Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 26/11/2018 - 10:51
26 Nov 2018 - CID’s Annual Meeting of Minds conference took place on the 16th November, bringing together over 130 researchers interested in infectious diseases from across the University of Cambridge and affiliated institutions.
CID’s Annual Meeting of Minds conference took place on the 16th November, bringing together over 130 researchers interested in infectious diseases from across the University of Cambridge and affiliated institutions.
The exciting 2018 programme showcased the latest infectious diseases research. The conference kicked off with morning sessions on 21st Century infectious diseases challenges, and host interactions and immunity. After lunch, sessions ran on population diseases transmission and urban epidemiology.
The interdisciplinary conference gathered researchers from a range of departments, with Medicine, Geography, Plant Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Architecture, Chemistry, Mathematics and Zoology just a sample of those represented. CID was also delighted to welcome researchers from associated Cambridge institutions, such as the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
Additionally, CID was excited to welcome Professor Catherine Noakes (Engineering), who visited us from University of Leeds. Professor Noakes delivered the final talk of the day, discussing the AHRC funded interdisciplinary project she is working on with CID members Lydia Drumright (Medicine) and Alan Short (Architecture) addressing Antimicrobial resistance in the surgical environment. CID would like to thank Professor Noakes for joining us at the conference.
Guests shared their thoughts on the Meeting of Minds on Twitter and our Feedback forms:
“I really liked the interdisciplinary approach, and hearing from engineers and modellers and a more anthropological approach rather than just science.”
“Exciting #CIDMinds annual meeting at @RobCollConf with all disciplines represented, from architecture to chemistry, mathematics and political economy! Cool fact: chemistry PhD students get to name new antimicrobial molecules: emmacin and gemmacin!”
“Good selection of speaker across multiple fields. Thoroughly enjoyed meeting people in different fields and chatting about our research. Great for inspiration on what to do in the future!”
“Great start to #CIDMinds with chemist David Spring and physicist @pcicuta talking about new drug target approaches and amazing imaging of #malaria invasion of red blood cells”
After the meeting
The Meeting of Minds is a great opportunity for infectious disease researchers to network and build new relationships with others. Some attendees told CID about future meetings and plans they have with other researchers:
“Discussion meeting arranged for next month with another malaria scientist at Cambridge”
“I have made contact with staff from PHE which we hope will lead to future projects.”
“A previous meeting led to a proposed collaboration for which a grant application was submitted.”
Some guests also told CID that the event led them to either email new people they’d met at the event, or prompted them to email people they already knew but had rarely contacted:
If you would like to suggest a theme for CID Meeting of Minds 2019, or to put yourself forward as a speaker, please email alw83@cam.ac.uk. As our meeting size has now outgrown this venue, which meant the venue changed the placement of the poster boards to outside the coffee area due to H&S requirements, we will be seeking a larger venue next year. Do you have access to a large lecture theatre and space to host CID’s meeting next year? If so please contact the organizer!