At the PhD Scientific Days, nearly 250 presentations and poster presentations divided into eight thematic groups were presented by PhD students of Hungarian universities offering PhD training in medicine, pharmacy and health sciences. In the course of the two-day event, PhD students presented their research results in altogether 24 presentation and poster sections. The welcoming speech was held by Dr. Péter Ferdinandy, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation. The event was patronized by Dr. Miklós Kellermayer, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

In his welcoming speech, Dr. Péter Ferdinandy, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation expressed his gratitude to the PhD students of Semmelweis University for having participated in the epidemic control, thus contributing to the fact that this event could be held in person. He pointed out that doctoral schools are the bastions of science, which not only provide a supply of faculty, teachers, researchers, and future leaders for the country and the university, but also play an important role internationally.

A PhD degree is the most valuable degree, which we offer to such talented students, who decided to commit themselves to research work”

– said Dr. Péter Ferdinandy.

He highlighted that the university’s scientific activities are directly proportional to the number of its PhD students, therefore Semmelweis University does its best in order to increase the number of participants in doctoral trainings.

“Due to our system supporting a continuously developing research-development as well as the increased support provided by the government, the number of PhD applicants this year was higher than ever before”, said Dr. Péter Ferdinandy.

The Vice-Rector also emphasized that undertaking an active role in research-development, participating in achieving new results and developing new procedures are of utmost importance for Semmelweis University. He also added that the successful university of the future should be more practical, innovative and flexible, since knowledge in this field doubles every two years. He mentioned that this academic year was special not only due to the 250th anniversary period, but also because of the fact that the university will operate based on a foundation model starting from 1 August. According to Dr. Péter Ferdinandy, the model change is expected to result in a more flexible operation, which will promote the university’s scientific and innovation activities as well.

Dr. Zoltán Benyó, President of the Doctoral Council presented the planned program of the event and he encouraged the participants to be active and ask questions.

“Please, do not forget that every question may raise new ideas and aspects, which may even change the direction of the research project”, he emphasized.

Dr. Zoltán Benyó explained that presenters and poster presenters have the opportunity to choose whether they hold their presentation in Hungarian or in English. However, English language is preferred, since this way participants may gain experience about how to present in front of an international audience.

In the course of the two-day event, PhD students from all over Hungary presented their presentations and poster presentations in 24 sections. Altogether almost 250 abstracts were presented in the framework of a presentation or poster-presentation. The guest lecturers of this year’s PhD Scientific Days were Dr. Pál Maurovich-Horvat, Director of the Medical Imaging Center; Dr. Attila Szijártó, Director of the 1st Department of Surgery and Interventional Gastroenterology; and Dr. Ádám Dénes, brain researcher at the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

At the end of each day’s scientific programs, participants had the opportunity to attend social events. A barbecue dinner was organized for the PhD students at the Sports Center located on Zágrábi road both evenings, which was followed by pop concerts (Frenk Akusztik, Ivan and the Parazol) and a disco. On the first evening, participants could watch the semifinals of the European Football Championship 2021 projected on a large screen. As part of the program of the second evening, Dr. Zoltán Benyó handed over the awards for the best presentations.

Gallery

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Tamás Deme
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University; Krisztina Tölgyesi-Lovász
Translation: Katalin Illés-Romhányi