ecm forum summer conference 2021 – a view from twitter

posted on october 6, 2021   by kimberley ndungu

on 28–29 september 2021, the early career microbiologists’ (ecm) forum hosted its flagship summer conference dedicated to showcasing early career research, career development and networking. here, we look back on the two-day online event with a view from twitter.

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with two scientific sessions covering a variety of topics to look forward to, we were excited to welcome both delegates and speakers to the first day of the conference.

 

 


the first session of the day, translating microbiology, was kicked off by keynote speaker, matt hutchings, who shared his career journey…



…whilst also reflecting on the challenges early career researchers have faced over the past couple of years.


next, jamie mcgowan continued the session sharing his research with a talk focused on the diversity of eukaryotes.


diversity was also the theme on twitter when discussing the range of talks that followed in the translating microbiology session.

 


to conclude the session, liam reynolds highlighted that though harmful, wastewater has real potential to be very helpful.


 
liam reynolds’ project was also a perfect example of how early career researchers have had to adapt to the pandemic.


with day one off to a great start and the translating microbiology session done, it was time to get ready for the next session…

 


… right after the lunch break!


first up in the harnessing microbiology session was lisa lamberte, with her anticipated talk focusing on antimicrobial resistance genes and the gut microbiome.

 



later in the session, danielle pierce presented her talk titled, ‘control of hepatitis e virus polyprotein processing by cellular proteases’


and the final talk of the day came from claire elek, who shared her research exploring how a virus might save your life.

 


after a series of great talks from early career researchers featuring a variety of topics, it was time for day one to come to an end.


we welcomed delegates back for the second day of the summer conference and many were excited for the upcoming sessions, careers focus and finding funding.

 


to kick off the careers focus session, kevin egan provided an insight into careers in industry…


...followed by hannah mccarthy who focused on clinical careers…


… both receiving a great response from delegates! 
 

 


finally, in the last session of the summer conference, finding funding, both elisa granato and dr claire woodall shared their funding stories, which featured some unexpected guests…

 


before the conference came to an end, there was an opportunity for delegates and speakers to network. it was great to see ecms had a positive conference experience…


thank you to all delegates, speakers and those who helped organise the successful ecm forum summer conference; we hope you all enjoyed the event!