College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine

Early Career Researcher participates in U21 Workshop

Division of Pathway Medicine Researcher, Dr Louise Hamill, travelled to Mexico in December 2013 to take part in an exciting workshop run by the prestigious Universitas 21 (U21) organisation.

Louise Hamill at U21 Workshop

The three day workshop was hosted by U21 member Tecnológico de Monterrey, one of the leading higher education institutes in Latin America. For more than seventy years Tecnologico de Monterrey has been at the forefront of applied scientific research, in Mexico. These unique expertise were fully utilized to produce a world class workshop programme. Leading experts from Tecnológico de Monterrey lead interactive sessions and discussions with the diverse panel of delegates, as did invited speakers from other U21 institutions. The workshop brought together Early Career Researchers from across the U21 network within the first eight years of their post doctoral career.

The interdisciplinary workshop focused on innovative technologies and their impact on many disciplines in modern scientific research. The workshop aimed to teach researchers about the skills and attributes needed to help build successful research careers.

As one of the youngest researchers to attend the workshop, Dr Hamill sought to build interdisciplinary collaborations with other U21 researchers. Louise is a molecular parasitologist, whose diverse research interests include the epidemiology of human and animal trypanosomiasis, neglected tropical diseases, and molecular diagnostics.

The most useful part of the whole event was the opportunity to meet and speak with other young researchers. The selection of delegates was so varied, and a wide range of backgrounds from social science, molecular genetics, informatics, chemistry and more were represented. It was a real melting pot for ideas and discussions, and I feel I got a lot out of it.
Dr Louise Hamill

Universitas 21 is a collaborative network of research-intensive universities, with global reach and influence. U21 members work together through the secretariat to foster global citizenship and institutional innovation through research-inspired teaching and learning, student mobility, and broad promotion and support for internationalisation. According to the U21 website, its 27 members enrol over 1.3 million students and employ over 220,000 staff and faculty, with collective budgets of more than US$25bn and an annual research grant income in excess of US$6.5bn. The University of Edinburgh is a member of U21.