A Journey to ENCODS 2016:A Conference Organized By and For PhDs

Still time to register for Encods Alicante Spain - the neuroscience conference for doctoral students until March 1st . The main goal of ENCODS meetings is to provide European PhD students with the opportunity to embrace the challenges of their research from a multidisciplinary outlook. Valérie Boujon attended the conference last year and highly recommends to participate

From June 28th to July 3rd 2016, many interesting speakers and neuroscience leaders attended the European Neuroscience Conference by Doctoral Students 2016 (ENCODS) that took place in Helsingør, Denmark and was already the third edition of this young conference. Previously it had taken place in Bordeaux, France in 2013, and in Sesimbra, Portugal in 2015. 

Enrichment on scientific, human, and personal levels

 

It is organized by and for doctoral students in all fields of neuroscience and from all over the world (out of around 100 participants, 35 nationalities and 46 universities were represented!). The meeting offers numerous benefits for young scientists, as it provides a friendly, interactive and intimate environment that enables students to exchange ideas about their research and network in an easier way than at other major scientific conferences.

Beautiful Denmark

The picturesque location was a charming, romantic hotel right by the Baltic seaside in the port town of Helsingør, about 45km away from Copenhagen. The rooms were tastefully decorated and each one was shared by two participants who initially did not know each other, strategically placed by the organizers to encourage social interactions from the very beginning. The program was well-organized to make use of the available time and consisted of a combination of keynote lectures, students’ talks, workshops and diverse social activities. There was just no time to feel bored.

Plenty of Fascinating Science

The keynote lectures were given by renowned scientists, such as Dr. Randall Platt, who shared with us how he developed the Cas9 mouse during his PhD at MIT; Dr. Tania Rinaldi Barkat, who gave us insight about her research in understanding the development and function of the auditory cortex; and Prof. Poul Nissen, who talked about his boundless knowledge of the structures and mechanisms of membrane transporters in the brain. All the same, the time for students’ talks was not overlooked and ranged from alcohol addiction to rhythmicity of medial septal neurons and neuroimaging of cognitive reserve. Typical poster sessions were substituted by “speed dating lunches”, during which participants had the opportunity to share knowledge and converse about their posters informally over lunch. A number of workshops were also offered, covering topics such as motivation and self-management, presentation skills, the publishing process (see page 17) and scientific creativity.

Board Games, Banquets, and Castles

In the evenings, after gourmet dinners, we were entertained with some nicely organized social activities. On the first evening, a scientific version of the board game Clue was on the menu, during which teams had to find out who the murderer of an unfortunate scientist was, what type of weapon had been used and in which part of the lab the crime had been committed. In order to answer these questions, the different teams had to collect a maximum of points and clues by answering some tricky questions, writing a song and solving a puzzle. 

Neuroscience meets... Shakespeare?

The second evening was a real surprise: a guided night tour of the Kronborg Castle, which is Denmark’s most famous castle, where the play Hamlet by Shakespeare was set. The Renaissance castle was built by the Danish King Eric VII in 1420 and used to be Denmark’s most powerful castle, as it controlled the entrance way to the Baltic Sea and collected toll from the many ships navigating through it. The castle’s ballrooms were some of the greatest in Europe at the time and Frederik II, together with his young wife, would hold huge banquets during which each guest would be served 24 dishes! The third and last evening was not as hedonistic as the times of the Kings of Kronborg, but still pretty enjoyable as it started with a gala dinner set around large round dining tables, softly covered with pristine white tablecloths. This was followed by a dancing “White & Black” Ball, accompanied by salsa and 90’s hits.

Not To Be Missed

Those three days were definitely a blast, as they were not only an enrichment at the scientific, but also at the human and personal levels. They helped me open my mind and widen my knowledge about neuroscience's unfamiliar domains. The workshops helped me train my communication skills and gave me insight about what it is like to work as an editor for a scientific journal (see page 19). Plus, I had the chance to meet extraordinary fellow PhD students that turned into international friendships! Hence, I highly recommend that all the MedNeuro PhD students take part in next year’s ENCODS, which will be held in Alicante, Spain ... or in 2018 right here in Berlin!

by Valérie Boujon, PhD Student AG Endres
This article originally appeared in September 2016 in "Happy Anniversary MedNeuro"