From September 16-20, we celebrated our first CONTRABASS MSCA Doctorate Network Workshop, Training School, and Consortium meeting at Institute of Building Materials Research at RWTH Aachen University (ibac) in Aachen! 
Huge thanks to Fabien Georget Thomas Matschei and David Faux for organizing this fantastic event!
Day 1 (Monday, Sept 16):
Our coordinator, Hegoi Manzano, kicked off the week by welcoming the Consortium and introducing the CONTRABASS project to our DCs (Omnya Abdalla, Fangyuan Ren, Jeswin Jiji, Loyford Muchui Mugambi, Batoul Assi, Duong Binh Au, Aden RANA, Zahid Ali Khan, Amal Mathyas, and Sumesh Erikandath). The day ended with a tour of the beautiful city of Aachen and a visit to the IBAC labs. 
Day 2 (Tuesday, Sept 17):
In the morning, we had our 1st workshop: “Greener Construction Materials: Solutions & Hindrances” 
, featuring insightful talks by Maciej Zajac, Ruben Snellings, Aleena Alex, Christian Felten, Paivo Kinnunen, and Fabien Georget.
In the afternoon, we kicked off our 1st Training School with an introduction from Hegoi Manzano, followed by an engaging session on hashtagAb_initio simulations by Alexander Pisch. 
Day 3 (Wednesday, Sept 18):
We dove into Molecular Dynamics with Hegoi Manzano in the morning, and in the afternoon, David Faux and Aleena Alex led an exciting session on hashtagMonteCarlo and Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. 
Day 4 (Thursday, Sept 19):
Fabien Georget led a morning session on hashtagThermodynamic hashtagModelling 
, and the afternoon, along with Friday morning, was all about transferable skills, including Literature/Data Management, Presentation Skills, Scientific Writing, and Publishing. 
We wrapped things up with a friendly contest for the best DC presentations, and we are proud to congratulate our winners: Omnya Abdalla, Loyford Muchui Mugambi, and Fangyuan Ren! 
Of course, there was plenty of time to explore and enjoy the vibrant city of Aachen! 
