I think most scientists have a love-hate relationship with science.
There are bits of science we love, such as solving problems and learning something new
about the world, and stuff we hate, such as hitting a brick wall for months straight or
doing stuff we like less that are just part of the academic dance.
However, something I think we all enjoy is a good conference: it’s the opportunity
to visit a new place, to meet new people, to reunite with old faces - and of course,
a chance to see other people’s research as well as present your own…
and that’s exactly what I was up to a few week ago, so I thought I’d take you with me
[intro sequence]
I’ve already brought you to a few YouTube conferences before - but today I wanted
to take you the other half of my life: that is, the science conferences.
Welcome to SEB.
SEB stands for the Society for Experimental Biology, and it was actually my very first
conference back in 2015.
That was in Prague, and I remember it being very vibrant, colourful and perfect for meeting
other academics.
I’ve always found conferences to be very energising and motivating.
It’s really easy to fall into the PhD slump, and for me conferences have always been the
perfect antidote.
It was actually in fact a conference that inspired me to start Draw Curiosity in the
first place, and it has always been conferences that have motivated me to get back on with
my work.
Academic conferences usually have several elements to them:
Firstly and most importantly, it’s a chance to showcase your research.
You can do this through posters, which neatly display your research during designated poster
sessions, which allow you to explain it one on one to anyone interested, or through talks,
which usually last around 15 minutes.
This year, I gave a talk in the Open Biomechanics session - if you didn’t know, I study the
kinematics of insect flight and I presented a comparison of wing beat kinematics across
three species of fly.
Secondly, there are also exhibitors - usually journals and press companies that sell books,
and companies that create specialist equipment such as high speed cameras, respirometers
and the like will be there.
Thirdly, there are special satellite sessions on other topics such as careers and science
communication aimed at the younger attendees like myself to explore our options and expand
our skills for the future.
These are generally some of my favourite sessions because I find they are extremely focused,
very well put together and they really motivate me to try out new stuff.
And finally, there are many occasions to get sociable.
SEB has always been excellent at hosting plenty of dinners for people to meet and discuss
different topics, giving everyone a chance to mingle and of course, there's the end of
conference party, where everyone gets together and eats an even fancier dinner and then dances
the night away.
It is my opinion that all PhD students should definitely take their supervisors to a hard
house party at least once in their lifetime.
For me there are two best bits to conferences.
For one, I love taking a short break - discovering a new country, trying out a new language,
tasting new food, seeing things from a different perspective…
And the other is I love meeting people, I love meeting other researchers, talking to
them about their work.
For example, I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Stöckl who has done some really interesting
research on spatial summation and night vision in moths, or Esther Odekunle, who works on
the neurobiology of starfish.
It was also great to see old friends from other biomechanics labs, and in fact, Zoe
Self and Jim Usherwood put together the most memorable poster I have ever come across.
They prompted us to find out whether we crawled like horses or hippos, and if you know me
at all - of course I had to find out and apparently, I crawl more like a horse.
One of the more pleasant surprises this year was apparently my talk won third best prize
in the Open Biomechanics session.
This was quite unexpected, but a very welcome self esteem boost.
To be honest, it’s actually been a recurring theme since becoming a DPhil student that
I worry that my work, or my videos, or that any output in general isn't good enough.
Some might call this impostor syndrome, but instances like these give me a chance to try
and change that perception of myself.
Overall, SEB was as ever, a motivating and inspiring conference, Sweden was lovely and
a country I would definitely love to visit again in the future, and most importantly,
I’ve returned to my PhD refreshed and energised for the final stretch.
And… before you go, I’ve got two little announcements!
Firstly, if you like this kind of video and you’re into the cool kid stuff, I’ve actually
been using snapchat a lot recently to, sort of, cover my daily life as a PhD student and
science communicator and some other bits in between.
Those of you who’ve found it in my description seem to enjoy it, so I thought I’d mention
it a bit more officially here.
And secondly, I’m going to be at Summer in the City tomorrow Saturday!
I’ll be on the Science on YouTube Panel at 4pm in Panel Room C - so please do come
say hello, it would be a pleasure.
And as always, thank you so much for watching me, and I’ll see you in the next one!
Bye!
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