Nijmegen 2019
In November 2019, the 3rd ENABLE conference for young researchers took place in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and turned out to be a huge success, with 229 young researchers participating from 27 countries within and outside of the EU. The ENABLE 2019 event was split into three parts: outreach events, a dedicated career day and the scientific symposium.
Our 6 sponsors were enthusiastic of this initiative and their contribution allowed us to support a total of 42 travel grants. ENABLE 2019 demonstrated the determination of this consortium to continue organising unique high-level conferences, different from the classic scientific symposia to which we are used to, and with a special focus on the young generation of scientists.
Enable NMG 2019 at a glance
Scientific Symposium
Following the scientific theme of the symposium, “Next-generation life scientists: Side by side to break new ground”, seven renowned keynote speakers from the field shared their expertise and experience in four sessions across several topics like personalised medicine, advanced imaging, big data and fundamental research.
Check out our newsletter for post-conference interviews with Antoine Coulon, Francesca Ciccarelli, and Alison Noble.
Scientific sessions and keynote speakers
Session 1: Personalized Medicine
Session 2: Advanced Imaging
Session 3: Big Data
Session 4: Fundamental Research
Career Day
ENABLE aims to awaken the professional curiosity of young scientists. We recognize that the conventional academic path may not be for everyone, and getting a sense of what is out there empowers people to move forward. At Enable 2019 we covered the areas we think are essential to developing a professional future as a Ph.D.
Workshops
Workshops were intensive courses for small groups to help the personal and professional development of young researchers. We offered 11 workshops:
- “Networking with Purpose” by Kate Jones (Vitae).
- “Tell your Professional Story!” by Christine. Taylor (Storycraft)
- “Finding Your Strength(s)” by Ana Ferreira.
- “Your Next Step Outside Academia” by Monique Kropman, Gerda Nachtegaal, Shira Hurenkamp.
- “Designing Informative Studies and Publishing Null Results” by Daniël Lakens.
- “Find Your Funding” by Rachel van Swelm (Valorisation Radboudumc).
- “The Secrets of Science Communication” by Lucas Sanchez (Scienseed).
- “Attract Attention with Your Poster and Pitch” by Myrte van Hilten.
- “The Art of Presenting Science – Actors Skills to Make Most of Your Presenting” by Gijs Meeusen (Artesec).
- “Researcher Wellbeing and Mental Health” by Kate Jones (Vitae).
- “Secrets from a Reviewer – How to Get Your Paper Accepted” by Jos van der Meer.
Career chats
Career Chats overcome the classical format of career development roundtables providing a more direct interaction between PhD and Postdocs and professionals that hold a PhD but moved beyond academic research. Each session lasted 30 min and involved 8-12 participants who had the opportunity to interact with and ask questions to the professionals participating in that session. At the end of the allotted time, participants were able to move on to another Career Chat with a different professional.
In our career-chats with fourteen professionals, including PIs, scientific officers, patent managers, and company specialists from pharma and biotech, the attendees had the opportunity to engage in inspiring conversations where queries about life choices and career opportunities were discussed.
Opportunity fair
During the ENABLE job fair, participants had the opportunity to have a quick check of their CV or LinkedIn profile, and chat with our twenty three company representatives to gain insight on what companies are looking for in potential candidates, and to establish a network with them.
Representatives were present from:
- Pharmaceutical and Biotech companies
- Recruiting agencies
- Editing/publishing companies
- Academic organisations
- Scientific Societies
- Business schools
You can find a list of companies that participated on this page.
Outreach activities
The organising committee
Scientific organising committee
CPR
Valentin Flury – Anamarija Pfeiffer
IRB
David Mas – Nevenka Radic – Valentina Zinna
RIMLS
Felix Fennemann – Yessica Alina Rodriguez Rosales – Koen van den Dries
SEMM
Giorgia Ceccotti – Roman Hillje – Federico Zucca
Local organising committee
RIMLS
Abbey Arp – Alisa Potter – Anouk Becker – Camille Le Gall – Carlijn Bruggeling – Cristina Graham Martinez – Francesca Tiso – Inge Wortel – Iris Hagemans – Jolien Freriksen – Laura Miesen – Lieke Claessens-Joosten – Lisanne Gommers – René Raavé – Rens Peeters – Rutger Röring – Tariq Haddad – Yvonne Bartels