Science. Polish Perspectives (SPP2012)

I'm really grateful to Karolina for attracting my attention to this fascinating and unusual conference concept. A conference for scientists all linked by a shared nationality. In modern science this is a very rare thing, the emphasis is typically on international collaboration, yet could conferences like SPP add something new to the scientific dialogue, partiularly now that people of the same nationality can become so globally dispersed?

Name: Karolina Rzeniewicz

Date: 19th to 21st October

Location: Oxford, England

Organised by members of the Oxford University Polish Society, Cambridge University Polish Society and LSE: Polish Business Society, "Science. Polish Perspectives" (SPP) was the first popular science conference aimed solely at Polish researchers who study and/or conduct their research outside of Poland. SPP attracted over a hundred delegates from all around Europe to Oxford on October 19th and kicked off the meeting by attending the drinks-assisted registration event.

The concept itself - a conference that gathers researchers from one particular country, who happen to be disseminated across Europe, in one place and time - appeared particularly interesting to me for several reasons. Firstly and simply enough, during the three years I have been doing my PhD in the UK, I have never come across a similar event. Having a scientific mind-set I saw an experiment: a substance of interest (a Polish scientist) thrown into a variety of environmental conditions (different countries, universities, institutions, labs). In this analogy, the few delegates from Poland made up the control. This was a perfect study to explore the thoughts and experiences of young Polish researchers regarding life in academia and quality of research in different countries. SPP provided a chance to uncover whether they plan to stay abroad or perhaps would like to return to Poland - if so, what are the realistic perspectives for being a scientist in Poland - and finally, to see if they want to stay in science at all. The second reason why SPP seemed like an attractive event to attend was the presence of senior polish researchers, both living in Poland and the UK, who led a discussion panel covering the future of higher education and research in Poland - undoubtedly an issue all of the participants would have at heart. Additionally, the agenda showed a great amount of time to networking sessions and social interaction, which I must admit I found appealing...

For the sake of clarity I will break down the two full days of the conference into two main blocks: scientific and social.

The science

There were three sessions spread across Saturday and Sunday: Life Sciences, Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Economic Sciences. Each of the sessions started with an opening lecture given by an invited speaker. The guests included Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, professor in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Cambridge, Ryszard Horodecki, professor of Physics at the University of Gdansk and Piotr Karasinski, senior advisor at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The talk, which I found the most impressive was that of professor Zernicka-Goetz who gave the opening lecture. The lecture talked about unravelling the mechanisms that govern mammalian embryonic development and was delivered in a very accessible way.

The popular science theme was great - it provided the chance to hear about some pretty amazing research advancing in fields you might not necessary be very familiar with. Coming from the Life Sciences area I found some of the talks in the Mathematical & Physical Sciences session absolutely astonishing. A prime example would be a talk given by one of the delegates, Maciej Hermanowicz (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge) whose pictures of massive stars were simply startling. Another astronomer, Kuba Bochinski of the Open University, won the best talk prize for his talk titled "From Pole to Pole: a short tale of extrasolar planets and how we find them". The presentation explained in an easy-to-follow way how we can look for new worlds outside of our Solar System and included a spectacular live demonstration of the PIRATE telescope. Unfortunately not all the delegates seemed to understand what popularisation of science is and a number of talks remained a mystery from the very first sentence spoken to the very last equation presented. The organisers are already thinking about addressing this issue at the SPP 2013, declaring that there will be workshops organised aimed at teaching people how to popularise science and how to improve one's presentation skills when delivering to a non-specialist audience.

The poster session had the same mixture of content as the talks - anything from "ER stress in vascular calcification" (Gosia Furmanik from King's College London, Poster Prize winner) through physics and astronomy to maths. The time we were given to familiarise ourselves with the posters was surprisingly short, nevertheless it was not too much of an issue as all the presenters were more than happy to expand on their research when approached during the free time.

The heated discussion during the Poland- and UK-based Polish senior scientists' panel shed some light on the future of science in Poland and we found out about exciting funding opportunities and initiatives available for researchers returning to Poland. This was extremely useful for those delegates who would like to return to Poland in the future.

Between the talks and the posters there was a rare addition: a company presentation given by one of the sponsors: the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Warsaw Office. Usually the sponsors are kept to their stalls so the full presentation was slightly unusual. But judging by the number of questions and interest the BCG team encountered, there are Polish scientific minds out there that are very much interested in their business career prospects.

The social experience

Just one word: fantastic. Everything, from the constant smiles on the organisers' faces, through the frequent nibble and coffee breaks that nucleated new acquaintances, to the extremely friendly delegates themselves, came together to create a wonderful atmosphere. The organisation was absolutely flawless, everything happened smoothly and on-time with the organisers looking perfectly relaxed at all times.

The biggest honour must be with no doubt given to the formal dinner, which took place on a Saturday evening in the Balliol College Dining Hall. This beautiful building, which dates from the nineteenth century, received all the dressed-up delegates with shimmering candles and marvellous food. Needless to say the atmosphere was just brilliant. After all the food was consumed and the last drop of wine was gone, we left our Hogwarts for the night and headed towards Freud's bar. Another remarkable venue - this time an old church converted into a bar - where more wine was poured and more (scientific) friendships were made.

To sum up in one sentence: SPP was a distinct success! The atmosphere, the people, the science, the Hogwarts-style dinner and the precious night out that followed - unforgettable. And as for my study, I can safely conclude that no matter what the conditions are - whether it is the UK or the Netherlands, whether it is a Masters or a PhD, whether it is a University or a Research Instituation - all the Polish compounds of interest are doing a great job in pushing forward the current boundaries of scientific knowledge. There will be some of us who cannot wait to set up our own research group in a foreign academic institution, some who would love to experience industry and some who sketch big plans of starting their own businesses back in Poland. But no matter what the geographical situation, the project at hand and the plan for the future , there is one thing in common - the passion. And I am very proud that I was there and I saw that.

Although I can only speak for myself, I am pretty convinced that everyone who was in Oxford between 19^th and 21^st of October 2012, will be there again in 2013.

In the meantime, the organisers are stating that SPP 2013 will be even better that 2012 and are already thinking about new features. The ideas include the above mentioned science popularisation workshops, improved time allocation for the poster sessions and workshops for delegates interested in non-scientific career development - perhaps a business case study for those lured into the consulting world of BCG...

Additionally, rumour has it that SPP 2013 will be open to researchers of all nationalities who happen to take interest in Polish science. Or Polish scientists!