Abstract
I am a convert to UEG! I have attended many conferences over the past 20 years and UEG has become better and better. The scientific programme is organized with a huge amount of thought to make it engaging and up to date with state of the art high profile speakers as well as providing unprecedented opportunities for younger researchers to discuss their work. As well as the content of the programme itself the secretariat are making use of modern, flexible formats of presenting scientific data including E-posters and Poster Champ Sessions with a planned time for poster discussion with a moderator.
In 2015 the Todays’ Science, Tomorrow’s Medicine theme will be the “–omics revolution”. We are in a new era of scientific discovery thanks to the leaps that have been made in sequencing technology. It is now possible to interrogate the genetic contributions to disease (both in the germline as well as in diseased cells) at an unprecedented level of resolution and in a manner that is increasingly affordable.
There will also be state of the art updates in the diagnosis and management of clinical disease which makes up our everyday practice with opportunities to discuss the latest recommendations and data with colleagues and experts.
The UEG is very keen on prizes! Every year UEG awards prizes of €10,000 to each of the top 5 abstracts submitted to UEG Week. In addition there are prizes for “Rising Stars” nominated from their own National Society and the Research Prize. On top of that, there are Poster Champ Awards, Oral Free Paper Prizes, Travel Grants, National Scholar Awards and International Scholarships. To find out more information refer to http://www.ueg.eu/awards-grants/ueg-week-awards!
I have been very fortunate to have received two awards from UEG. When I was a young researcher just trying to establish my own group I was awarded a “Rising Star” award. This was a great boost to me at this important stage of my career. One of the real benefits was meeting other clinical scientists at a similar stage in their career. Just last year I won the “UEG Research Prize” which was a great honour. The UEG is generous with the monetary value of the prize which thus enables one to pursue high risk projects that are not possible with some of the more traditional funding routes. This is aside from the thrill of stepping onto the platform at the plenary session to speak about one’s work to a huge audience – a real privilege.
The secretariat are also keen to make UEG a place for everyone interested in Gastroenterology and GI science to interact and contribute. They ensure that there is opportunity for those that wish to be involved in committees. We are thus promoting equal opportunities for speakers from all countries, men and women, clinicians and scientists. We are keen to promote networking and mentoring opportunities and in 2014 we hosted a Young GI Network which was a resounding success. If you have ideas on how to improve the balance then we would love to hear from you.
Please come to UEG Week and make it the number one conference to submit your abstract!