The joys of meeting in person once more

For James Godwin, a PhD student in ECSG, this was being able to attend a large academic conference in Florence, Italy to present a poster summarising the first year of his PhD.

New diagnostic tool

The research James was presenting was on creating a new tool to help diagnose aggressive lymphomas – which are conventionally diagnosed using a number of different tests.

This new tool can help reduce the number of tests required, making diagnosis more efficient and cheaper. It can also provide more information to clinicians for samples which are challenging to diagnose.

Poster

Connections

Reflecting on his conference experience James recalls:

"The contrast with my first conference in 2020, which of course was held online, was extreme. Then I was faced with a series of blank boxes where people had turned off their cameras. The only interaction was the comment box on Zoom. Now that conferences are returning to being ‘in person’ events – it was a great opportunity to discuss research and share a drink with the people I have been citing in my work. It all sparked a lot of ideas for the next few years and left me with the energising feeling of having properly connected to people who shared my interests.

Going to present at your first big, academic conference can be intimidating, not least given the inevitable imposter-syndrome thoughts. But being able to discuss ideas with fellow academics, and have that conversation flow easily with no misunderstanding, was a real confidence booster and enabled me to realise that “I do actually know what I’m talking about!”.

Networking

Networking has also been something on hold over the past few years, and being in the early stages of your career – its absence can have a detrimental effect. However, going to the conference enabled me to introduce myself to a range of different people from clinicians to academics to industry partners, and to get to know people who could be part of a future collaboration or even a job. It’s been a great experience."

PhD studies in ECSG

Professor Alex Smith, Co-Director of ECSG and James’ PhD Supervisor said:

“We are incredibly fortunate to collaborate with NHS clinicians and clinical scientists who are world leaders in haematological cancers. Being part of this research network (HMRN) and with funding from Cancer Research UK for his PhD studies, has given James the opportunity to work on a project that has generated novel and important data, which may potentially lead to an improvement in the diagnosis of aggressive lymphomas.

Seeing him develop and grow in experience doing this exciting research is an important part of our work here at ECSG, bringing on the next generation of cancer researchers."