How do we create an optimal environment in research?

How do we create an optimal environment in research? Which pioneering initiatives are successful and can inspire change? In order to identify these initiatives, during the recent EU-LIFE 10th Anniversary Conference we provided a platform to all the scientific community to showcase initiatives that are enhancing research organisations. We received posters from a great variety of organisations, inside and outside EU-LIFE, and from a wide diversity of authors in terms of career stage. The topics ranged from sustainability in research to public engagement, diversity, new technologies and how to bring together clinicians and researchers. There were also a few purely scientific posters.

The poster session was facilitated by Pilar Okenve-Ramos, Postdoc at IGC, and Paulina Maria Strzelecka, Postdoc at MDC. The most voted-for poster was titled Snoopy, the mediation dog at Institute Curie, an inspiring story about how bringing a pet dog to the Institut Curie helped to improve both staff members’ and patients’ day-to-day life.

A special mention to the second and third place, which were for the posters Science Fiction becomes (Virtual) Reality, from CRG, and Metadata is all you need, CEMM’s Effective data management strategy for Excellent Life Science Research Institutes.

You can access a selection of the posters presented in the conference here.

Creating an environment that stimulates excellence in research and inspiring institutions to develop and foster a better research culture are an essential part of EU-LIFE's mission. Our work in this area also includes policy action, the publication of hands-on guides and policy briefs; the organisation of internal workshops and open-to-all webinars; and the participation on European projects in different fields like responsible research & innovation, gender equality and open science.