?browse=54 If you are interested in joining our RIGeL Organizing groups, please send us an email to Rigel.School@ur.de. We are always looking for new members!

Also the Public Relations group is working on future projects. Since the workshops at the schools have been canceled in the summer, the group is happy to contribute in the MINT-Haus project of the city of Regensburg (https://www.regensburg.de/wirtschaft/wirtschaftsservice/projekt-und-netzwerkkoordination/mint-labs-regensburg-e-v) which should start in spring next year.

We very much regret that our RIGeL Day 2020 had to be canceled. Unfortunately, also our Christmas party cannot take place this year. We know, that this is a great loss of social contacts within the graduate school which we try to compensate at least with our RIGeL group activities and with more public office hours. In the RIGeL groups you have the possibility to get to know new people from different RIGeL sections, gaining experience in organizational tasks and on top of these you can also earn credit points for the RIGeL Curriculum! We are also thinking about a kind of short virtual RIGeL coffee break via Zoom where you can have a chat with other PhD students and members of the RIGeL Management Office. This should take place once a week for ca. 20 minutes. We will inform you about the details.

We hope that we will overcome this difficult situation soon and we can get back to our normal daily routine! Until then, stay healthy and take care of you!

Your RIGeL Team