Champions Talk

Posted on October 12, 2021   by Arindam Mitra

Arindam Mitra, Microbiology Society Champion and Professor of Microbiology at Adamas University, India, organised the online championship event ‘Champions Talk’ with collaboration from Microbiology Society champions and supported by the Microbiology Society and Adamas University. The event was for and by the Microbiology Society Champions who came together from different parts of the world to talk about their research and celebrate “International Micro-organism Day” on 17 September 2021.
 

The talk was held online via Zoom and streamed live on YouTube and Facebook. Hundreds of participants from around parts of the world participated in the event. Dr Karen Campos-León, a former postdoctoral Fellow from the University of Birmingham, UK presented a talk titled ‘Short stories about human papillomaviruses.’ Dr Victorien Tamegnon Dougnon, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin presented the next talk on ‘Challenges of AMR in West Africa: State of art from Beninese researchers and how to change the situation’. The third and final talk of the event was presented by Dr Chloe James, a Senior lecturer at the ­­­­­­University of Salford, Manchester, UK on ‘Antimicrobial resistance of clinical S. aureus isolates in Fort Portal, Uganda and the challenges of research in low resource settings.’ Dr Eliza Wolfson, a scientific Illustrator and Microbiology Society Champion from the UK was also involved in a collaborative live-drawing session of a desert crust biofilm, which was streamed and narrated by Tess Deyett and Angelica Jara in “Microbial Arts and Crafts” organised by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) on occasion of International Micro-organism Day. This event was integrated with ‘Champions Talk’ and the programme details  were shared with registered participants. Overall, all the sessions were engaging and interactive.

Certificates were shared with the participants and a survey was used to assess the event. Based on the responses, the event was a success and most of the participants expressed an interest to participate in these types of events in the near future.  Collaborations among champions opens up the possibility of events including online talks, conferences, seminars and various outreach activities spanning across the globe. ‘Champions Talk’ has the potential to become a sustainable activity that will give an opportunity to build collaborations among Society Champions and showcases the diversity of work and engagement of Society Champions.