European Life Sciences Careers, Frankfurt, 11-13 Feb 2009
During a two-day conference from February 11th to 13th, 30 young scientists from different European countries meet with policy makers to inform them about their opportunities and challenges when following their career paths. Together with stakeholders from industry and universities, they suggest actions to be taken by all stakeholders in the career development process. The suggestions are published in form of a white paper on European Careers in the Life Sciences and submitted to EU governing bodies as well as all national governments. The white paper will be broadly distributed in order for it to be taken up by individual students at the local level. A follow-up meeting is envisioned after one year, to assess the status of actions taken.
Invited Stakeholders
I.Young Scientists (Students, PhDs, PostDocs)
II.University Representatives
III.Entrepreneurs
IV.Life Sciences Investors
V.Policy Makers
VI.Biotech Associations
VII.Researchers – ERC
Date: February 11th-13th 2009
Venue: DECHEMA Haus, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486Frankfurt am Main (GERMANY)
Deadline for application for the travel and living support - 1 January 2009 !
Preliminary Programme
Wednesday, February 11th
16.00-18.00 Arrival of the participants at the youth hostel
18.00-18.30 Transfer to the venue (DECHEMA Haus)
18.30 Welcome and introductory session
19.00 -22.00 Dinner
Thursday, February 12th
9.00-10.00Session I: Collection of Expectations
Result: A keyword list of fields of action.
10.00-10.30 Coffee break
10.30.12.30Session II: Presentations: Life Sciences Career realities in different European Countries.
Result: The keyword list is completed.
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch break (DECHEMA Canteen)
14.00 – 15.00 Session III: General Discussion on Career Policies in Europe
Result: From the keyword list, the most relevant ones are selected during the debate. A maximum of three fields of action are selected based on the volunteering of the participants.
15.00 – 16.30 Group work on specific aspects of Life Sciences Careers – Part I
Result: For each workgroup, a set of ideal scenarios is formulated, i.e. a state that is deemed desirable by all participants.
16.30 – 17.00 Coffee break
17.00 – 18.30 Group work on specific aspects of Life Sciences Careers – Part II
Result: Each group has worked out a short summary of the desirable scenario plus a list of actions that each stakeholder should take. The results are distributed to all other groups so that they can come up with motions for the session next morning.
19.00 – 22.00Dinner
Friday, February 13th
9.00-10.30Session I: Plenum Presentation and Discussion:Consolidation of workgroup results
Result: An updated list of actions.
10.30-11.00Coffee Break
11.00.12.30Session II: Compilation of a common white paper on European Careers in the Life Sciences
Result: All content for the White paper is selected.
12.30 – 14.00Lunch break
14.00 – 15.00Session IV Measuring the Expected Change
Suggestions for a follow-up gathering are discussed, where the changes kicked off at the conference will be assessed.
15.00 – 16.00Session III: Closing session
The expectations and results are contrasted in this session. Open feedback from the plenum as well as from online bloggers and youtube users is allowed.
16.00 – 16.30Coffee break
16.30 – 17.00Press conference
Representatives of promoters, industry and politics hold a joint press conference publishing the resulting white paper developed during the conference. Invited media: EU Audiovisual, National and international TV, Radio and Newspapers.
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