From left: James McKeage, Julia Shanks, Rachael Taylor, Eryn Kwon, Tonja Emans , Joanne Davidson, Sian Williams
The SUMMIT2021 Postdoctoral Research Forum was held on 8 July 2021 at the Grafton Campus. The annual “SUMMIT” research forum is the landmark event of the FMHS Postdoctoral Society (PDS) event calendar. This forum provides a platform to showcase the talents of our early- and mid-career researchers across the interrelated fields of medical and health sciences and bioengineering. The PDS is proud to nurture the annual growth of this forum and embodying the spirit of cross-disciplinary collaboration SUMMIT2021 was collaboratively planned with our colleagues from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) Early Career Research committee.
The forum was a resounding success, with more than 140 research fellows attending from the FMHS, Liggins and ABI. The programme featured 39 talks from our postdoctoral delegates, keynote presentations by Drs Sarah-Jane Guild (Dept of Physiology/ABI) and Joep de Ligt (Lead, Bioinformatics and Genomics at ESR), and several catered networking opportunities.
The SUMMIT2021 postdoctoral research presentations were of a high standard and showcased the wide-ranging expertise in the FMHS and ABI research communities. The award recipients are summarised below. We are very grateful the dedicated judging panels involved in these competitions.
Awards were made possible through generous donations from our philanthropic and corporate sponsors:
Auckland Medical Research Foundation Best Oral Presentation ($3000): Dr James McKeage, ABI “Needle-free capillary blood sampling using jet injection”
MediRay Best Elevator Pitch ($1500): Dr Rachael Taylor, Department of Physiology “The role of hearing on spatial orientation and balance”
Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust Outstanding Abstract ($1500): Dr Tonja Emans, Department of Physiology “The Forgotten Circulation: Venous pressure and mesenteric flow in normotensive and hypertensive conscious rats”
New England BioLabs NZ Oral Presentation Prize ($500): Dr Sian Williams, Liggins Institute “Grow Baby Grow: Longitudinal investigations into muscle growth and motor development in infants born at term, preterm, and at risk of neurological injury”
Postdoctoral Society Oral Presentation Prize ($500): Dr Joanne Davidson, Department of Physiology “Limited beneficial effects with 24 hours of hypothermia after mild hypoxia-ischemia in near-term fetal sheep”
The Institution of Engineering and Technology Oral Presentation Prize (IET, $500): Dr Julia Shanks, Department of Physiology “Increased cardiac parasympathetic activity during exercise regulates coronary artery blood flow”
Zeiss Bright Light Second-Placed Elevator Pitch ($500): Dr Eryn Kwon, ABI “Understanding “the most complex disease of the most complex organ” – a multidisciplinary approach
Keynote presentations by Dr Sarah-Jane Guild (Department of Physiology/ABI) and Dr Joep de Ligt (Lead Bioinformatics and Genomics at ESR) highlighted opportunities to grow our research careers beyond pure-academia, and collaborate successfully with industry and policy-making sectors. For example, Dr de Ligt emphasised how New Zealand’s unique pandemic response stemmed from the rapidly adapting nature of our science community and the public’s appreciation of their advocacy efforts.
Generous catering support from our sponsors Integrated Sciences, Olympus NZ, and ADInstruments provided further networking opportunities during lunch and afternoon tea. To cap of the day the MPPT, FMHS Dean’s Strategic Development Fund, and ABI Early Career Committee funded a cocktail function, which served as a celebration of the success of the forum and award recipients. We received very positive feedback from our attendees, with many highlighting that the SUMMIT networking sessions provided a critical sense of community and collaboration during a time of limited face-to-face gatherings.
This event is largely made possible with support from the FMHS Dean’s Strategic Development Fund. Thanks are also due to the efforts and advice of the FMHS marketing team Bronwyn Staples, Elizabeth Hookings, and Vicki Griffin.
Ultimately, the success of SUMMIT2021 is owed to the tireless efforts of the organising committee (Affectionately known as The SUMMITeers: Drs Sandy Lau, Rashi Karunasinghe, Eryn Kwon, James McKeage, Alex Muntz, Pratik Thakkar, Brya Matthews, Hanna Allerkamp, Sarbjot Kaur, Sumudu Ranasinghe, Simerdeep Dhillion, Emma Buckels, William Schierding, Lola Mugisho, Haruna Suzuki-Kerr, Benjamin Dickson, Anassuya Ramachandran, Catherine Tsai, Jacelyn Loh, Renita Martis, Rosie Dobson, Sanjay Marasini, Mahyar Osanlouy). The team worked diligently to generate a flexible plan able to respond to changing regulations at short notice. Motivated by success in 2020 and an exciting level of interest from postdoctoral researchers, the team planned a whole-day programme, including for the first time two parallel oral presentation streams. Such determination, quick-thinking, and adaptability speaks to the resilience of the postdoctoral research community at the FMHS and ABI.
