In March 2024, PhD students from Seastar Group, Maria Ardila Sanchez and Sayed Hassan Alsaihati had the unique opportunity to participate in the prestigious Flügel Course, held at the GeoZentrum Nordbayern, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. This year’s course was particularly momentous, celebrating its 50th anniversary with a program led by the esteemed Professor Axel Munnecke and his exceptional team.

The Flügel Course, held in Erlangen since 1974 and now offered twice a year, is a prestigious program on carbonate microfacies. The course includes presentations, microscope exercises, and access to a unique collection of global carbonate samples, attracting over 2,000 participants from academia and industry.

Maria reflected on the experience, noting, "The course provided an invaluable opportunity to enhance my understanding of carbonate rocks for my PhD research, offering detailed petrographic analysis and access to an impressive collection of thin sections, complemented by expert insights on each topic."