10th annual MRC Summer School welcomes delegates from far and wide

Between 8 - 11 July 2019 the MRC Centre in Cardiff welcomed the delegates of the 10^th Annual MRC CNGG Summer School in Brain Disorder Research.

Over four days, 42 attendees learned about groundbreaking brain disorder research with talks from some of the most respected researchers in their respective fields of psychiatry and neuroscience, including Professor Sir Mike Owen.

We were thrilled to receive delegates from Sweden, Germany, Belgium, South Africa and Poland, as well as students from closer to home and within the centre, who joined us for several of the talks.

Attendees were invited to take part in clinical and scientific career workshops where they had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss career paths with more experienced clinical and scientific researchers.

During the week, there were also interactive demonstrations of making neurons from stem cells and high-throughput sequencing, and a tour of the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC).

As well as the chance to gain an insight into research careers in psychiatry and neuroscience, this was also an opportunity for students, scientists and clinicians to come together and share their knowledge and discuss possibilities for collaboration.

We're pleased to have already received lots of positive feedback about the week. Thanks to Rizky Amelia Andreassari, MD, for sending us the following:

I am currently a postgraduate student in Global Health and Development program at University College London. In 2016, I graduated from Medical School at Sriwijaya University, Palembang, Indonesia. The following year, I did my foundation year (internship) which involved working with patients with various brain and mental disorders.

By joining the summer school program in the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University, I have gained more knowledge about the latest research of neuropsychiatric genetics and genomics, with the aim of informing better diagnosis and treatment for the future.

I had the chance to meet world-class researchers and other participants from other countries, who helped me to widen my insights and perspectives.

The program also gave us the opportunity to have different topics of lectures and lab tours for the stem cells and genomic research, which was amazing and sophisticated.

Moreover, the program provided us with nice accommodation and a warm welcoming-dinner, which I enjoyed the most.

Through this summer school program, I believe that I can implement my knowledge and skills to my medical career, my patients, and especially to my home country in the future.

As a student, it was a great introduction to the world of research.

Interacting with peers with the same interests was an amazing opportunity. Also, being able to have a one-on-one conversation with professors about certain subjects was very interesting.

It helped to get a very good overview of potential research avenues in psychiatry and enabled me to start thinking about an academic career.

A great opportunity for inspiring conversation with other attendees on scientific and non-scientific topics and potential career paths.

I loved everything about this summer school, especially the epigenetics talk.

As I am not from a medical background the summer school was an excellent introduction to brain disorders and the research directions of the science.

Summer School 2020

Our next summer school will take place in early July 2020. The dates and details of how to apply will be finalised later this year. If you are interested in attending, keep an eye on our MRC Summer School page in early February.