Friday 18 September 2009

spetsai summer school 2009


spetsai summer school 2009

in order to have a smooth and relaxed transition back into working life, i decided to apply for the embo/febs summer school in spetsai, greece. this course has taken place since 1966, featuring legendary scientists from the very beginning (francis crick hosted the second summer school in 1969. for a complete history of the course, check this webpage). this year's school was about protein-protein interactions and protein networks and covered a broad range of topics from proteomics to biological structure.

the meeting was very well thought through and allowed much time for science, but also for meeting people and learning about local culture. the mornings consisted of longer sessions with talks and discussions, followed by tutorials in the afternoon, and a shorter evening session. each night, the speakers took out small groups of people for dinner in local tavernas.

as in previous years, the list of speakers was excellent, the research presentations very interesting, clear and comprehensive. the poster sessions and talks of the participants were also fascinating and of very high quality (the fact that i have taken over 50 A4 pages of notes during the meeting is the ultimate proof for these statements). the highlight of the week was a series of lectures by aaron ciechanover, who received the nobel prize in chemistry for the discovery of the ubiquitin proteasome system in 2004. another great feature of the meeting was a morning session discussing the challenges for women in science and young families in general.

all of this was set in the beautiful location of the island of spetses in a hotel right near the sea, with stunning views over the peloponnese. one day was spent on the main land to see the ruins of epidavros and mycenae, and the town of nafplion. another afternoon, we went on a boat trip to the other side of the island, to a beautiful beach with some interesting cave formations closeby.

all in all, this meeting was absolutely fantastic, and i can only recommend it to anyone. it is an excellent chance to get to know senior researchers in your field and network with young colleagues in a relaxed yet science-focussed setting. unfortunately, funding bodies nowadays prefer a schedule completely packed with science, but in my opinion it was the more relaxed atmosphere that inspired conversations about science in all social situations, even on the dancefloor at the farewell party ;)!

1 comment:

  1. Glad you enjoyed and appreciated it! Comments like yours made it worthwhile organising.
    Alan Fersht

    ReplyDelete