Annual Conference 2019 - a view from Twitter

Posted on April 16, 2019   by Kaisa Berg

The Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2019 took place in Belfast from 8-11 April and welcomed over 1,300 delegates from around the world. We’ve turned to Twitter to look at some of the highlights of the Conference.

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Before the official start of Annual Conference on Monday 8 April, the pre-Conference Teaching Microbiology in Higher Education Symposium took place, also at the ICC Belfast.

While most delegates arrived in Belfast by plane, train or bus, member Robyn Wright chose a more challenging mode of transport.

Robyn will be writing a blog post about her experience at this years’ Conference. If you would like to learn more about her journey, watch this space. 

This year is the first time that the Annual Conference has been held in Belfast, and many delegates had positive feedback on the choice of location and the venue.

The Conference began with a Welcome Address by President Judith Armitage.

Followed by the first Hot Topic Lecture, ‘Creating a path – how single cells can solve mazes, see round corners, and find out where they ought to go’ by Robert Insall (Cancer Research UK, Beatson Institute).

Laura Bowater (University of East Anglia, UK) brought the first day to a close, presenting the Peter Wildy Prize Lecture 'Microbes, medicines and me.'

Day two opened with the Microbiology Society Prize Medal Lecture, which was held on behalf of Jennifer Doudna (University of California, Berkeley) by Christof Fellmann (University of California, Berkeley).

Peter Fineran rounded off the day with his Fleming Prize Lecture ‘Resistance is (not) futile: bacterial innate and adaptive immune systems.’

The Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture was held by Prize Winner Gordon Dougan on Wednesday morning, called ‘Putting genomics into action.’

Annual Conference 2019 saw an impressive 498 posters on display. To ensure that posters being displayed matched the themes of sessions, there was a rotation of posters on the morning of day three. Below are just a few of the posters.

A popular part of this years’ Conference was the activities surrounding the 75th anniversary policy project, 'A Sustainable Future'. Delegates from various sections of the membership helped spread the word about the project by holding up the UN Sustainable Development Goal placards they felt related to their area of work. Sign up to attend the launch event to learn more about this project.

The official launch of the Society’s new journal, Access Microbiology, took place on Tuesday night.

The free crèche again proved popular, by delegates and their children alike.

This year’s social programme featured a visit to the infamous Crumlin Road Gaol…

… as well the traditional Quiz Night.

We even had the pleasure of exhibiting microbiology in art form with a poliovirus sculpture...

... and there was live music...

...and even some portraiture!

A big thank you to everyone who attended and helped out at the Conference this year, we couldn’t have done it without you. We’ve already begun preparing for Annual Conference 2020 in Edinburgh – we hope to see you again there!

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