Last Wednesday and Thursday it was once again time for the Biology in Lund Annual Meeting (BLAM). One of the nicest events at the department and a great opportunity to meet people across units and research groups
BLAM is a departmental conference arranged by our PhD students each year. Or nearly every year more exactly, due to the pandemic. I think everybody had longed for this real-life meeting since 2019 when the last meeting on-site was held.
All talks, except two invited plenary lectures, are done by the PhD students. They also make all the posters and are the host of the meeting. BLAM 2022 organising committee consisted of Sara Winterfeldt, Dániel Tájmel, Karla Iveth Aguilera Campos, Katie Laschanzky and Ashish Ashish. They had done an amazing job.
The only thing I can complain about is the weather. In former years it used to be great weather during BLAM and the breaks were usually enjoyed outside. Not this year, the rain did not make it tempting to go outside at all.
The talks and posters were of an extremely high quality, which made it a hard decision for the prize committee to decide who were the winner of the prizes for best talk, best flash talk and best poster.
At the grand dinner at Grand Hotel Johan Kjellberg Jensen was announced the winner of the talk, Susana Garcia Dominguez the winner of the flash talks and Etka Yapar was the winner of the best poster. The prize money is 10 000 SEK each for the talk and poster winners and 5 000 SEK for the flash talk winner. The money should be spent on travel or literature in accordance with the winners’ PhD projects.
Last night I went home with happy voices ringing in my ears and a good feeling in my body. And to quote Johannes Rousk “There is a new hope when we meet at BLAM”.
Once again, thanks to the organising committee for their splendid job and thanks to all the speakers and poster makers.
Text and photo by Inger Ekström