First IRIS PhD Break, a new platform for our doctoral students to share ideas, inspire each other, and connect

On Friday 6 November, IRIS held the first session of the PhD Breaks, a new initiative that will bring doctoral students together once a month over breakfast. More than thirty PhD students from different research groups attended the kick-off, which was opened by the director of IRIS, Josep Maria Font, and the academic director, Carles Mas. The research director, Clara Prats, also joined the doctoral students throughout the morning.

The session opened with a series of get-to-know activities. Participants introduced themselves and marked their place of work or residence on a large map of Catalonia, and then placed themselves on a research map according to the IRIS field that best represents their work. Two PhD students then presented their research: Laia Moliner Carrillo, from the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering group (BBT), and Fernando Muñoz Puente, from the Computational Biology and Complex Systems (BIOCOM-SC), winners of last year’s PhD-IRIS awards.

To spark some creativity, participants watched a TED Talk by Manu Prakash, professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, in which he presents the Foldscope, a portable paper microscope and an inspiring example of how university research can reach society. A group discussion followed, and the session closed with a game in teams, where participants came up with solutions to everyday problems in a fun and totally free way.

The PhD Breaks aim to facilitate communication and synergies among PhD students and between research groups, to create spaces for science communication, and to offer training content of interest for doctoral students, as part of their Training Plan. The next meeting will take place on Friday 4 December. These sessions will be run by the doctoral students themselves, a way of working from the grassroots on the future of our research, driven by their own interests.