The Educational Program of the Earth System Science Research School (ESSReS) - Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach in Earth System Science - page 10

current alternatives to a scienti c career. The geology course “ Paleoclimate: From

proxies to climate data ” introduced the PhD students geological records like sediment

cores and the age determination of sediments. Paleoceanographic changes were
explained on different time scales. The biology course

“ Bioarchives, a source of

climate reconstructions ” was held by biologists from AWI to illustrate work on

carbonate bio-archives (mainly bivalves) for the reconstruction of past climate and
environmental variability. Both courses had an ef cient practical part, working with

sediment cores (Geology) and molluscs (Biology).

2.3 Seminar Series

The ESSReS student group gathered for monthly seminars, which alternately took
place at one of the participating institutes. Main goal of these student/coordinator-
organized meetings was a regular informal exchange of the PhD students, providing
a familiar atmosphere and an open working environment. This set-up not only
strengthened the social network of the group, but also enabled scienti

c exchange
and student-to-student learning. Usually, up to three presentations per event were
given by the students, fostering motivation and the bottom-up approach, team
building effects and conflict management.
In the beginning, the student talks covered the personal background, i.e. master
thesis or earlier work, which later evolved into regular updates on their current
research work. Some students also used the familiar and interdisciplinary audience
to practice talks later to be held at a conference or summer school. The informal
atmosphere was a perfect setting to get comfortable presenting to a bigger, more
specialized audience. It was of great bene t that most of the audience were not from

the same scienti field, which fostered a clear presentation and bottom-up

explanation of background processes and pre-requisites. Consequently, some spe-
ci

c

c experiences of PhD students were used to tutor the group in special skills like,
e.g.,

“ Python ” or “ Rasdaman ” (see Sect. 2.5 ).

2.4 Computational Skills Courses

In the first and second year of the program, a series of courses were offered to teach

several computational skills needed for a productive work ow. These courses

included an introduction to Unix/Linux operating systems, to scripting languages
(Bash, Python) and to a series of specialized tools for plotting and data analysis
(GMT, GIS). In addition to the three main courses, a workshop in Earth System
Modeling (organized together with POLMAR) provided practical hands-on learn-
ing in Earth System Modeling, giving the chance to explore the dynamics of the
Earth

fl

' s climate system as well as of global carbon cycling and the biogeochemical