A spectacularly sunny edition!
At 10am on Thursday the 3rd of April, Nanne de Boer and Diederick van Doorn welcomed everyone to this year’s retreat at Bilderberg ‘t Speulderbos. This year our retreat hosted around 105 attendees, meaning we had a full program of PhD candidates and post-docs to present their work in three different formats: poster presentations, pitches, and classical presentations. As always this two-day meeting was the perfect setting for young AGEM researchers to inspire and be inspired by each other’s work. An engaging way for our researchers to network.
Session A kicked off the presentations, followed by our first keynote speaker, Bart Takkenberg. Bart addressed the topic of alcohol prevention and explained that while drinking one glass of alcohol a day is associated with a lower risk of myocardial infarction, it doesn't account for the increased risk of other health issues, such as high blood pressure, cancer, and liver disease. As a result, the idea that one glass a day could be healthy is misleading. In a relatable manner, Bart challenged the notion of 'healthy drinking' and encouraged us to view alcohol as the new smoking. With a mix of humor and hard science, he left everyone with plenty to reflect on regarding society’s current relationship with alcohol.
After a short break, our first parallel session allowed our participants to present their work in smaller sessions. This more intimate setting fostered great interactivity. This was then followed by lunch, which most people enjoyed on the patio outside the hotel to bask in the April rays.
As always, we offered a diverse selection of workshops for our participants to choose from. This year, the options included: an action painting workshop, PowerPoint karaoke, tips on optimizing the biological clock, presentations and public speaking, and strategies for organizing your PhD. With something for everyone, we made sure to include a solid focus on presentation skills, in line with the presentation-heavy nature of our retreat. A scheduled forest walk gave participants the perfect opportunity to enjoy the sunshine — and one particularly enthusiastic participant even used the break to go for a run! This did not go unnoticed, as our second keynote speaker gave them a well-deserved shoutout.
We then welcomed Marjolijn Duijvenstein as our second keynote speaker, who spoke about sustainability in healthcare. While most people immediately think of hospital waste when it comes to sustainability, Marjolijn highlighted other often overlooked factors — like the environmental impact of transportation for patients and staff to and from hospitals, or the food choices available at hospitals. She walked us through the carbon footprint of different aspects of healthcare and health research, demonstrating the power of life-cycle assessments in uncovering hidden environmental costs. Who would have thought that an endoscopy could leave such a large footprint? The key takeaway for our researchers was to reflect on how they could reduce their carbon footprint within their own research or clinical practice, and to consider how they might incorporate more sustainable practices into their daily work.
Our last presentation session of the day was our poster session. Poster sessions always evoke great interactive discussions with the researchers. We were happy to see a high turn out!
Our evening program consisted of dinner, a pub-quiz, and a chance to dance and chat while the DJ spun records all night. We had a prize going for best dressed at our themed party, with the theme being: Your favourite TV show/movie. There were many great contenders for the award, and it was great to see all the costumes dot around the dancefloor.
The next morning, for the early birds and exercise enthusiasts among us, there were two morning activities on offer: bootcamp and yoga! Participants who joined in were easy to spot at breakfast — either still a little sweaty or with freshly showered hair. After breakfast, we quickly moved into Session C, followed by our third keynote speaker, Georges Janssens.
Georges Janssens spoke to us about ageing — and what’s better than a scientist who’s so passionate about their research that their excitement becomes contagious? According to Georges, it’s hard not to be fascinated by ageing, especially when research has shown that our age of mortality isn’t set in stone. This discovery sparked Georges’ dedication to studying how we might influence the ageing process. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the solution isn’t as simple as adding rapamycin to our drinking water — although rapamycin has been shown to extend lifespan in some studies! His inspiring talk encouraged us all to think about why we age in the first place, and Georges introduced us to the 'hallmarks of ageing' — the key biological processes that drive ageing!
At this point, we had one last parallel session to go — and we were happy to see that our participants were still going strong, showing their enthusiasm through thoughtful questions and lively discussions after each presentation.
After our final session, Session E, it was time for a brand-new addition to this year’s retreat: the lottery! This special prize could only be won by those who stayed with us all the way to the very end. Meanwhile, our committee members worked hard behind the scenes to tally up all the votes from the various competitions throughout the retreat — and soon enough, we were ready to announce our lucky winners!
The winners of our prizes this year were:
Best classical presentation: Kitty Latupeirissa
Best elevator pitch: Steven Eleanora
Most active participant: Merel Goedkoop
Best outfit: The Alice in Wonderland group
Best poster award: Ilaria Micallo
