CGA Stories

10 Years CGA: Faces of our Programme

The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the CGA. In a special CGA Story we take a look behind the scenes of our graduate programme and talk to some of the students, alumni and faculty members. Check out our short interviews!

Klara Schilling & Saygin Bilican: Mental Health First Aiders

"My hope is that MHFA can destigmatize mental health issues and help make it more publicly acknowledged and considered."

Dr. Mihaela Bozukova & Jason Müller: Bioinformatics

"The CGA offers a unique working environment in ageing research. The biggest advantage is that we have a lot of techniques and expertise on campus to generate a lot of data in the wet lab and then analyze it in the dry lab."

Melanie Mittenbühler & Hans-Georg Sprenger: Academic Career after PhD thesis

"We both love being scientists. It is clear to us that we would like to lead a research team in the future."

Eugene Ballhysa: My first year as CGA student

"I still remember the first few days in the lab when I was completely amazed by the world-class facilities and equipment. But as the real treasure of our institute is the scientists working here."

Kristin Gehling: CGA Master programme fellow

"Being a CGA Master fellow helps me to make a well-informed decision regarding my next career step and my application for doctoral studies."

CGA Buddies: Daniel Dávila and William Bradshaw

" The main advantage of the buddy programme is that at the moment you arrive in Cologne, you immediately feel prepared and well supported to start both your research project as well as your new life in Cologne! "

Sophie Kaspar: Combining Ph.D. and parenthood

" The extremely collaborative environment, especially with the coordinators of the graduate programme as well as the excellent infrastructure for families, convinced me to join the CGA. "

Hans-Georg Sprenger: On the academic fast track

"I was able to save a lot of time since I knew I would be in the same lab for my Master and PhD."

Carolina Leote: Representing CGA students

" I saw a way I could help improve an already excellent programme."

Tania Medeiros' route to success: Becoming first-author of an EMBO paper

" I achieved so much more than what I expected at the start of my Ph.D."

CGA student's Raymond Laboy Morales path from Puerto Rico to Germany

"One of the main reasons I chose the CGA is the structure of the program. It is focused not only in improving your scientific skills and critical thinking, but also other soft skills that will make you competitive in the job market."