Mini-Workshops

For the individual Mini-Workshops please see the annual schedules.

In addition to the traditional and well-established large Workshops of up to 48 participants, we offer the possibility of holding Mini-Workshops by bringing up to 16 people (including organisers) together for a week in Oberwolfach. Usually there are three parallel Mini-Workshops in one week. There are various ways in which this week can be used: it can be focussed on a certain problem hoping that by joining forces a substantial break-through can be expected, or on learning particular interesting developments together.

The central goal is to stimulate new research. For this reason smaller groups are preferred. It is an emphasis of this program to give also junior researchers the opportunity to participate, and even to take the initiaive in organizing a session.

Participation in the Mini-Workshops

Participants of the Mini-Workshops at Oberwolfach are invited personally by the Director of the Institute. The participation is subject to such an invitation. The support for the Mini-Workshops is the same as for the large Workshops: the Institute covers accommodation and food. Travel expenses cannot be reimbursed (with the exception of special grants).

Proposals

In contrast to the large Workshops, there are fixed weeks where a Mini-Workshop can take place. In each of the following weeks three parallel Mini-Workshops can take place (* = reserved week for mini- and/or tandem-workshops):

For each of these weeks the decision about the Mini-Workshops takes place about 3 weeks after the corresponding deadline for application, which is about half a year before the week of the Mini-Workshop.

See also our guidelines for proposals of an Oberwolfach Workshop or Mini-Workshop.

Tandem Option

As an option, in special cases a proposal for a Mini-Workshop can be in hybrid format, containing an additional component of online participants (not more than the number of on-site participants). This option is meant in particular for cases where high travel costs would otherwise prohibit a group of scientists from a country with weaker research infrastructure from participating in a Mini-Workshop. In this case the proposal should also contain a concept and schedule of the activities planned to be jointly with the group of online participants, taking into account any differences in time-zones. Arrangements for hosting such a non-Oberwolfach tandem component at another institute should be mentioned in the proposal, but are up to the organizers of the Mini-Workshop and have to be independent of MFO.