The second PhD Academy took place as a full 2-day, on-site conference in the University Main Building with parallel sessions in the Kleiner Festsaal, the Erika Weinzierl and Marietta Blau lecture halls. For the first time PhD candidates were able to present their impressive and diverse projects in person to each other. We had 200 registered participants of which 55 oral presentations by PhD candidates covered topics ranging from theoretical approaches to transformative learning, measuring visual perception of art, the role of willpower in pro-environmental behaviour, the role of ADHD in every day family life, elephant communication in the African savannah, and the role of specific peptides in heterothermy. See the full programme.

In order to exchange and integrate with already graduated CoBeNe PhD candidates, 4 plenary lectures were given by invited alumni of the University of Vienna from the four core disciplines of VDS CoBeNe: Psychology (Helena Hartmann, University Hospital,Essen), Behavioral and Cognitive Biology (Jim McGetrick, VetMed, Vienna), Neuroscience (Dominic Kargl, MedUni Vienna), and Cognitive Humanities (Sabrina Turker, MPI Leipzig). The four were available for a panel discussion with a special focus on career development and opportunities for PhD candidates. To further facilitate scientific and social exchange between CoBeNe members and peers, coffee breaks, a conference dinner, and a social gathering before and after the event were organized at Café Einstein.

There was also a lively exchange during the poster presentation of 20 master students. Claudia Janiczek won the prize for the best poster, and Christina Krumpholz won the best PhD talk award, both members of the Fusani lab! Congratulations!

Overall, the PhD academy was a great success for all groups involved (PhD students, PIs, alumni, master students and peers) and has already become the central social, communicative, and scientific event of the VDS CoBeNe.