GOSH BRC Junior Faculty Conference and Training Support Fund - Mathilde Ripart (OHBM 2021)

Current Position: PhD student

Event/conference: The Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) Annual Meeting

Presenting: PhD results

Date: 21st - 25th June 2021

Funding requested: N/A

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

I attended the OHBM 2021 annual meeting and presented a poster called “MELD project: Quantitative analysis of associations between MRI features and FCD histopathologies”.

What were the main benefits/learnings from the conference?

The OHBM 2021 educational courses proposed very clear and complete courses about brain anatomy and neuroimaging. These courses also provided a great overview of the new developments in brain parcellations and in statistical/machine-learning analysis used in brain neuroimaging. Moreover, the OHBM annual meeting presented a very broad and wide selection of posters and several ‘on-line’ slot to visit the posters and discuss with the authors.

How did attending the conference benefit your career development?

Attending the conference provided me with strong knowledge in neuroanatomy and machine-learning applied to neuroimaging. These new skills are essential to excel in my current research project, which is to develop an automated detection of pathology in drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
It also gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to the neuroscientific research community, to present my preliminary results and to receive great feedbacks from scientist in my field.

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

It can be hard to find the time and the motivation to spend the whole conference in front of the screen and stay focused. To make the most of these virtual conferences, my tip is to plan ahead the important presentations and secure time in the calendar to attend them without any other distractions. Also, even though it can be scary for junior researchers, I would suggest taking any opportunity during the poster sessions to ask questions and socialise.