The 1^st PhD Workshop took place on 12 and 13 May 2015 at the Zuse Institut Berlin. In order to get to know each other and their respective fields of research, all participating PhD students held a 10-minute talk presenting their PhD projects as well as giving some information on their interests outside the academic research.

The 2^nd PhD Workshop was held on 7 and 8 December 2015 at Haus Fläming in Dahnsdorf, Brandenburg. The program was organized by Sandra Döpking, Gottfried Hastermann, Jannes Quer and Katarzyna Ziółkowska. It comprised poster sessions and group work aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. 

The 3^rd PhD Workshop took place from 30 May till 2 June 2016 at Kurhaus am Inselsee in the historic town of Güstrow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was organized by Lara Neureither, Maria Reinhardt, Christoph Ritschel and Robert Schulz. The presentations given by the PhD candidates were complemented with guest lectures from PostDocs of the CRC and a talk on “The science of crystal balls” given by special guest Prof. Yannis Kevrekidis from Princeton University, US. 

The 4^th PhD Workshop took place from 10 to 13 July 2017 in Heiligenhafen on the Baltic sea and was organized by Patrick Gelß, Tom Dörffel, Sandra Döpking, Joscha Podlesny and Jannes Quer. The main focus of the workshop was a training on interdisciplinary communication and collaboration conducted by Dr. Hanna Kauhaus and Sebastian Engelmann from the University of Jena. The program also included a poster session and a course on writing scientific papers held by Dr. Stefan Klus.
The central result of the 4^th workshop was the creation of the CRC Dictionary, containing definitions of 24 concepts and notions appearing in the different cooperating disciplines. Particular efforts were made to identify and remove misunderstandings. The CRC Dictionary was subsequently launched as SCCS Wiki and presented to all CRC members at the SCCS Days in November 2017. PhD students will continue to work on the Dictionary at future PhD workshops, and other CRC members will contribute regularly to its further development. With this initiative, the PhD students made a very valuable contribution to overcoming scientific language barriers and strengthening interdisciplinary communication within the CRC.

For the 5^th PhD Workshop taking place from 11 to 14 June 2018, the PhD students returned to Güstrow. The program was organized by Tom Dörffel, Christoph Ritschel and Gottfried Hastermann. PhD students continued to work on the SCCS Wiki and participated in two trainings. These were chosen to meet the needs of the majority of the PhD students who are currently finishing their theses. The presentation skills training conducted by the actor and trainer Ric Oquita served as preparation for the thesis defense. The assessment center training by Heike Rebel, a personnel recruitment expert and career coach, was especially interesting for those PhD students who are considering to apply for jobs outside of academia.