SPIRITUS: (09) A Monthly update from the Respiratory Technology team at the WIMR

This is our September update of news with the RespiTech group at the WIMR

September has been an exciting month with the establishment of a series of new initiatives.

Firstly, we have launched a new initiative for young researchers: www.ecr2star.org. Early career researcher to research star (ECR2STAR) is a global initiative to encourage early career researchers (PhD, PostDocs and early career academics and industry researchers) to become the next leaders in their field. 

We have established a website that will be a repository of useful information, news, links and opportunities for ECRs. Additionally, the group has announced the first free ECR2STAR workshop, to be hosted in London this December as part of a collaborative project between University College London, University of Sydney and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. For more information follow the link www.ecr2star.org

Secondly, we launched SPAM (Strategic Promotion Advice and Mentoring). Daniela Traini at the WIRM together with colleagues Penny Oxford and Fiona White both from the Faculty of Science, have organized the very first ‘Promotions myths and legends workshop’. Fifteen Level D women in Science, Vet Science, Agriculture and Environment and Medicine Interested in applying for Level E in 2014 or 2015 attended.  The next meeting will be held at the Woolcock Institute on Tuesday the 22nd of October 1-2.30pm. Please send Daniela an email if you are interested in attending. 

As always, we welcome members to the Respitech team. This month we have two new members, Gianluca Lauretani and Mariateresa Stigliani. Gianluca is a visiting student from The University of Ferrara (Italy) and will work on combination therapies for targeting muco-hypersecretion and bacterial infection in the lung, while Mariateresa is a PhD student from Salerno (Italy) who will be studying drug transport phenomena across lung epithelia. Welcome to both. 

We would also like to congratulate Gianluca on securing one of 8 scholarships valued at Euro 2500 (>$3500) from the Atlante-Rotary Club in Ferrara to support international mobility. Well done!

Finally, the DDA2013 program for the October conference has now been finalised and the event is shaping up to be a success. We are projected to have over 100 delegates with world-class speakers and abstracts. More on this in next month newsletter.