Vienna BioCenter Summer School 2023 ends with symposium at IMP
The 13th Vienna BioCenter Summer School concluded with the traditional symposium. The event at the IMP lecture hall gave the 22 students from 18 countries an opportunity to present their progress and discoveries from the past two months.
The Vienna BioCenter Summer School started at the beginning of July and ended on 31 August with the traditional symposium. This year in its 13th edition, the summer school was attended by 22 students. The summer school is organised by the five participating institutions (IMP, IMBA, GMI, Max Perutz Labs, and CeMM) and funded by these, as well as through generous support from the Max Birnstiel Foundation.
This year’s summer school attracted one of the most diverse groups of students so far, drawing from 18 countries from around the world. The increase in diversity was in part due to the newly launched initiative ‘Talents for Future’. This program aims at attracting up to five talented and highly motivated students from underprivileged backgrounds, from countries underrepresented in the scientific community – colleagues who would benefit most from this opportunity.
“Looking at the community of 22, it was fantastic to see such a diverse group of fellows working together, growing as scientists and people, and forming a thriving peer group during their time as summer students on our campus,” said Andrea Pauli, Dean of the summer school and IMP Senior Group Leader.
Symposium 2023: impressions
As in previous years, the fellows conducted research projects in labs of one of the participating institutes, under the supervision of dedicated lab members. The summer school programme also included weekly research lectures given by principal investigators on their respective research areas. One of the Thursday evening sessions was also hosted by the elected representatives of PhD students and postdocs, who answered general questions about PhD studies and the conditions of research careers.
The summer school students also participated in various activities throughout the programme, ranging from a ‘mini-recess’ with chalk talks by students about their research projects, to a barbecue, a hike in the Viennese vineyards, Dragon Boating and the organisation of a Social Hour.
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