On 9th and 10th of June we have all participated at the Medicine and Health Life Sciences Postgraduate conference – MHLS PG conference, for the lovers of acronyms.
This is an annual conference held at the Southampton General Hospital that really represents a very enjoyable event. In fact, it is a great opportunity for all the PhD students that participate, to put our research findings together. This is actually not a mere scholar exercise. This year, it was the second time I took part to it; and both times I have found it very useful indeed. It gave me the chance to take a short break from the train of experiments that were keeping me busy at the moment and realise where I was in my research. In fact, and I believe this is true also for others, in my PhD I often find myself getting more and more focused on a single spot, so to speak zooming more and more on it. I reckon this is absolutely necessary in order to actually progress towards the final goal of my project. Indeed each and every single step that gets you from A to B needs to be carefully carried out! However by doing so, sometimes I loose the vision of the whole. It is really great then, that we have the opportunity to “zoom out” once in a while, which is what this year’s conference allowed me to do. In fact, in order for other people to understand the beautiful spot you are focused on, you first have to tell them the whole story that led you there.
While last year I prepared a poster, this year I have been given the chance to give an oral presentation. This is a very different challenge. It is more stressful if you like, but at the same time it really gives you an injection of adrenalin. It allowed me to really put all the enthusiasm and interest I have for my research project into slides and words, and try to transmit it to the audience. For me, the most interesting aspect of all this, was that I really tried to make almost a little show out of my data, and I was really pleased (and surprised… but don’t tell this to my supervisors) of how nice and appealing the final result was… I really had fun! And I reckon my audience didn’t get bored… well maybe you should ask them about that!
Participating to the PG conference this year really boosted my spirit, and now I am the most excited I have ever been about working on my PhD!