On the weekend I (Annie Maingard, Project Manager for AMBER) attended the Marie Curie Association Alumni UK Chapter general assembly. It was an extremely well put together day with sessions from some inspirational speakers, and topics which covered areas of research that often get neglected.
The schedule for the day was packed with subjects from “Mend the Gap between Science and Business” to “Career pathways for Researchers: An Insight”. Get the full schedule here.
A introduction: an icebreaker with flash presentations
The variety of projects was impressive – a 2 minute flash presentation each. Here are some of the highlights:
I chose the session “Strategic communications for engagement and impact” . Speakers Sophie Grellet, Open University, Chris Peters, Scientific affairs manager at Sense about Science andRhonda Smith, Director of Minerva Communications Ltd gave a valuable insight into why external engagement is so important. If we, as researchers, do not share our work and what we are doing, people (including the public) do not get an accurate picture to what is happening in the many fields of science.
The most well made point of the session, was that doing public engagement is enjoyable, as well as crucial to meeting grant requirements. It is worth looking at the materials generated from this project: https://commbebiz.eu/.
A conclusion
I found the day at the Marie Curie alumni event outstanding, and I would strongly encourage all those on Marie Curie Actions funded projects to join their chapter. Did you know there is one chapter for each country?
Make sure to check the links below:
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/
- https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/
- https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/groups
Follow MCAA on Twitter and us:
