ISGlobal Organizes its Third PhD Symposium

“If we’re talking about global health, we’re talking about climate change”, said Manolis Kogevinas in the keynote speech of the 3^rd ISGlobal PhD symposium that took place on November 28, at the Campus Mar. During the day, ISGlobal PhD students had the opportunity to present preliminary results of their research projects and attend a training session imparted by Professor Lynn McAlpine, from Mc Gill University, on “the post-PhD dream-job”. 

During his opening speech entitled “What is global health and what you can do about it”, Kogevinas pointed out that “global health transcends national borders and is much more than communicable diseases”. He talked about the major population changes that are shaping global health, including changing patterns of morbidity and mortality and the increase in the number of megacities, and gave some examples of how the “new” ISGlobal, that covers both communicable and non-communicable diseases and environment, can expand and adapt its research to meet these challenges.

The oral sessions included presentations from PhD students of both campuses (Campus Mar and Campus Clinic) on topics ranging from the impact of ambient temperatures on work-related injuries to the immune responses to the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to prenatal exposure and the effect of air pollution on telomere length and mitochondrial DNA content in children. “One of the highlights of this edition were the 1 minute flash-talks, that were greatly appreciated by the participants" said Natalie Mueller, one of the organizing students.

During an interactive workshop, social scientist Lynn McAlpine encouraged the PhD students to start thinking about their post-PhD trajectories, and stressed the importance of developing networks to link not only people but also ideas, of making a habit of writing, and of getting involved in the institution.

At the end of the day, prizes were awarded to best oral presentation (Laura Birks), best ‘flash-talk’ (Silvia Fernández), best poster Campus Mar (Ariadna Curto) and best poster Campus Clínic (Marta Marí), after which ISGlobal general director Antoni Plasència closed the symposium.