Past PhD Student Days
The SSN council has organized for the SSN Ph.D. students a visit of a laboratory conducting neuroscience research projects based on models in non-human primates. The Ph.D. student day took place on Monday October 16th, 2006 (2 to 5 pm). The visit was limited to a group of 15 SSN Ph.D. students.
Group of SSN PhD students in Fribourg on Oct. 16th, with staff of the primate research lab.
Pursuing the successful experience of a visit to the industry (see below report on the visit to Novartis Pharma AG in 2004), 30 SSN Ph.D. students visited on June 14th, 2005 the Research Center of Serono, in Geneva. The SSN council is very grateful to our generous sponsor, Serono, for the kind hospitality and for presenting several facets of neuroscience research in an industrial environment.
The group of 30 SSN Ph.D. students who participated to the visit at Serono in 2005
Report from a PhD student: SSN PhD students meet Serono
In the afternoon of Tuesday the 14th of June 2005 a group of about thirty SSN PhD students had the opportunity to enter the building of the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Geneva. For all the participants of the PhD day it was not business as usual. Rather it was a very exciting moment to open the door leading to the entrance hall of the huge research complex of Serono.
I guess most of the young researchers were not really familiar with the environment inside the walls of this black box “Industry”. Perhaps they have heard about stress and deadlines to be respected or read about enormous salaries in daily newspapers but never have they been in direct contact with people working for such an enterprise. As a result one often has a completely wrong image of common life inside the network of these giants. So I think it was time to face reality and to learn more about the culture of the famous black boxes standing somewhere in the green countryside. The visit at Serono was a perfect opportunity to get in contact with scientific collaborators as well as with PhD students working on their thesis in the laboratories of Serono. By meeting such persons it is easier to decide if one is made for working in industry or rather not. Also every participant gets the chance to compare the familiar scientific career at the University with the alternative way in the industry and, at the end, to decide which way is most adapted to him/her.
All in all the concept and the course of the four hours we passed in Geneva covered perfectly our needs although in my eyes the labs tour could be organized in a more attracting manner than it was done. For example first give a brief introduction in the auditorium about what is done in the corresponding sub labs before visiting them. This because of the fact that in some labs it was very noisy and it was hard to understand well the person explaining the experiments.
We (the SSN PhD students) are very grateful to the speakers and guides who gave an excellent introduction both in economics and marketing of big Pharma as well as in scientific research at different career steps. Last but not least also many thanks to the people who cared about drinks and food and to the organizers of the SSN PhD Student Day 2005.
Alexander Wyss
Institute of Physiology
University of Fribourg
The first PhD student Day organized by the SSN took place at Novartis on June 11, 2004 and was attended by more than 35 participants.
Report from a Ph.D. student about the 2004 event: "Neuroscience research in industry"
In my 3rd year as a PhD student in Neuropharmacology, I welcomed the initiative of the SSN to organize a PhD student day at Novartis, and I was very eager to participate. I am quite certain many students appreciated the simple fact that such a day was organised. When graduation day is within reach, every student is faced with the difficult choice of continuing his or her carrier in academia or in industry. Since it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to visit a large pharmaceutical company unless invited for a talk or an interview, it was with great pleasure that I registered for this event.
We arrived at Novartis, in the St. Johann section at 9.00, welcomed a cup of coffee to jolt us to life, and listened to the presentations. The four speakers gave an outline of their educational background, followed by a quick overview of their jobs and responsibilites at Novartis. The short presentations were followed by an open discussion and the possibility to interact directly with the speakers during lunch. In the afternoon, we were taken on a Novartis history tour and to the Pharmacy History Museum. I asked the participants for their feed-back, and their opinions were largely converging. We think that the brief presentations were very well given, perhaps with too much scientific detail. Each speaker gave a clear idea of what is expected of them. We missed, however, a presentation given by employees with a different occupation than lab head, such as a recently hired postdoc. Another suggestion would be to have a member from Human Resources explaining how many applications are received daily, how they are dealt with, and which obstacles applicants might encounter.
The open discussion was highly appreciated, although the time was limited and the room was too small to be able to move around freely from one conversation to another. Perhaps, it would have helped to have more employees joining the open discussion, and to divide the students into smaller groups, each having short discussions with the host of their choice. The social part in the afternoon was of unequal quality. The Novartis History guided tour was rather disappointing, whereas the visit to the Pharmacy History Museum, led by its director, was excellent. Overall, the participants felt that the event was a great idea and success, and should definitely be repeated, with all PhD students being encouraged to attend. We are grateful to Paolo Paganetti, Miriam Bibel, Ivan-Toma Vranesic, Samuel Hintermann and Christopher Wiessner for their commitment, and the support of the SSN is highly appreciated.
Nicolette Gouder
Institute of Pharmacology
University of Zurich