2026 Summer School Programme
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Below, you will find an overview of what the week at the summer school will entail, along with an introduction to this year’s outstanding group of mentors, who will support participants alongside the Co-Directors, Prof. Max Häggblom and Dr. Marcela Hernández.
Your summer of science starts here, explore the programme
Download a PDF version of the programme.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | |
| Wed 26 Aug | Thu 27 Aug | Fri 28 Aug | Sat 29 Aug | Sun 30 Aug | Mon 31 Aug | |
| 9:00 | Mentor Introductions | Lecture-3 | Lecture-6 | Presentation of topics per groups | Teams & mentors discussion | |
| 9:30 | ||||||
| 10:00 | Postdoc Introductions | Lecture-4 | Workshop | Overall feedback | ||
| 10:30 | ||||||
| 11:00 | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break | |
| 11:30 | Postdoc Introductions | Lecture-5 | Lecture-7 | Teams & mentors discussion | Teams & mentors discussion | |
| 12:00 | ||||||
| 12:30 | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | |
| 13:00 | ||||||
| 13:30 | Postdoc Introductions | Workshop / group work | Lecture-8 | Writing | ||
| 14:00 | Registration & welcome coffee | |||||
| 14:30 | Opening remarks & programme overview | Intro to Sustainability: Perspective development | Workshop / group work | Round table discussion | Presentation of topics | |
| 15:00 | (Max/Marcela) | Break | ||||
| 15:30 | Introduction to course | Break | Break | Break | Departure time for excursion | Break |
| 16:00 | FEMS and societies | Lecture-1 | Q&A mentoring session | Group reporting/ mentoring session | Guided excursion | Presentation of topics |
| (Securing an independent position) | ||||||
| 16:30 | Welcome reception | Publication Ethics | ||||
| 17:00 | Lecture-2 | (Thulani, Max, Marcela) | ||||
| 17:30 | Wrap-up & reflection | Wrap-up & reflection | Closing remarks & certificates | |||
| 18:00 | ||||||
| 18:30 | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | |
| 19:00 | ||||||
| 19:30 | ||||||
| 20:00 | Q&A (Career paths, moving between countries) | Q&A (Research development) | Q&A | |||
| (Work-life balance) |
Meet this year’s mentors
Open access is key to supporting the FEMS mission of disseminating high quality research as widely as possible: when high quality, peer reviewed sound science is open access, anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection, can read it. All but one of the not-for-profit FEMS journals are fully open access (OA), with one journal, FEMS Microbiology Letters, offering free-to-publish and OA options.
