NCCR SPIN organizes its first women’s retreat

The first NCCR SPIN women’s retreat took place in the beautiful town of Thun, in the Bernese Alps.

After a calm and relaxing coffee waiting for everyone to arrive at the Thun castle, the morning started with a talk by Prof. Jamie Gloor from the University of St. Gallen on “Careering while Female: Naming, reframing and taming the (un)conscious bias dragons”. The workshop lasted three hours. Prof. Gloor opened space to talk about challenges that minorities could face in the work environment and how to react to them. It included a few exercises of reflection and exchanges to discuss about common experiences.

Lunch took place in the castle of Thun as well. NCCR SPIN women were joined by Prof. Gloor to continue the discussion around a healthy pleasant meal.

In the afternoon, it was initially planned to canoe in Spiez, but the rain decided otherwise and our NCCR SPIN women got to visit the caves of St. Beatus instead! After a pleasant bus ride alongside the beautiful lake of Thun and its splendid mountain panorama, they walked up to the caves. The caves offered a hike-like feeling through a one-hour stroll that allowed our researchers to continue networking while enjoying the unusual landscape that the caves displayed.

All and all, the first NCCR SPIN women’s retreat was a success! NCCR SPIN would like to thank all the women who participated to the retreat, and especially Alicia Ruiz who helped organizing it, and Prof. Jamie Gloor for giving a great talk! We are looking forward to the next retreat!