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Alumni Association |
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Reunion 2004 | | |
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EMBL
Heidelberg , 26–28 November 2004
EMBL yesterday, today
and tomorrow
First EMBL Alumni Association Reunion 2004
Programme
Accommodation and Travel
Who's Coming
Sponsors
Photos
Friendly faces from the past gathered at
EMBL Heidelberg for the last weekend of
November to catch up on the latest at the lab,
hear what former colleagues are now up to,
and well, lots of merriment. The occasion?
The first EMBL Alumni Association Reunion:
EMBL Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
The reunion was a great success. A mixture of
nostalgia, exciting science and interesting
ethical discussions made for a meeting with
breadth and depth. The Saturday morning
practical session produced extremely positive
ideas for the future role of the Alumni
Association. Angus Lamond reminded members
that the Association has an important
role to play in supporting former members of
the EMBL community at many different levels,
as well as providing a means for us to
maintain contact with EMBL and work with
current staff across the EMBL Units to our
mutual benefit. In contrast to the operation of
many other alumni organisations, funds generated
through EMBL alumni activities will
be channeled back into the association rather
than as a source of laboratory funding.
For example, one project is to establish active
local chapters, a key step towards providing
an effective and useful support network for
EMBL alumni. Renata Stripecke [EMBL USA]
presented her progress in setting up a
North American chapter. Enthusiastic chapter
leaders are currently active in Spain and
Portugal, France, UK, Greece, Switzerland,
the Nordic countries, Italy and Austria. We
hope that alumni in other countries will soon
follow suit.
Sarah Sherwood introduced the restructured
Alumni Association website which includes
a growing list of services and information.
Registered members can search the Members' Directory to find current contact information, biographies
and homepages for their former colleagues;
the database will soon be expanded
to include members' current research interests,
facilitating exchange and collaborations.
Other services under development include
access to enabling technologies and a funding
resource center. You'll also find interesting
alumni statistics; did you know that there
are over 3,500 EMBL alumni throughout the
world? Local chapters webpages contain
contact information for the chapter head in
your area. The revamped website can be a
powerful tool to bring together the alumni
network; please visit, get in touch and get
involved.
Anne Ephrussi presented an overview of the International PhD
Programme. She reminded alumni
of an initiative set up to link them with PhD candidates
who were favourably reviewed for the EMBL programme,
but for lack of places available, were not offered
positions. Alumni can now have access to this pool
of exceptional applicants by contacting the Graduate
Office.
Scientific talks from Angus Lamond,
Annalisa Pastore, Jan Ellenberg and Johan
Ledin demonstrated the high quality of work
being carried out by past and present EMBL
staff. Johan is the recipient of the first Alumni
Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, funded
by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic
Research, made possible through the efforts
of Lennart Philipson.
Directors General past
and present provided us with insights into
their strategic vision for the Lab and the challenges
it must meet, passing on tips, both
political and scientific, to incoming Director
General Iain Mattaj. Matthias Wilmanns gave
a historical perspective on the development
of the Hamburg Outstation and an exciting
vision of its future development. Riccardo
Cortese charmed us with his wit and élan,
reminding us of the early days in the Lab and
taking personal responsibility for the former
strong Scottish representation, explaining
that he needed to counterbalance the perceived
southern European bias in the lab
with imports from the far north.
Other highlights of the reunion included a
concert by EMBL musicians and a lively
Scottish ceilidh and traditional Burns night
dinner. Artwork donated by Silvia Stabel [a
postdoc in Lennart Philipson's lab from 1983
to 1985] was intended to be auctioned off
during the evening, but the whiskey tasting
had got a bit out of hand, Iain was in his pyjamas
and ready for bed, and time simply ran
out! Instead, the paintings have now found a
permanent home in the Lab in Heidelberg,
and can be enjoyed by alumni when they
come to visit. A donation has been made to
the Association fund.
On behalf of all the participants in the
reunion, the Association would like to thank
EMBL and all of the staff who worked so
hard to make us feel welcome and to ensure
that the whole meeting ran smoothly.
Meanwhile, we encourage all alumni to get
involved in the organisation and benefit
from the network.
The EMBL Alumni Association Board |
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