London Health Research Day: A celebration of our trainees
On April 1, London Health Research Day — our biggest research event of the year — will be taking place. I encourage everyone to spend some time at the London Convention Centre to learn more about the discoveries our trainees have made in the past year.
As one of the biggest events of this kind, London Health Research Day was established to achieve four goals:
1) Education: Development of trainee skills
2) Community Collaboration and Engagement: Foster and support a strong London biomedical research community
3) Awareness: Build awareness and enthusiasm about the breadth and level of research in London with the broader community
4) Celebrate and Recognize: Provide the opportunity for trainees to celebrate their research and be recognized by their peers
If you are part of London’s biomedical research enterprise, London Health Research Day is not to be missed.
London Health Research Day is now in its fourth year. Annually, surveys with feedback about the event from students and faculty provide us with information that helps us to enhance the event and enrich the experience for participants and guests. With our four goals in mind, annually we have made slight adjustments to a number of aspects of the event.
This year, we will have 32 platform presentations, with sessions in the morning and afternoon. We have also adjusted the review and judging process for the poster presentation. All posters were reviewed at the submission stage rather than all being judged on the day of the event. In doing so, we have created a judging process that is more in keeping to what trainees receive at external research competitions. The change also provides trainees with the opportunity to interact with their peers and learn more about the research taking place at the School. In total 80 posters will be judged.
As an extension to that, we have iintroduced four student choice poster awards. The Poster Presentation sessions have been extended providing more time for everyone to see more of the posters.
With support from The Bernard and Norton Wolf Family Foundation, we will be also present the first Lucille & Norton Wolf London Health Research Day Trainee Publication Awards. Only participants at London Health Research Day are eligible for these awards.
Based on the success and some great feedback from you, we have modified our Career/Industry Workshop Presentations. These sessions will take place at the end of the day, and include industry speakers as well as our own faculty. Visit the website to find out more about the planned workshops.
We will of course continue with our lunch time keynote lecture. This year “virus hunter” Nathan Wolfe, PhD, will present an interesting talk on preventing pandemics.
The day will be capped off with the awards reception when we can celebrate all of our award recipients.
I really look forward to seeing all of you at London Health Research Day and learning about your discoveries.
Cheers,
Andrew J. Watson, PhD
Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
