Interactive workshops
Five exciting workshops will be taking place throughout the yEFIS 1st Symposium, addressing a wide range of issues critically relevant to young researchers today. Below you will find detailed information on the programme, and our invited experts who will be on hand to guide the discussion and answer your questions.
An Editor's Guide to Scientific Publishing: Peer Review & You
November 10th, 15:00-15:30
We introduce the European Journal of Immunology, the official journal of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), and our partner from the first hours of yEFIS. We will discuss the behind-the-scenes of a scientific journal and guide you through the peer-review process. Despite being the key aspect of scientific publishing for many early career researchers, peer review is a rather ominous term that might be associated with a manuscript rejection or disheartening comments. Together, we will discuss the dos and don’ts of the peer review, with examples of editorial decisions, and respond to any questions you may have in the dedicated Q&A section of this session.
Dr Nadja Bakocevic
Deputy Managing Editor, European Journal of Immunology (EJI)
​
Nadja holds a degree in biochemistry from the University of Belgrade. She obtained a PhD degree in Hannover Medical School, where she examined the role of DCs for the induction of tolerance and immunity in the airways. In 2010, Nadja moved to Singapore (SIgN) for postdoctoral studies focusing on immune responses and cellular dynamics of host response to Plasmodium spp. Nadja joined the EJI team in 2016, where she oversees the peer review, EJI’s scientific content and strategic development.
Diverging career paths and the diversity of success
November 10th, 18:00-19:00
It's no great revelation that career progression in academia is becoming a steeper uphill battle day by day, and many early-career researchers may become discouraged or disillusioned with the ever-moving goalposts of success they have been trained to aim for. However, a PhD in the life sciences is no less valuable in crafting an ideal career path. We speak to 6 young professionals about the routes they have navigated since their PhDs, and pick their brains about how their perception of 'success' has changed (or not?) along the way.
​
Panelists will stay with us through the evening social event on day 1 of the symposium, sodon't hesitate to approach them with food, drinks and your burning questions!
Dr Daniela Latorre
Daniela won the highly competitive PRIMA career grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation that allowed her to establish the Human Neuroimmunology Group at ETH Zurich in January 2020. Her research focuses on the study of human self-reactive T cells in immune-mediated neurological diseases, with the overall goal to gain knowledge of basic aspects of human T cell biology in health and autoimmunity and then translate those findings into biomedical applications.
Dr Aline Lueckgen
Aline joined the Biotechnology team at Nature Communications in June 2020, where she now handles manuscripts in the areas of bioengineering and biomaterials. She completed her PhD with a collaborative project between the Technical University in Berlin, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, and Harvard University, where she investigated the degradation behavior of alginate-based hydrogels.
Dr Rabab Nasrallah
Rabab is a Healthcare investor at Earlybird, one of Europe’s most established and active venture capital firms. Following a PhD in stem cell and developmental biology, Rabab completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, focusing on therapies in the areas of immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases. Rabab was also the program manager at INCUBATE, a startup accelerator at the University of Sydney.
Dr Alex Bird
Alex is a Project Leader in Drug Discovery at Silence Therapeutics, where he guides discovery and development of siRNA-based therapeutic drugs. Until 2021, he was a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, where he led an independent research group investigating the molecular and cellular regulation of microtubule networks and its impact on cell division and cancer.
Dr Jonathan Fauerbach
Following a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires and a postdoc at the Frydman lab at Stanford University, Jonathan joined the R&D department of Miltenyi Biotec and is currently a Manager in the Chemical Biology department. He has built and established a new research team working on the development of new technologies and applications to ‘Make Cancer History’. Lately he finished his executive MBA at University of Cologne Business School and Erasmus Rotterdam Business School.
Dr Mairi McGrath
Looking for a change in direction after a PhD in immunology at the University of Glasgow and a postdoc in the lab of Andreas Radbruch at the German Rheumatism Research Centre (DRFZ), Mairi was hired as a scientific coordinator at the DRFZ. Alongside her main job at the DRFZ, she has also been working in the role of EFIS President’s Office since 2019, which includes being responsible for EFIS’ social media presence and public relations campaigns.
Parallel workshops
November 11th, 16:30-17:30
Three extremely pertinent workshops happen in parallel on the second day of the symposium. Smaller numbers of attendees at each workshop will maximise interaction between our expert speakers and participants, but it does mean you need to choose wisely! Which one will you attend?
Crafting your Professional Narrative
You know who you are and what your achievements and successes are, but how do you communicate them to others?
This workshop aims to strengthen the ability of researchers to promote themselves and their research in interviews and funding applications, for jobs through the CV, as well as on social media. We will talk about presenting scientific work in an engaging way and will consider how to communicate research findings or outcomes in an exciting way. There will be time to cover interview pitches and the use of social media beyond science communication. We are going to cover the why and how to increase your visibility and some strategies to overcome perceived or real barriers, both online and offline.
Dr Inês P. Perpétuo
Career consultant at Imperial College London
​
Ines obtained a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Universidade de Lisboa (Ulisboa) in Portugal where she developed a strong background on immunology and bone cell biology. In 2015, Ines moved to the UK for postdoctoral studies on mammalian bone cell activity at the Royal Veterinary College in London. Since her PhD, Ines had planned her transition to outside research in academia and secured a role as Advisor at the Postdocs and Fellows Development Centre, Imperial College London, where she works as a Consultant for Researcher Development since 2020. During her career, Ines acquired a broad range of skills in communication and organisation, and now develops training workshops on career progression and non-academic postdoc opportunities for the Imperial Postdocs and Fellow Enterprise Network.
Communicating Your Science to the World
You spend days and nights working on your research project, but how do you explain it to your family, your friends, patients or other interested parties?
Dr Elodie Chabrol will be giving us tips and tricks on how to share our love of science with the public and how to make our research more accessible.
Dr Elodie Chabrol
International director for Pint of Science and freelance science communicator
​
Elodie obtained a PhD in Neurogenetics in Paris and while pursuing research as a postdoc at UCL, London she got involved in the creation of the Pint of Science festival in 2013. She created the French branch in 2014 and after years of working in research and Pint of Science simultaneously, she decided to become a full-time science communicator. She is now the international director for Pint of Science and is also involved in various science communication projects as a freelancer. She is passionate about helping scientists share their love of science with the public. Her mission is to make science accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Mental health and Well-being in Science
The issue of mental health has become increasingly crucial for early-career scientists as the traditional path through academia becomes more uncertain than ever. This workshop aims at giving us a broad awareness and practical information in order to foster a better research environment.
Dr Brian Cahill will give us practical advice on how to preserve mental health of researchers by tackling topics such as imposter syndrome and burnout.
Dr Brian Cahill
Grant Manager of the COST Action on Researcher Mental Health (ReMO)
​
Dr Brian Cahill works in the Learning and Skills Analytics Lab of the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology in Hannover as Grant Manager of the COST Action CA19117 on Researcher Mental Health. He serves as a Member of the Governing Board of EuroScience, a Member of the Board of Directors of the SciLink Foundation and served as Chair of the Marie Curie Alumni Association from 2016 to 2018. In these roles, he engaged with early-career researchers on topics ranging from researcher career development, innovation, research funding, science communication, science policy, researcher pensions, research integrity, responsible research and innovation and many more.
He studied Mechanical Engineering in Ireland and received his PhD for work in electrokinetically-driven fluid flow from the ETH Zurich in 2004. He was a Marie Curie fellow and Junior Research Group Leader at the Institute for Bioprocessing and Analytical Measurement Techniques in Heilbad Heiligenstadt (Germany).