DEIThe Promotion Headquarters aims to help female researchers at this university strengthen their leadership skills through the organization of research meetings and other events, and to build networks that will lead to the development of the research they are leading."Support for organizing research meetings and other events by female researchers aiming to become principal investigators (PIs)"We are doing the following.
With this support, a symposium entitled "Research in Academic Transformation Areas (B) Contrarian Biology: What is the Individual in a Population?" was held on September 20-21, 2024, by Assistant Professor Saori Yokoi of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Below, I will introduce the report.
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This symposium included lectures, flash talks, poster presentations, and workshops. During the preparation, I handled almost everything myself, from securing the venue and inviting speakers to hiring support staff, arranging refreshments and coffee breaks, inviting on-site participants, and setting up the venue. This experience made me realize just how much work is involved. Through this, I learned the importance of delegating tasks and the crucial role of determining who to delegate to. While delegating tasks can reduce one's own workload, I often found myself with increased workloads due to inquiries or missed deadlines. In particular, this time I delegated tasks to members of the academic transformation team, but since other members were not affiliated with Hokkaido University, there was very little work they could delegate. I learned that for large symposiums, it's best to have at least two organizers from the host city involved in the preparation, ensuring that no tasks are overlooked. Furthermore, I was concerned that the number of on-site participants would be smaller because it was held at Hokkaido University, but in reality, the venue was full, and we received 40 poster presentations. I realized that if you have interesting research content and persistent efforts to invite people, you can attract them.
In terms of research, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven't had much interaction with researchers within Hokkaido University until now. However, this symposium allowed me to communicate extensively with faculty members outside the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (such as those from the Faculty of Biology and the Graduate School of Environmental Science). I would like to explore the possibility of collaborative research in the future. In addition, Professor Sasaki, whom I invited as a guest speaker, provided comments on my research from an ecological perspective. As a specialist in molecular biology, I gained a lot of information that I was not familiar with, which I believe will contribute to the future development of my research.
To become independent as a principal investigator (PI), I need to network with other researchers more than ever before and incorporate new technologies and perspectives. This symposium helped strengthen these aspects. I also received many words of encouragement from the participants, which has boosted my confidence for the future.
Scenes from the symposium venue
Group photo of workshop participants
Scenes from the poster session
