Tentative course description: The Research Training School (RTS) “Baltic Transcoast” is the first education program for 12 PhD candidates at Rostock University which is dedicated to the coastal ocean-land interaction and thus the first combining terrestrial with marine sciences.

The training program is funded and financed by the German Science Foundation and involves 2 “summer schools” where the students will gain insight into marine biogeochemistry (Askö- course) and terrestrial processes. Students from the Baltic Transcoast project and several associated PhD students from affiliated working groups will travel together to the island of Askö. For one week the PhDs will have lectures, get some hands-on experience of gear to collect marine water and sediment samples and learn about coastal eutrophication. Teachers from the University of Rostock and the Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research will accompany the group, give lectures, and discuss with the PhDs. Moreover, presentations about their own achievements during their first months as PhD students in the RTS will be given. Walking tours, guided tours e.g. to the STP in the Himmerfjärden, scientific discussion and feed-back rounds will improve social skills and close collaborations.

Overall we aim to shape a strongly collaborative, interacting, and interdisciplinary group of PhDs that understand each other’s work and develop a very broad knowledge of anthropogenic impact on land-coastal processes.