On 6 February 2018 on the margins of our 2018 Congress, EAHAD organised its first-ever Young Investigators Workshop. The theme of the half-day workshop was “Finding the answer to your question – a workshop on study design”.
The small and interactive gathering started with a presentation on study design by EAHAD Executive Committee member and Professor of Paediatric Haematology at the University of Amsterdam, Karin Fijnvandraat, who initiated the idea of a workshop for young investigators at EAHAD. This was followed by presentations by each of the workshop participants on their ongoing research projects, giving them the opportunity to describe any challenges they were facing and discuss these with their fellow participants and the workshop moderators, Prof Fijnvandraat and Prof Michael Makris, President of EAHAD and Professor of Haemostasis and Thrombosis at the University of Sheffield. To round up the day, Prof Makris drew on this experience as editor of Haemophilia to offer some tips on submitting a paper to a journal and responding to reviewer and editor feedback.
We asked a few of the participants of this inaugural event to share their feedback on the day.
“I very much liked the EAHAD Young Investigators Workshop! It was well organized by well-known scientists in the field. The presentations about research question and study design were very good. Eventually it made me change some important aspects of my own research project.
I would recommend all young investigators to attend the EAHAD YI workshop! It is very informative and applicable for your own research, and it is a great chance to get to know well-known scientists in the field personally!”
– Ferdows Atiq, MD, PhD-student
Erasmus University Medical Center
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
“The EAHAD 2018 Young Investigator Workshop was a great event. Two experts gave very interesting talks on study design and scientific editing. Each attendee presented a research project, emphasizing the specific challenges they faced. Time was also available for meeting each other and for sharing about hemophilia research in different countries. Thank you!”
– Workshop Participant
“Witnessing what other researchers do and offering possibilities for further cooperation is key to success not only for us, each researcher in particular, but also for community at large. My research in bleeding disorders field focuses on other issues than purely medical. Currently I am working on outcomes of factor VIII shortages in Latvia and how it changed the landscape for treatment provision. I loved to hear what other PhD colleagues are doing around Europe and hope the presentation of my work was also interesting and useful for them. Advice and questions from respectable and future scientists allows you to look at your on own research from other angles.”
– Baiba Ziemele, PhD student
President of Latvia Hemophilia Society
President of Latvian Alliance of Rare Diseases
Riga, Latvia
“I found that the Young Investigators’ Workshop was a great opportunity to meet people interested in haemophilia research and to exchange ideas and experiences in an informal atmosphere. Because of the small size of the group the presentations were very interactive. The event was coordinated by Professor Michael Makris and Professor Karin Fijnvandraat who also gave feedback on the presented projects, as well as interesting presentations on study design and on paper submission.”
– Judit Rejtö
Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria