Annual Report 2020
The past second year of FRASCAL, i.e. 2020, stood out, however, due to the restrictions imposed by the Corona pandemic. Our 2nd Visitors Workshop in the middle of March 2020 was the absolute last activity in attendance just a few days before the first lockdown. In summer 2020, the situation seemingly relaxed so that we were at least able to have the planned FRASCAL retreat in Waischenfeld, in attendance, of course, with all due hygiene measures in place. Unfortunately, in spring 2020 the pandemic tightened its viral grip again. As a result, other than the visitors workshop and the retreat, all further FRASCAL activities during 2020 took place online, e.g. FRASCAL seminars by guest researchers, FRASCAL mini lectures, and, of note, weekly FRASCAL online meetings. There, we also introduced FRASCAL TOPZ (Topical Overview Presentation Zoomposia) which, jointly with the ensuing and engaging discussions, helped review the amazing progress made in the various research projects P1-P12. At the end of the year 2020, we are still pursuing our research at home, however in the meantime with big hopes due to the recent release of new vaccines. FRASCAL’s cohort of doctoral researchers will now enter into their third year, where they are thus approaching the home stretch by finishing their doctoral theses. There is no doubt that in a year from now we will see fantastic research work done. All FRASCAL members demonstrated great resilience and endurance even in view of the past and unfortunately still ongoing hardships. This annual report is the testimony of FRASCAL’s progress during the year 2020, which we will certainly look back to in the future as being historical in many regards.