Cleo Bertelsmeier and Sébastien Ollier co-organized an international summer school in ant ecology in an era of global change (AntEcol) at the research station in Ferpècle (Valais, Swiss Alps) with the help of Aymeric Bonnamour (DEE), Anne Freitag (Naturéum) and Jelena Bujan (Ruder Boskovic Institute). We hosted 22 young researchers from 14 countries across 4 continents for a week, teaching concepts in ecology, exploring open research questions, giving tutorials in statistical and AI analysis tools, organizing lab based practicals and two days of field work… and even cooking together in teams to prepare all meals for our group of 27 people. This demanded a high level of sociality and enthusiasm, fostering team work, new friendships and science collaborations.
