During the pandemic, there has been an upbuild of need for social gathering and exchange of ideas and experiences. Especially young researchers who recently initiated their career within MultiPark have requested to become a part of a bigger context.

Many of us want to understand other research areas within Multipark and to be able to put our research in a greater context.

“I believe that many of us want to understand other research areas within Multipark and to be able to put our research in a greater context,” says Lina Rosengren, health scientist and one of the Ph.D. students forming the working group.

“After the isolated climate of the last 18 months I think this is an especially important moment for MultiPark to provide opportunities for interaction between young members, most importantly those new to Lund, both on scientific and social levels,” adds Nicholas Bèchet, experimental researcher and another member of the working group.

Last spring, Ph.D. students and postdocs working in any of MultiPark’s 45 research groups were invited to virtual meetings to talk about their needs and how the organization could support them. Before summer, a working group was formed. The group consists of six young researchers being in different phases of their thesis projects or postdoc. Together, they represent the whole environment, from health sciences and the clinic to experimental research groups.

“To be able to contribute to the next annual retreat would be nice,” says Alexa Pichet Binette, postdoc from the clinical memory research.

“Another valuable thing for young scientists would be if MultiPark could provide workshops for us to learn new techniques related to the available platforms,” suggests Matilde Negrini, Ph.D. student from the Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory.

“I want to organize more fun activities to bring the Multipark community closer together in a relaxed environment! Young Multiparkers getting to know each other and feeling part of a context will probably facilitate the exchange of skills and knowledge between the research groups,” tells Marta Ramos, Ph.D student from the Glia-Immune Interactions group.

Since getting together to plan activities at the beginning of September, the group has been eager to arrange a gathering as soon as possible to start networking. And the first causal evening activity was organized after knowing each other in less than a month.

The first social event organized by the young working group

On the last of September, 28 young researchers from different parts of MultiPark joined the first evening event organized by the young working group. After mingling and enjoying the food, the working group also presented themselves and their ideas.

We want to organize regular social and scientific events.

“We want to organize regular social and scientific events. For example, friendly scientific debates between research groups on hot topics, or joint sports activities, causal quiz evenings like this one, or other things that may be suggested by young MultiPark members,” tells an enthusiastic Lluís Camprubí Ferrer.

Following the presentation, teams were randomly formed to continue networking and collaborating to compete for prices in four challenging quizzes. And after one and a half years of isolation, the occasion was long-awaited and the atmosphere excited.

The details about the activities and events that the working group will arrange are still a work in progress. But there have been discussions about organizing image competitions and other networking activities that can strengthen our strategic research area from the inside. So stay tuned!