A three-day Network wide training programme on Communication, Knowledge transfer and Gender awareness was held at the University of Ljubljana between 30th June and 2nd July. Although the training was held as a hybrid event, most of the ESRs were able to attend it on-site which made it fruitful.

On the day 1 we had a presentation by Ms. Simona Rataj on Cooperation between science and industry and gave us some important insights on intellectual property rights. Later we had some interesting presentations by Dr. Šuštar from C3M and Prof. Trtnik from IGMAT on scientific cooperation with the industry and the current research activities with the faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering in the University of Ljubljana.

The presentation in the late noon in SPACE SI by Prof. Rodič was the most awaited and an interesting one too. It was truly remarkable to learn about their microsatellite NEMO-HD which was launched with Vega VV16 last September. The day 1 ended with a fun filled social event, kayaking in the river Krka and dinner.

The day 2 comprised of outreach and learning about the importance of critical reasoning. We had an insightful presentation by Ms. Romana Hudin on international exchange in Science and Ms. Manca Korelc on the optimization of LinkedIn profiles and networking. We had an inspiring presentation and demonstration by Miha Kos and his associates in the afternoon on the importance of critical thinking and reasoning. We also visited the House of Experiments in the evening where they demonstrated simple scientific experiments.

On the last day we had some insightful presentations on gender awareness and equal opportunities in science by Prof. Aleksandra Deluka – Tibljaš (URFCE), Prof. Violeta Bokan-Bosiljkov (ULFGG) and Prof. Marta Klanjšek Gunde (National Institute of Chemistry) followed by a discussion on personal experiences by Prof. Marjeta Kramar Fijavž on women in science and the need for various associations and Gender equality in research and gender sensitive approach in research and training by Dr. Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc (ZRC SAZU).

The training ended with the lectures addressing on ethical dilemmas and the importance of safe reporting channels by Prof. Borut Holcman (University of Maribor, Faculty of Law) and Dr. Alma Sedlar (Transparency International). I believe this network wide training was a nice break and a nice opportunity for the ESRs to meet each other and discuss on ongoing THREAD related research activities.

Contributed by Sudhanva Kusuma Chandrashekhara (ESR 14)