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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