Visiting new places, learning amazing things, experiencing different cultures and meeting interesting people from around the world: these are perhaps the right ingredients for a great summer. It’s also how one would summarize the first EASIschool that took place this summer in Vienna.

From the 30th of August to 14th of September, the MSCA H2020 EASITrain programme brought together young researchers for an intensive summer meeting! It was the culmination of the first year's activities, bringing students together from different research centres and industries for a shared experience in Vienna. The school encompassed a wide variety of engaging academic disciplines and outdoor activities.

With a comprehensive curriculum developed in coordination with all beneficiaries,, the first week offered to students the knowledge and resources to understand the inner workings of superconductivity. World-class experts covered a wide range of topics from the fundamental of superconductivity to novel characterization and manufacturing techniques, developments in high-temperature superconducting materials and possible applications outside particle physics. Students got a deep theoretical understanding and at the same time were invited to think of ways to deploy large-scale applications. Industrializing these technologies is key for future large-scale research infrastructures and could unlock their transformative potential for society.

The second week of the school focused on a project management training as young researchers should learn how to skillfully coordinate and manage future projects. Managing the interaction between different stakeholder groups, ensuring adequate financing and resources and conceiving a realistic timeplan along with a detailed risk analysis are among the key factors for the success of a project. Experts from TU Wien, CERN and the Economic University of Vienna discussed these aspects and offered a hand-on training to the students. In addition, during an intense one-day media training, students learned about the key concepts and methodologies of storytelling; narrating their personal stories and motivation to join EASITrain turned out to be a moving experience that brought them closer and strengthen the team spirit of EASITrainers!

EASISchool also offered a rich and diverse social programme that included a visit to the Atominstitut and MedAustron; an ion-therapy centre that exemplifies the knowledge transfer from CERN to its member states. The highlight was a public discussion on the 8th of September with the student’s participation on “Forschung? Was geht mich das an!” an event co-organized with HEPHY, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Vienna’s Natural History museum (https://forschung.web.cern.ch/).

Speakers included among others, Nobel Prize Winner on high-temperature superconductivity “Georg Bednorz” and CERN’s former Director General “Rolf Heuer” and Alice Moros one of the ERCs. The event coincided with the opening of the travelling photographic exhibition “CODE of the Universe” in front of the NHM as part of the “Be OPEN: Science and Society” festival in Vienna.