The 2021 BioCat fall semester kick-off conference was arranged in a hybrid form, with students meeting in their home universities and connecting to other universities via Zoom. BioCat ambassador and NCMM PhD student Flore Kersten was in charge of facilitating the online conference, with technical support from NCMM Head Engineer Melaku Tadesse. Tadesse provided the hybrid Zoom solution for the meeting and provided support with setting up the connection and testing links and the equipment.
The conference was attended by 60 people across Norway from the participating universities; the University of Stavanger (UiS), the University of Bergen (UiB), The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and the University of Oslo (UiO).
BioCat meetings and conferences are important for the career development of early stage researchers. They offer opportunities for connecting with a wide range of PhD students working with biocatalysis in different fields, including biomedicine, biotechnology, microbiology, and (bio)nanoscience. The goal of the conferences is to increase academic exchange and collaboration.
This year's hybrid conference offered a 15-minute feedback session with experienced researchers, postdocs and professors, to anyone who wanted to get constructive feedback on their presentation. The feedback sessions were arranged as a private breakout room session to facilitate for supportive environment.
This was the first conference Flore Kersten arranged. She gained experience on how to organise conferences and Melaku Tadesse's support ensured that the technical part ran smoothly. Kersten said it was satisfying to support early stage researchers with their learning and development, and to see that so many people were happy with the conference.
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