Date: 12 Sept. 2023
Venue:  University Ulm
Registration: Participation is free of charge. Please, indicate your interest in the non-PI meeting during the registration process. The selection of the participants will be based also on the submitted abstracts.
Number of participants: max 25

The non-PI meeting offers the unique opportunity to discuss not only your most recent and exciting data, but to also cast some light on seemingly tough problems and hurdles that you are struggling with in advancing your project. Get together with PhD students and Postdocs from various stem cell labs within the GSCN to share ideas, experiences, potential troubles and unanswered questions in an informal setting.

We will dig deeper into your research results, especially roadblocks and problems, to discuss them from various perspectives. The idea behind the non-PI meeting is not to prepare a ‘perfect’ story, but talk about a pressing issue (your science, technical issues, your research plan, your work environment, your career considerations, …) to get valuable input from your peers in an informal setting.

The GSCN covers travel expenses, and one overnight stay in Ulm (max 80 €) and a dinner on 12 Sept. 2023.

12 - 13 September 2022: GSCN Non-PI Meeting 2022 in Münster

Report of the GSCN non-PI Meeting by organizers Verena Börger, Germán Camargo Ortega,  Meike Hohwieler, Gülce Percin, Mona Vogel

This year’s in-person non-PI meeting took place at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster. We had this year 20 participants from German institutions and three from research centers abroad meeting ahead of the conference. Besides, two senior PIs, one start-up founder, and two scientists working in the industry joined for the carreer session. This was definitively unprecedented compared to previous occasions and allowed participants to get a feeling from experienced persons for what a career inside and outside academia would look like. Prof. Ralf Adams (MPI Münster) and Prof. Micha Drukkker (Leiden University, Netherlands), Dr. Sara de la Cruz Molina (Miltenyi, Germany), Dr. Eva Mall (Mosa Meat, Netherlands), and Dr. Kai Kruse (MPI Münster) described their career path and explained the reasoning behind his professional decisions, challenging moments, and good outcomes, and gave recommendations to young scientists. Prof. Micha Drucker also shared his experience and thoughts on developing a (GMP grade) core facility for stem cells.

All in all, the information acquired by the participants through the meeting is an absolute invaluable good essential in the career of junior scientists and will undoubtedly help them and their labs progress in their objectives. We are delighted to learn that some participants have joined the meeting for their second or third time, and many of the rest have expressed their will to join next year. This, thus, indicates that the goal of the meeting in connecting non-PI scientists inland and abroad is successful.
 

Report of the non-PI-meeting 2022 in Münster

5 October 2021, 9:30 - 18:15 h: GSCN Non-PI Meeting 2021 in Dresden

Report of the GSCN non-PI Meeting by organizers Verena Börger, Germán Camargo Ortega,  Meike Hohwieler, Gülce Percin, Mona Vogel

This year’s in-person non-PI meeting took place at the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden.  We had this year 16 participants from German institutions and 2 from Hungarian research centers meeting ahead of the conference. ...
This year’s get-together greatly allowed open fervent discussion between junior scientist in an informal setting about conceptual and technical challenges in the fields of stem cell research as well as methodological troubleshooting. ...
Moreover, we dedicated a substantial proportion of the meeting’s schedule to talk about the current Academic Term Contract Act (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz) and its impact in the professional and social development of non-PI (stem cell) researchers in Germany (see main points listed below). We invited a representative from the labor union, presenting facts about the ongoing challenges and planned modifications of the Amendment upcoming year. ...
All in all, the information acquired by the participants through the meeting is an absolute invaluable good essential in the career of junior scientists and will certainly help them and their labs progressing in their objectives. We are very glad to find out that some participants have joined the meeting for their second or third time, and the many of rest have expressed their will to join next year. This, thus, indicates that the goal of the meeting in connecting non-PI scientists inland and abroad is successful. We ended the meeting with a dinner at a traditional Saxonian restaurant in the old city center.
Comments and conclusion on the Academic Term Contract Act:
1.    Nobody of the attendees were on a permanent contract.
2.    Our impression is that participants agree that at PhD level not having a permanent contract is not dramatic, since studies anyways are planned to last for a specific number of years (4-6 years normally). 
3.    However, at post-doctoral fellow stage, in particular at senior post-doc level, during which many scientists want for example to establish a family, make savings and improving the rent (among other things), not having at least a permanent contract could lead to financial instability and mental load.
4.    Not surprisingly, and perhaps giving the fact that the ratio of remuneration to invested time/energy is very low in sciences, roughly 70% of attendees don’t see themselves following an academic career. This is bad for two reasons: (a) German sciences loses many of their best researchers, as they prefer a non-academic path, or they move to other competitor countries with a more balanced life quality. (b) The post-docs that remain in Germany may not be able to fully commit – whether mentally or physically - to their duties, as they may turn a substantial amount of their focus on trying to find ways to stabilize their situation.
5.    Both mentioned reasons decrease, obviously, the quality of German (stem cell) research and make the country less competitive.

Report of the non-PI meeting 2021 in Dresden
 

Tuesday, 22 Sept. 2020
Venue: Online
Registration: Participation is free of charge. Please, indicate your interest in the non-PI meeting during the registration process. The selection of the participants will be based also on the submitted abstracts.
Numer of participants: max 25

The non-PI meeting offers the unique opportunity to discuss not only your most recent and exciting data, but to also cast some light on seemingly tough problems and hurdles that you are struggling with in advancing your project. Get together with PhD students and PostDocs from various stem cell labs within the GSCN to share ideas, experiences, potential troubles and unanswered questions in an informal setting.

We will dig deeper into your research results, especially roadblocks and problems, to discuss them from various perspectives. The idea behind the non-PI meeting is not to prepare a ‘perfect’ story, but talk about a pressing issue (your science, technical issues, your research plan, your work environment, your career considerations, …) to get valuable input from your peers in an informal setting.

Read the report from the organizers German Ortega Cortez, Verena Börger, Mona Vogel.

Sunday, 22 September 2019
09:00 - 17:00 h
Max Delbrück Center, Communication Center, Dendrit 2/3

The non-PI meeting offers the unique opportunity to discuss not only your most recent and exciting data, but to also cast some light on seemingly tough problems and hurdles that you are struggling with in advancing your project. Get together with PhD students and PostDocs from various stem cell labs within the GSCN to share ideas, experiences, potential troubles and unanswered questions in an informal setting. We will dig deeper into your research results, especially roadblocks and problems, to discuss them from various perspectives.

Participation is free of charge, a social evening on 22 Sept. and accommodation on the 21 Sept. will be covered by the GSCN. Please, indicate your interest in the non-PI meeting during the registration process. The selection of the participants will be based also on the submitted abstract.

Report by Germán Camargo Ortega, Duncan Miller and Maike Kosanke