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Empowering research infrastructure scientists
The ARISE summer school brought together fellows from across EMBL sites who are working on technology projects as part of EMBL’s Career Accelerator for Research Infrastructure Scientists (ARISE) programme
By Edward Avenell, Project Officer
Launched in 2020 and funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, EMBL’s Career Accelerator for Research Infrastructure Scientists (ARISE) offers talented STEM fellows from around the world the unique opportunity to work on the development or improvement of technologies for life science research. While doing this, they also develop the expertise needed for a career in research infrastructures, making them sought-after experts both in academia and industry.
From 16-20 September 2024, ARISE fellows currently in their second year of the programme gathered in Heidelberg to participate in the ARISE summer school, which provided them with relevant training at the same time as helping foster a sense of camaraderie within the group. This was the first chance for all the ARISE fellows recruited in a single year to meet up in person, and through a week of lectures, tours, networking, and social events, they picked up tools to help in their careers and formed valuable networks.
Over the course of the five-day programme, the fellows received training on a broad range of topics designed to cover the skills and knowledge they will need to move into a future role in research infrastructure management. The presentations revolved around thematic areas such as exploring core facilities, managing projects and users, bioethics guidelines, entrepreneurial options, and industry collaborations. In addition, the fellows undertook tours of EMBL core facilities to better understand how services are provided for different technologies and to different users. For a perspective on core facilities outside EMBL, the fellows also visited our colleagues at the University of Heidelberg who kindly volunteered their time for this session. This was organised with the help of Gernot Poschet at the University of Heidelberg.
“It was interesting and refreshing to understand the various managerial and operational aspects involved in running core facilities,” said Sruthi Unni, ARISE fellow at EMBL Grenoble.
“The ARISE summer school was a great opportunity to network with peers and exchange information on our various multi-disciplinary projects,” said Evangelos Karatzas, ARISE fellow at EMBL-EBI. “I was quite happy to find out that some of our projects share either technology background or research directions, and hence, we can move forward in parallel and explore collaboration grounds. The summer school also provided us with a trove of knowledge regarding the various teams around EMBL sites.”
EMBL’s collaborative nature was also on full display during the summer school. Colleagues from a variety of teams came forward to share their experience and expertise with the fellows, all agreeing that this type of training and knowledge exchange is core to EMBL’s identity. The ARISE management team would like to thank all those who contributed and volunteered their time.
The Summer school will be next held for the 4th generation of ARISE fellows in 2025. If you are interested in learning more about our fellows and the programme, please contact Edward Avenell.
EMBL was recently successful in securing further funding to continue the programme under ARISE2, which is currently open for applications. Find out more here.
