We kicked off the new year by moving into a new larger office in beautiful Charlottenburg in Berlin, little expecting to spend most of the year in home office.
For billions around the world, the COVID-19 outbreak has changed life as we knew it. On this backdrop, we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to be able to look back on the past year and remember many moments with a smile on our faces. In 2020, we have welcomed no less than four new colleagues, added three new projects to our project portfolio (with more in the pipeline), re-designed our website (resulting in the version you are looking at right now), and much more.
Each of our projects has made significant progress, despite the many challenges posed by the pandemic. We are honored and proud to collaborate with so many exceptionally talented and motivated people worldwide.
LINQ welcomed four new team members in 2020
Our team has grown significantly this year. We are now eight people with varied backgrounds, brought together by a common goal to help advance science and improve patients’ lives around the globe.
In January, Anna-Lena joined LINQ as Project Manager. She has ten years of experience managing international research projects and came most recently from the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) where she worked as a Researcher and Project Manager.
One month later, in February, Dr Christoph Cyranski joined our team, also as Project Manager. Christoph holds a PhD in Anthropology and came to us from Heidelberg, where he had worked as an independent Research Assistant and Editor.
Erika Granath and Liora Jaffe joined the team in the summer, in the respective roles of Content & Communications Manager and Project Manager. Erika has a journalism background, having worked as a Reporter and Editor for a variety of news outlets in Sweden.
Liora moved from the US to Germany after completing her undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. She then completed a Master of Science in Public and Nonprofit Studies from the University of Hamburg. Prior to joining LINQ, Liora worked as a Research Assistant on a grant funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
We keep our team spirit high while working remotely
We shifted into full home office mode in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase of cases in Germany in March this year.
When the situation calmed down a bit during the summer, we spent one or two days a week at the office. Our Office Manager, Dr Dagmar Schwenk, put great effort into securing the office and ensured that we adhered to all WHO’s safety guidelines.
We cherish the memory of these summer days now as the cold season has arrived and with it another wave of the pandemic which has forced us to work 100% remote again. Our daily virtual coffee breaks help us keep our strong team spirit and stay in touch personally now for the time being.
New exciting additions to LINQ’s project portfolio
We have added three new projects to our portfolio this year, ESPACE, RealWorld4Clinic, and ENDxTB. And while we cannot reveal any details yet, we can say that we have more exciting undertakings waiting for us in 2021.
When we decided to re-design our website, we did this in part to create a more prominent platform for us to display our projects’ important work. The new Project Page includes a complete overview of our projects and key information about them as well as a downloadable fact sheet for each that provides more in-depth information on their research activities and consortia.
On our New Year’s Wish List for 2021, our top wish is to be able to meet our friends and project partners around the world again next year. We are impressed by everyone’s dedication and ability to switch to digital solutions and virtual events in 2020, but we miss meeting the people we work with face-to-face and are looking forward to seeing you again soon.
From all of us to all of you: Happy Holidays!