Alumni network

Cancer research school

Berlin School of Integrative Oncology (BSIO) is a joined graduate school from Charite Medical University and several universities and research institutes located in Berlin, Germany. The BSIO works on training scientists and clinicians to address current challenges in personalized cancer medicine. In 2012, BSIO recruited their first cohort of PhD students enrolled at Humboldt University of Berlin and Frei University. The students performed their translational medicine research in various research institutes and universities all over Berlin.

A decade of training

10 years later after its foundation, BSIO has multiple cohorts of students successfully defending their Ph.D. theses and relocating all over the globe, advancing their careers in academia and industry. The BSIO organizational team decided to engage graduates and current students of the program to build an Alumni network “across generations of BSIO graduates”. The key aims of the alumni network are to nurture feelings of bonding, facilitate knowledge transfer and collaboration between community members, and finally, improve their employability and career perspectives for the former and current students. A BSIO program coordinator decided to put together the program with the help of the Warenje Team.

Alumni network building

Warenje Team hosted consulting sessions with the BSIO Team providing support and guidance in defining the identity of the network and setting up the action plan for the launch. Identity landscape development included, among other things, defining the vision, mission, and values of the scientific Alumni network. Organizational aspects included setting objective milestones and the tools to achieve them, as well as building the internal structure of the alumni network. The BSIO alumni network is launched in 2023. Warenje plans to stay in touch with the community to support its development if needed.

To create sustainable and people-oriented scientific communities, such as an Alumni network, the joined work of community members, coordinators, and external consultants is required. It is essential for consultants not only to understand clearly the community specifics, but to work closely with the organizers, as no one knows their community better than the clients themselves. The Warenje team helps to organize sustainable scientific communities, such as alumni networks, Ph.D. and postdoc networks, peer networks, and many others.