At ELRIG’s upcoming Drug Discovery 2017 meeting (3rd and 4th October), over a thousand delegates from the whole drug discovery community will come together to learn about the latest technological innovations, and to hear top-quality talks on research that hasn’t even been published yet (register for your free place now).
One of the key reasons you simply cannot miss this event is the fantastic training opportunities on offer at the industry led workshops, available to every Drug Discovery 2017 delegate. Below we highlight three workshops taking place at Drug Discovery 2017 that are set to boost your skills and knowledge: the SLAS Author Workshop, the Royal Society breakfast workshop, and the half-day BPS workshop.
Read on to learn more about the workshops directly from the organisers, including what they’re about, when they will take place, and how getting involved with these excellent training opportunities could advance both your research and career.
SLAS Author Workshop: How to maximise your publication success
At Drug Discovery 2017, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is running their author workshop on both days of the meeting at 12:45 to 14:00.
One of the main organisers of the workshop is SLAS Director of Publishing, Nan Hallock. She views the workshop as a unique training opportunity for all delegates at any career level. This includes students, early career researchers and experienced professors, who are looking for an insider’s step-by-step guide on how to prepare and submit their research papers.
The workshop will be presented by Dr Rob Howes, the Director of Reagents and Assay Development within Discovery Sciences at AstraZeneca, Sweden. Since 2015, Dr Howes has been a member of the Editorial Board of the SLAS Discovery journal, which reports on how drug discovery scientists utilize and develop novel technologies and/or approaches. Dr Howes will use his wealth of experience in research and industry, and his insider editorial know-how, to help you maximise the chances that your papers will be accepted for publication.
“Dr Howes will give you real-life tips and practical advice about all stages of the publication process, which you won’t be able to find anywhere else,” says Nan. “This includes best practices for planning and drafting each section of your paper, how to approach the review process – including insights into what editors want and what they don’t want – and what you should look for when choosing a journal.”
Nan explains that the workshop will feature an upfront presentation by Dr Howes followed by a Q&A discussion. “The presentation has been finely tuned to answer all the questions the audience commonly asks, providing you with expert advice on how to get your papers accepted in both our journals and journals across the world,” Nan remarks. “People at all career levels always leave the workshop saying they have found it extremely valuable – so why not come along and try it out for yourself? We’re looking forward to seeing you there!”
Discover innovative funding initiatives offered by the Royal Society
As a 350-year-old national science academy and charity working to promote excellence in science, the Royal Society is committed to encouraging collaborations and the flow of ideas between industry and academia.
The Head of Industry Engagement at the Royal Society, Katy Gearing, will be hosting an informal breakfast workshop on Day Two of Drug Discovery 2017 (4th October at 08:00 to 08:45). Katy will be on hand to chat to you about the exciting programmes they offer to support academic and industrial translational research, such as the established Industry Fellowship scheme.
“The Industry Fellowships provide key opportunities to promote the transfer of knowledge between scientists in industry and academia. The scheme supports academics wanting to work on a collaborative project in industry, and industrial scientists wanting to collaborate with an academic organisation,” says Katy. “Crucially, we will have additional funding available for 2018 to enable us to provide further support for these activities.”
Katy will also publicly unveil their new Entrepreneur in Residence Scheme, which launches in October. This prestigious award will allow industrial scientists to spend 20% of their time in an academic department, where they will act as a role model for students thinking of starting a career in industry, and help guide the techniques students are taught so that they are aware of current industry practices and modern technologies. The scheme will also provide mentoring and advice to students and academics who are setting up a company or who wish to develop collaborations with industry.
“The new Entrepreneur in Residence award is a unique career development opportunity for industrial scientists, allowing you to expand your current role and get experience and recognition outside industry,” says Katy. “It is really worth coming along so you too can find out exactly what opportunities are available.”
BPS workshop: How to promote new industry-academic collaborations
The British Pharmacological Society will be hosting their workshop, Driving Drug Discovery through Novel Industry-Academic Engagement, on Day Two of the meeting (4th October at 08:45 to 12:30). The workshop organizers and co-chairs, Steve Rees (AstraZeneca) and Professor Steve Hill (University of Nottingham), will discuss the broad range of activities developed by the BPS (that could be open to you) to encourage industry-academic drug discovery.
The workshop will feature seven short talks from scientists, who are all working at the forefront of novel initiatives aimed at promoting industry-academic engagement in drug discovery research.
For example, Professor Paul Wyatt FRSE (University of Dundee) will tell you about collaborative drug discovery initiatives he is leading in an academic setting at the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit, and Dr Duncan Holmes (GlaxoSmithKline) will talk about the GSK Discovery Partnership for Academia scheme as a novel approach to establish and fund academia-industry collaboration in drug discovery.
“Talks will be followed by an interactive guided panel discussion with the speakers that everyone can participate in,” says Professor Hill. “One major question we will put forward for discussion is how we can improve the translation of academic discovery into novel target and drug projects.”
So, if you don’t want to miss out on these unique learning opportunities, then make sure you snap up your free place at Drug Discovery 2017 today!
Register free for Drug Discovery 2017