Short update in these Corona times

Since the COVID-19 restrictions started affecting the CARTNET network in March 2020, the Network had virtual meetings and training sessions in July 2020. The ESR’s presented their work, with feedback from supervisors and the external advisory board. The board was impressed by the scientific progress and quality of the projects, as well by the actual presentations made by the ESR’s. The supervisory board met and discussed i.a. the impact of COVID19 in relation to the individual projects and overall project progress, as well as strategies for publications and dissemination.

The ESR’s had a one-day training/workshop in entrepreneurship, hosted by ODD and Naicons, where the ESR’s worked in groups to develop and present project ideas for innovative products and services. The presentations were followed by feedback from Stefano, Paul, Hanne and Teresa (advisory board) and discussions on how to make considerations for product development and innovation part of the scientific work. To conclude a long virtual meeting day, the “supervisor committee” had to make the hard choice to choose the “innovation project of the day” – where Emilia, Anaëlle and Valentin took the price for their project idea on bacteriophages as antimicrobial resistance detectors.

In September, the ESR’s had a half-day workshop – organized by the UCPH support office for Research and Innovation – on how to prepare grant applications. Different tools and experiences were presented and discussed, followed by ESR presentations of the own short “pitch” for a project application. After the workshop, the ESR’s and Hanne discussed progress and strategies for the ESR publications – with the first ESR publications expected to be published before the end of 2020.