A return to normality is not yet foreseeable in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so the second joint meeting this year was again realized virtually via the conference platform Zoom instead of a meeting in Hamburg. It took place from June 29th to July 1st and was characterized by a good and target-oriented exchange between the participating scientists.
On the first day, previous results were summarised and the first results of analyses and ideas for publications were shared via video conference. The good exchange produced further ideas for synergies between the subprojects, which are now being pursued further.

On the second day various possibilities for the distribution of results were discussed. In addition to the scientific community, the practical partners should also learn what DATAFIED has found out. It is a special concern of ours to “give something back”.

In the second part of the second day the participants concentrated on the consequences of the corona crisis on the DATAFIED project. In all four federal states investigated, schools were closed for several weeks, making it difficult to conduct research on site. Other contacts outside the school also had a different focus at first, and interviews – especially on site – were not possible. Various scenarios were discussed and possibilities examined to compensate for the loss of time.

On the third and last day of the joint meeting, the focus was on the doctoral students. Topics like time management and workload were discussed in the PhD slot of the DATAFIED joint meeting at Wednesday.
In the virtual “bring your own coffee cup” BYOCC format, the five PhDs, Ben Mayer, Vito Dabisch, Tjark Raabe, Jasmin Tröger and Irina Zakharova, discussed with the research coordinator, Annekatrin Bock, the big and small challenges of working in an interdisciplinary joint project during the COVID-19 epidemic. How does field research work without a field? How do you find intersections with collaborative projects when your own results still have to be sorted? How is a dissertation written in three years and what comes after that? The participants hope for a personal meeting in October 2020, then again with analogue coffee cups!

Even if a meeting in persona would certainly have been richer, we were able to clarify important topics and gain new impulses.