Last Friday, November 10, the eighth edition of the IDIBELL PhD Day was held at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the UB Bellvitge Campus. This event, which takes place anually, is organized by the PhD Committee in collaboration with different IDIBELL units and aims to encourage the sharing of ideas and foster possible collaborations, in addition to strengthening the Institute’s research community. In total, about 200 researchers, teaching staff and other members of the IDIBELL community attended this event.
The opening ceremony was led by Fernando Fernández-Aranda, IDIBELL scientific director, Ruth Rodríguez, representing the educational committee, and Rut Espinosa and Lidia Collado, members of the PhD Committee. Then and throughout the day, 10 oral and over 40 poster presentations by pre-doctoral researchers took place, which were evaluated by an independent jury. Taking into account the scientific quality of the work and the ability to transmit the knowledge of each participant, prizes were awarded to Borja Arozamena (1st), Mercedes Gil (2nd) and Veronica Testa (3rd) for the best oral presentation, and to David Piñol for the best poster. Besides, the best poster award by popular vote went to Pamela Chavarría.
The focus of this PhD Day edition was mental health in the research career. Within this framework, a round table on the topic was held with Nestor Rondón (human resources director at Werfen Iberia), Josep Dalmau (neurologist at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu), Ramón Nogueras (psychologist and communicator) and Dr. Fernández Aranda, who is also psychologist and researcher. Dr. Dalmau also starred as keynote speaker, with a talk about neurooncology.
Last before the award and closing ceremony, which were conducted by Gabriel Capellá, IDIBELL director, Ana Pineda held a workshop on the identification and management of stress in academia, mainly targeted to younger researchers. Thus, the 2023 PhD Day was concluded, a particularly complete and successful eighth edition.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).