HYBRID annual meeting #3 - by David Iommi
The third HYBRID training week and general assembly was held in the Dutch-speaking town of Leuven in Flanders, Belgium, from September 23th to 27th 2019. It was organized by the HYBRID members that are part of the research group "Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (NMMI)” of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). The general assembly is an opportunity for all fellows to report the progress of their project of all members of the HYBRID consortium.
The Training Week
The HYBRID training weeks aim to provide the fellows with a full overview of the techniques and methodological approaches available in HYBRID along with hands-on experiences. This year, the seminars included a variety of lectures on data analysis and quality assurance in medical imaging. The lectures were a unique opportunity for the Hybrid fellows to get in touch with some of the most renowned professors at KU Leuven and get an insight view of their work. The seminars also allowed us to exchange ideas with the lecturers and other young researchers of NMMI, who share our research interests and face similar problems in their own projects. Next to the lectures, the programme included visits to the Nuclear Medicine facilities of the hospital and demos of the latest imaging applications developed at KU Leuven. Overall, the fellows felt it was a great few days with an appealing introduction to various topics. The training week was a great opportunity to bring the HYBRID fellows together again, and exchange views on the progress of our work. The evenings were spend in a happy and relaxed mood.
General Assembly
Then the PIs joined the HYBRID fellows for the general assembly. Two intense days of presentations and discussions followed, where each fellow showed the results of their work to their. Beside the remarkable results achieved, it was pleasant to witness the level of skills shown by the fellows. It was surprising to see the personal growth and the ability to handle topics from different fields of research in depth.
Fourteen talks later, it was time for us to spread out over Europe once more, with new experiences and inspiration to take with us. Every talk was an opportunity to exchange technical tips and new perspectives to approach our research. The HYBRID community was strengthened by interaction with each other face-to-face and personal friendships were revived during the free hours at the end of the day.
