GOSH BRC Junior Faculty Conference and Training Support Fund - Alessandro Borghi

Current Position: Senior Research Associate

Event/conference: 26th Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics

Presenting: Showcase our common research and methodologies

Date: 11th-14th July 2021

Funding requested: £220

What did you present at the conference (including the title)?

At ESB2021 I was last author in these abstracts:

1. Characterisation of Cranial Bone Morphology and Mechanics In Infants with Craniosynostosis [Dr Sara Ajami – 17DD46, 17DS18]
2. Improving Surgical Outcomes in Craniofacial Surgery by Means of Biofidelic 3d Printed Digital Materials [Dr Sara Ajami – 17DD46, 17DS18]
3. A finite element modelling framework to predict spring assisted posterior vault expansion outcomes [Lara Deliege - 14DS25]
4. A radiation free numerical modelling framework to predict spring assisted cranioplasty outcome [A Borghi – 17DD46, 17DS18]

What were the main benefits/learnings from the conference?

During ESB 2021 I had chance to attend the presentation of my PhD student (Lara Deliege), my postdoc (Sara Ajami) and a visiting MSc student (Begona Garate Andikoetxea). I had chance to take part to the discussion of their papers and take note of the main criticism of the session chairs and attendants.

How did attending the conference benefit your career development?

I had chance to attend the conference as PI so had chance to strengthen my position in the biomechanics community as expert in computational biomechanics. Following the conference, I was invited to give a seminar on “Craniofacial Bioengineering” during the “2nd Advances in Craniosynostosis - Basic Science to Clinical Practice” organised by Dr Moazen - UCL Mech Eng.

Did you learn any tips or best practice about how to make the most of virtual attendance at a conference?

This conference was very well organised, and it was easy to navigate through the different sessions and find relevant presentations; the conference website also provided the option to create a calendar with the selected presentations. It was important to familiarise with the tools available ahead of the conference and plan the attendance in advance, similarly to in-person conferences.

To ensure our group had visibility We decided to have a common presentation template throughout the conference. We also decided to have a final slide summarising all our other presentations from our group with references to the abstract number, to help the viewers find the other contributions from our group.