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In June 2024, the entire department for ecological modelling went to Dresden for the yearly OESA retreat. The POLISES working group was represented in by all current members - Birgit, Gunnar, Julia, Kaja and Jonathan - to not only discuss the working atmosphere and department-level topics in a relaxed and engaging environment, but also engage in a non-work related way.

After arriving in Dresden, we collected feedback from the past year to identify topics to focus on in more detail. Then, six discussion tables were established were all kind of input, both positive and negative, regarding the topics were gathered. This gave everyone the opportunity to voice their opinion regarding the status quo and way forward with respect to OESA teaching activities, the international character of the department, office attendance, method exchange, different seminar series and the "Doc Days x Christmas Party" combination.

In the afternoon, the newly developed coding standards, which originated in last year's retreat, were presented in full form and open questions were discussed. These standards aim to improve the quality of code produced in the OESA and present an important cornerstone in developing high-quality open-source models.

With the work-related part of the retreat being over , we left for a guided tour around Dresden's impressive historic old town including the world-famous Frauenkirche and the Royal Castle (Residenzschloss). Along the river Elbe, we took a walk to eat dinner and finished the day with a beer in the popular Neustadt.On the second day, we went to Kurort Rathen in Saxon Switzerland. Here, we completed a hike along the stunning nature of the Elbsandsteingebire, including the Bastei rocks and bridge as well as the Swedish holes (Schwedenlöcher), before enjoying an ice cream next to the river while waiting for the train to head back to Leipzig in the late afternoon.