Tips and Tricks for Organizing a Summer School—A Case Study Based on the “Nexus of Organic Matter Analytical Developments” School
Journal article, 2026
In June 2025 we organized and ran the first “Nexus of Organic Matter Analytical Developments” (NOMAD) Summer School at the Tjärnö Marine Laboratory in Sweden. In this article, we describe its development and implementation, with the aim of offering practical insights into the planning process, a generalizable framework for future summer schools, and key recommendations for organizers. We describe how we conceptualized the summer school and justify why it was needed, and recount our processes to acquire funding, recruit teachers, advertise the program, and select students. Additionally, we discuss how we designed the educational and social program to strike a balance between formal and informal educational and social content. Finally, we include comments directly from students to provide useful context and counterpoints from participants at such events.
Author
Alexander J. Craig
Uppsala University
Alina Mostovaya
Aarhus University
Juliana D'Andrilli
University of North Texas
Angela Douglass
University of Minnesota
Niamh Gurrin
University of Edinburgh
Sarah Messenger
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ava McIlvaine
University of California
Gabriel Gustavo Monteiro
University of Sao Paulo (USP)
Penghui Li
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou)
Amir Reza Shahabinia
University of Québec
Brett Walker
University of California
Makayla Ward
University of California
Margot E. White
University of British Columbia (UBC)
Urban Wünsch
Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Water Environment Technology
Jeffrey A. Hawkes
Uppsala University
Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin
1539-607X (ISSN) 1539-6088 (eISSN)
Vol. In PressSubject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Educational Work
Pedagogy
Social Work
Didactics
Sociology
DOI
10.1002/lob.70040