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Healthcare Infection Society Conference 2014


November 2014 I had the chance to attend the Health Care Infection Society (HIS; www.his.org.uk/). I must admit, with my background in engineering and design, attending an event primarily targeted at clinicians and microbiologist was a little daunting. There was a real fear that I was in for three days of talks that would go entirely over my head. Thankfully though this was not the case and over the course of the conference, I managed to attend a wide range of interesting presentations. Topics ranged from those directly related to my work, such as endoscope decontamination and water borne pathogens, to talks more applicable to microbiology as a whole such as the slightly daunting concept of viable-but-non-culturable bacteria (how dead is really dead?!).
The conference was also a chance to view the latest offerings from infection control related companies and manufacturers. As an engineer this was a great opportunity to see the latest gadgets on the market, talk with reps to get a better understanding of how technology is being implemented and consider how current trends relate to research.

Beyond the academic side of the trip; Lyon was a lovely city to spend time in. It was an interesting place to explore on foot, with many winding streets, and the conference centre itself was located on the edge of a beautiful park allowing for relaxing strolls between talks and events. The park also houses a free zoo, though I would not recommend visiting this in November as many of the attractions are closed and watching a lone bear wander slowly in the rain is near heart-breaking. The people of Lyon were friendly, welcoming and certainly very accommodating of our limited grasp of French making the overall trip very enjoyable.

To attend this conference I applied for, and received, one of the bursaries offered by the organisers. These can be hard to obtain, however I made it clear in the application my interest in the event as a whole as well as the aspects directly relevant to my work and I was lucky enough to receive one. I would certainly recommend that anyone wishing to attend a conference, especially on an international level, looks into these kinds of funding options. Being awarded this bursary greatly reduced the burden of sourcing funds, making attendance all the more achievable.

Overall I feel attending the 2014 HIS conference was very beneficial to my work. The diversity of the programme allowed me to gain new insight into current work directly relevant to my research, as well as broader topics relating to infection control and the application of research and technology in this area. I would certainly recommend that research students try to attend conferences where possible, to benefit their research and remain in touch with their field.







About the Author: Daniel (Dan) Irving is a final year EngD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, researching novel germicidal light technologies.


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