ECM Forum Summer Conference 2022 – a view from Twitter

Posted on July 20, 2022   by Charlotte Hartley

On 12–13 July 2022, the Microbiology Society's Early Career Microbiologists' (ECM) Forum hosted its annual Summer Conference. In this blog post, we turn to Twitter to look back at some of the highlights of #ECMConf22.

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The peer-led conference was designed to offer an introductory experience to scientific conferences, as well as champion career development and networking. We were looking forward to welcoming undergraduate, masters and PhD students, as well as early career microbiologists from clinical and industrial settings, to the University of Sheffield, UK!

 

Networking

The Summer Conference kicked off with an ice-breaker activity called 'Networking Bingo', which encouraged delegates to meet new people.

 

Scientific sessions

Scientific talks over the two-day event focused on the theme of antimicrobial resistance, beginning with a keynote lecture from Professor Alison Holmes, titled 'The importance and opportunities of multidisciplinary research focusing in optimising antimicrobial use':

 

Delegates then heard from a range of invited speakers, showcasing impressive early career research, and offered talks from microbiologists who are further along in their career journeys.

 

It was wonderful to see early career microbiologists gaining valuable new experience in attending scientific conferences and presenting their research – some for the very first time!

 

At the Summer Conference's professional development session, early career researchers learned more about peer review: why it is important; how reviewers are selected; and how to complete a reviewer report, using the new Access Microbiology open research platform.

 

Posters

Many delegates also took to Twitter to share their posters, which displayed their research in engaging and innovative ways.

 

Prizes

Access Microbiology was pleased to provide the ‘Best Science Prize’ to a scientific poster at the ECM Forum Summer Conference 2022. The winners were selected by members of the organising committee and won a cash prize. Congratulations to this year's winners: Pablo Relucio and Cliodhna Daly!

 

Thank you!

The ECM Forum Summer Conference 2022 owes much of its success to the brilliant organising committee made up of early career members. Thank you to Ella Rodwell, Emilene Da Silva Morais, Jack Ferguson and Raphael Galleh for all of your hard work!

 

And finally, thank you to all the speakers, poster presenters and delegates who joined us at the ECM Forum Summer Conference 2022 and joined in the conversation on Twitter! We hope to welcome you again to future conferences in our events series.

Every Microbiology Society member starting out in their microbiology career is invited to join the ECM Forum and you can find out more on our website.