Curious about our Red Shirt Volunteers?

What motivated you to join ELRIG as a Red Shirt volunteer?

So I’ve been lucky enough to Red Shirt at two different events now. I heard about it through my tutor that prompted me to investigate ELRIG and the organisation. And Red Shirt opportunity came up to me and it seemed like a really good opportunity where I could grow my own skills and learn about the industry and then also help contribute to a scientific network.

How would you describe ELRIG to someone who hasn’t heard of us before?

I would describe ELRIG as a community of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, all with the same common goal of connecting people within science to help discover treatments. [All for free on an open access basis!]

Find out more about ELRIG here. 

What was your role as a Red Shirt? What did you enjoy?

So Research and Innovation 2024 was the first event I’ve ever been to with ELRIG and I had a really, really good time, learned a lot about the industry. I helped admit guests. I helped with some of the conversations [in the auditoriums] I helped with the microphones, and I was helping out in different day to day tasks.

And so as soon as it finished, I looked for more opportunities and you’re able to take me back for the AI in Drug Discovery event. I was fortunate enough to chair a Q& A session. And there I was able to introduce guest speakers. It was a really good test of my own ability to moderate and to speak. I was able to also see what it would be like from a speaker’s perspective.

What challenges did you overcome and which skills did it help you to develop?

All the events have been really good improving my communication skills and my ability to network and interact with other people. Another big thing is the amount of sort of contacts you meet, the amount of different people from different backgrounds with different knowledge in different areas of the sector.

A lot of people there make the time for you to go and improve your own career so they’ll, they’ll make sure they can introduce you to people. All the people I’ve met there have given me loads of really helpful advice. With my own career path, with crafting a good CV. You get to listen to into all the conversations [in the auditoriums] anyway and, and hear about all the interesting talks that are going on in the industry.

What would you say to someone who’s considering becoming a Red Shirt?

And I’d say if you’re, if you’re not a Red Shirt and you haven’t done something like that before, and you’re a bit nervous, the whole organisation is super duper welcoming. Everyone’s incredibly friendly. I could not recommend it enough. There’s so many different aspects to it. And so going to those events has been a really big eye opener. And I’ve learned about so many different regions within the industry that I had no idea about beforehand.