EuroScience Open Forum in Toulouse
ESOF 2018 – Sharing Science: Towards new horizons
From 9th to 14th July 2018 I attended the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) and the satellite event promoted by the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) which preceded it on 7th-8th July 2018 in Toulouse (France). This was my first ESOF and I did not really know much about it but this has definitely been the best scientific conference I have been to! With its more than 4500 registered participants from around 85 countries ESOF was a week packed with science and innovation at the highest level.
At the conference I had the possibility to present my own research on the use of cyclodextrins in treating a rare genetic disease (Niemann-Pick Disease Type C) through a poster exhibition and also to make some important contact with other researchers in the area of neurodegenerative disorders which very important
What struck me most about ESOF was the breath of topics that it covered. From climate change to global health, from policy-making to artificial intelligence. There was a great emphasis on open science and open access and how this is impacting and changing the research&innovation landscape. Openness and scientific curiosity was really at the heart of it all.
In my opinion ESOF was not just a conference but a message, a message to society and a message to its own scientific community about science's very mission. That is, a science which empowers people and give them the tools to become citizen scientists. A science open to everyone and that it cares about real people (remarkable and courageous a session about the situation of scientist-refugees in the world). I personally also appreciated a couple of sessions on interplay between the humanities and the so called 'hard-sciences' like the one on science meets poetry.
I have always loved science since my childhood but this event has made me even more a passionate ambassador of STEM.
I would really like to thank once again the Marie Curie Alumni Association for the Minigrant which made possible for me to attend ESOF2018!
