Early Career Microbiologists’ Forum Summer Conference 2018 – a view from Twitter
Posted on June 22, 2018 by Kaisa Berg
The Early Career Microbiologists’ Forum Summer Conference 2018 took place on 14–15 June at the University of Birmingham. We’ve turned to Twitter to look at some of the highlights of the Conference.
Anticipation was high in the days leading up to the Conference.
Really excited! The @MicrobioSoc #ECMForum #ecmconf18 is finally here with less than 24 hours to go! Bag packing mode activated!
— Linda Oyama (@LindaOyama) June 13, 2018
@MicrobioSoc’s #ECMconf18 begins today! I’m enroute & absolutely CAN’T WAIT to talk ‘Resilient Researchers’ tmrw. Got a fantastic tool based session lined up - to hopefully end the conference on a nice, feel good, holistic note! I’ll be at the networking this eve. Come say hi!
— Tamsyn (@HealthPsychTam) June 14, 2018
@MicrobioSoc 's first dedicated ECR conference! A huge amount of effort has been put in by a fantastic committee, having seen the abstracts for posters, talks and the invited speakers I can safely say it'll be a big success #ECMConf18 https://t.co/0xjRLZWlrj
— Colman O’Cathail (@ColmanOC) June 13, 2018
Made it to #ECMConf18 @IMIBirmingham. Looking forward to welcoming all the delegates at 12:55. What a great day of microbiology ahead @MicrobioSoc pic.twitter.com/9BkxIAPzMQ
— Amy Claire Richards (@AmyC_Richards) June 14, 2018
Once it kicked off, there were plenty of fascinating (and at times unexpected) insights, provided throughout the 13 invited speaker talks and offered oral presentations. Congratulations to Alex Roydon for winning Best Offered Presentation for her talk ‘Campylobacter contamination of UK-produced halal chicken meat at retail.'
Alex Royden did I hear correctly? ‘54% of chicken sold in uk retail contain campylobacter’ ? Interesting (if slightly worrying) talk at #ECMConf18
— esther sweeney (@SweeneyEsther) June 14, 2018
Lots of data hot off the press from @ParasitePoppy on Sand fly microbiota! #ECMConf18
— Ashley Otter (@asherichia) June 14, 2018
Fascinating and well-presented talk, particularly enjoyed the use of bitmoji alongside all of the data! #ecmforum #ECMConf18 https://t.co/4PutKvrENN
— Maria (@ria_fernandes) June 14, 2018
Fascinating talk from Tara Vollmerhausen at #ECMConf18 glow in the dark catheters are the future!
— esther sweeney (@SweeneyEsther) June 14, 2018
A great breadth of microbiology at #ECMConf18. Bacterial-host interactions, bacterial evolution, viral epidemics, and now fungal pathogens
— Amy Claire Richards (@AmyC_Richards) June 14, 2018
Very pleased that our very own Alex Royden @IGHLiverpool won best offered presentation at #ECMConf18 for her work on Campylobacter. pic.twitter.com/wAE5sseSep
— Nicola J Williams (@njwillms) June 15, 2018
There was even time for some humour.
Beat quote so far at #ECMConf18; “ethanol aggravates the Psuedomonas, rather like it does some humans” from @SophGlossop. Brilliant!
— Adam P Roberts (@GCAGATGCAATG) June 14, 2018
Public engagement at today's #ECMConf18 career development session from @barbs86uk - "talk to people.....although its a bad idea to tell a taxi driver you work on a virus that causes cancer!"
— Justine Rudkin (@ScouseMicrobe) June 15, 2018
Leishmaniasis is breaking the predictive text on my phone #ECMConf18 @ParasitePoppy @IanGoodhead @drchloejames
— Ben Libberton (@benlibberton) June 14, 2018
The keynote lecture, presented by Dr Adam Roberts, provided valuable advice on how to succeed in a career in microbiology.
“My life in #microbiology” from @GCAGATGCAATG #ECMConf18 pic.twitter.com/wTdCpQkGv0
— Ben Libberton (@benlibberton) June 14, 2018
"It's ok not to be able to do something; sometimes you're working against biology" @GCAGATGCAATG giving us realistic insights into why some experiments may not work. #ECMConf18 #ECRchat #phdchat
— Kirsty Robb (@theproteinqueen) June 14, 2018
Advice to someone searching for a post doc from @GCAGATGCAATG: Network, publish early (but not to detriment to big paper if it’s coming). Be part of the academy- talks, posters and publishing in @biorxivpreprint helps show this. #ECMConf18 #ECMforum #ECRchat
— Maria (@ria_fernandes) June 14, 2018
Awesome keynote talk by @GCAGATGCAATG @MicrobioSoc ECM Forum summer conference. Very inspiring. #ECMconf18
— Valwynne Faulkner (@ValwynneF) June 14, 2018
This was followed by a poster session and evening networking. Congratulations to Federica, who won the Poster Prize offered by the Institute of Microbiology and Infection, University of Birmingham!
Had a great time presenting my poster today at the #ECMconf18 ! So good to network with other early career microbiologists and talk about eachother’s research
— Kim Alexandra Patel (@kimpatel94) June 14, 2018
Presented my poster at the #ECMConf18 today.… https://t.co/T2xyDYSDj5
— Nikki's Corner (@microbiophiles) June 14, 2018
What an amazing experience at #ECMconf18 !! So honoured to have won the poster competition with so many outstanding posters!! pic.twitter.com/O36pUjvjAm
— Federica Boiocchi (@boiocchf) June 15, 2018
Day two focused on professional development, with talks from Leah Fitzsimmons, Martin Turner, Ben Libberton and Tamsyn Hawken.
Career panel kicking off at #ECMConf18 Leah Fitzsimmons from @unibirmingham pic.twitter.com/4L0vmVsyP5
— Ben Libberton (@benlibberton) June 15, 2018
@DrMartinTurner from @BIA_UK talking about policy in the careers panel #ECMConf18 pic.twitter.com/rRExpxgOI4
— Ben Libberton (@benlibberton) June 15, 2018
Science communication careers talk from @benlibberton at #ECMConf18: having an experimental mindset, honed in your research career, is an asset in any field. #ECMForum pic.twitter.com/Gq8GCPYgwb
— Maria (@ria_fernandes) June 15, 2018
Judging from the comments at the end of the meeting, the inaugural Conference was a great success.
It's been another great conference hosted by @MicrobioSoc. I've enjoyed it from start to finish, new friends, great talks, posters and of course, wine! #ECMConf18
— Lewis Fisher (@micro_lewis) June 15, 2018
Just arriving back in Leeds following a great conference. Highly recommended for any ECR and hopefully other societies will follow @MicrobioSoc example #ECMconf18
— Lee Sherry (@LeeSherry4) June 15, 2018
It’s incredibly satisfying to see so many #ECRs going away from @MicrobioSoc #ECMConf18 with positive experiences (as evidenced through tweets, check the hashtag). I can say that this will undoubtedly be returning year on year. To many more. pic.twitter.com/mcEWl2mOzE
— Colman O’Cathail (@ColmanOC) June 15, 2018
Waiting for flight home after a hugely successful #ECMConf18. Thanks to all who came, we hope you enjoyed it and got lots out of it! A pleasure to work with the ECM team to put it together! Plans for next year are already underway. Spread the word and see you back next year!!!
— Justine Rudkin (@ScouseMicrobe) June 15, 2018
Borrowed this from @KarlMicro .. @MicrobioSoc #ECMconf18 was the best conference/event iv been part of great fun, excellent science, inspiring speakers and amazing people! See ye guys at the next one pic.twitter.com/kIUbiQViJ7
— Gerard Sheehan (@MicrobioGer) June 17, 2018
A big thank you to everyone who attended and helped out at the Conference this year, we couldn’t have done it without you.