Practice not only in the lab

From 29 March to 1 April, six­teen stu­dents of the Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram "Integrated Immunology" had the op­por­tunity to attend the Euro­pean Phag­ocyte Workshop 2023 in Bu­dapest (Hun­gary), which was host­ed and orga­nized by the Sem­mel­weis Uni­versi­ty. As an inter­na­tional con­gress with a wide range of out­stand­ing speakers pre­sent­ing their latest find­ings and cur­rent pro­jects in the field of phag­ocyte re­search (Phagocytes are cells of the im­mune sys­tem that have the ability to ab­sorb and de­stroy path­ogens, for­eign sub­stanc­es or flu­ids), this meet­ing was a unique op­por­tunity for the stu­dents to gain a first in­sight into the scien­tific world. High quali­ty scien­tific presenta­tions, inter­esting and in­form­ative re­search post­ers, the possi­bility to net­work with re­mark­able ex­perts in the field of im­munology were of­fered to the stu­dents throughout their stay and strongly moti­vated them for re­search. In the even­ing of Thursday March 30, the organ­izers planned a Poster Din­ner, where partic­ipants could walk among the post­ers in the main hall and ask the scien­tists about their pro­jects. This was an ideal way to inter­act with the scien­tists and gain in­sight into a varie­ty of inter­esting and fasci­nating pro­jects from sever­al Euro­pean work­ing groups. The coffee breaks were also a great possi­bility to meet and net­work with some of the key­note speakers of the con­gress. At the end of the con­gress, awards were given for the best poster and the best oral presentation. Gain­ing in­sights into the struc­ture of scien­tific con­gress­es and their course pro­vided the stu­dents with first exper­tise on how a career in aca­demia could look like.

In addi­tion to the coffee breaks, which were a great op­por­tunity to talk and net­work with some of the speakers, the partic­ipat­ing stu­dents also had the chance to strengthen their rela­tion­ships and get to know each other better. The con­gress took place to­wards the end of their first mas­ter se­mes­ter, so most of the stu­dents had only re­cently met each other longer than in lec­tures or semi­nars. Par­tici­pating in the event also solidi­fied a gen­eral sense of be­long­ing and strengthened in­tercul­tural social bonds within the co­hort. In sum­mary, the work­shop was a com­plete suc­cess both in terms of aca­demic inter­cul­tural ex­change and in terms of strengthen­ing stu­dent rela­tion­ships.

Text: Vivienne Riekher (Inte­grated Im­munology)