Thank you to all the organisers, delegates and speakers who made the UK-Young INPOMers meeting on 9th-10th December such an engaging and fun event.   

Highlights included flash talks from the INPOMS community early career researchers, showcasing the diverse research taking place across the network.  The grant proposal workshop sparked some great ideas and conversations. The exercise gave PhD students a glimpse into the challenges and joys of writing a successful grant proposal. 

Our invited speakers; Andrew MacDonell from UKRI, Robert Eagling (Editor in Chief, Chem) and Alexander Whiteside Development Editor (Royal Society of Chemistry) delivered some informative talks on the mechanics of research funding and proposals as well as the process of publishing research papers. 

The panel discussion included our external speakers, along with contributions from Eimer Tuite (Newcastle University) and Laia Vila-Nadal (University of Glasgow). It was great to for our young INPOMers to experience the chemistry of a live in-person discussion, and the discussions on the successes and challenges in the world of research funding and publishing were something many students don’t get during their time as a PhD researcher. This really added to the value of the meeting. 

Alexander Whiteside, RSC commented that: 

“I was pleased to see young researchers engaging with future developments in how science is funded, published and distributed.” 

Well done to our prize winners, we’d love to see pictures of you in your INPOMS T-shirts in the lab! It was fantastic to be able to host you all in-person which I’m sure has helped to cement new friendships and collaborations. We hope to use the feedback from this meeting to make future events even better. 

‌

‌