ISGlobal Celebrates its Fifth PhD Symposium

Flash talks, videos, posters, gender perspective, and a delicious and healthy coffee break were all part of the 5th ISGlobal PhD Symposium that took place at Campus Mar on November 6. During one day, predoctoral students shared projects and results on different topics ranging from epigenetics of the malaria parasite, antibiotic-resistant bacteria among Barcelona rats or brain tumor risk in children exposed to medical radiation, to air pollution and blood pressure in periurban India, the impact of malaria elimination interventions in Mozambique, or the health benefits of recovering urban riverside areas in Catalonia.

This broad range of topics covered by the different research teams was precisely one of ISGlobal’s distinctive features that the general director, Antoni Plasència, emphasized in his opening talk in the morning. He also underlined the integration of research, translation, training and innovation, as well as the advantage of having two leading hospitals and universities.

In the keynote lecture of the day, Carolina Llorente, from the department of Experimental and Health Sciences at the Pompeu Fabra University, talked about gender and responsible research. She reminded the students of the importance of including a gender perspective in all research projects, and reviewed evidence that much remains to be done to achieve gender equity in academia, in Europe and worldwide.

“The organization of the PhD symposium requires a lot of work, but it’s worth the effort,” say the event organisers Maëlle Canet, Núria Cortés, Clara Pons and Gabriela Prado. “The experience was very fruitful for all the participants, who had the opportunity to give visibility to their work”.

“I’m really impressed with the quality of the videos,” said Clara Pons, in the afternoon session - a feeling that was shared by most attendees. In fact, the videos were a novelty introduced this year, with great success.

At the end of the day, the participants voted for the two best oral presentations (Beatriz Galatas and Jeroen de Bont), the two best posters (Temmy Sunyoto and Meelan Thondoo), and the best video (Rebeca Santano). The prizes were awarded by ISGlobal’s scientific director Josep M. Antó, who warmly congratulated the organisers and the participants.

Winning Video of the 2018 PhD Symposium