European Students Conference
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| European Students' Conference | |
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| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Participants | active: 400-600, passive: 200-300 |
| Prize money | >10.000 Euro |
| Official website | http://www.esc-berlin.com |
European Students' Conference (ESC) is an international scientific conference held annually for a week in October[1][2][3]. Entirely run by a team of mostly medical students, ESC is one of the largest student-run biomedical scientific conferences worldwide. It takes place at the Charité Medical School in Berlin, Germany. From Sept. 29th to Oct 3rd 2008 this conference will be held for the 19th time.
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[edit] History
Over the years ESC has become one of the main scientific events at the Charité Medical School. Founded in the year 1989, at the time of major political changes at the -back then- most prestigious medical school of the German Democratic Republic, it is today one of the largest and well-known conferences of its kind. From the beginning, the central idea behind the ESC was to foster a better relationship between East and West. German reunification in October 1990 created the unique opportunity to transfer knowledge and to create a closer relationship between medical faculties in East and West. The elementary role of the ESC is the support of young scientists and the advance of biomedical science on an international scale.
[edit] Objectives
The ESC is a platform for scientific exchange, as well as for the interaction of:
- students of medicine and related disciplines
- young and experienced scientists
- newcomers and the public
- university and industry
- medical students and young scientists, who wish to explore the possibilities of working and researching in Germany.
[edit] Program
General emphasis is put on a high quality scientific and educational program. This is realized in a series of scientific sessions, educational workshops and lectures that cover most fields of medicine. In addition to general subjects, each team selects a priority topic that becomes the focus of the respective ESC, e.g. cardiovascular research, regenerative medicine, neuroscience etc.
[edit] Structure
[edit] Operative Team
The ESC is run by an operative team of 5-8 students who are annually selected and appointed by the steering committee and the preceding operative team. Typically each of the new team members is assigned to manage a part of the operational process, including project management, scientific coordination, finances, fundraising, public relations, program, logistics and information technology. The operative team receives knowledge support from the active ESC alumni and institutional support from the faculty of Charité Medical School.
[edit] Alumni
As an ESC Alumni[4], every member of previous operative teams is encouraged to support the operative team by their knowledge of (1) process of conducting and (2) results of reworking the conference, and participate in general "across-the-board" discussions regarding the ESC.
[edit] Steering Committee
The ESC steering committee is a group of active ESC alumni[5]. Every member of the ESC operational team can subsequently, however after a break of at least one year, be appointed a member of the steering committee.
The Steering Committee works on a nonprofit basis to:
- interview and select a current operative team, and facilitate its appointment by the dean and faculty of Charité
- promote transfer of knowledge between previous operative teams and the current team
- offer workshops to give an overview in organizational subfields
- meet with the operative team to set out timepoints for the achievement of organizational goals.
- together with the operative team impose measures how to deal with troublesome situations/team members if all other options have no effect.
The Steering Committee does not:
- affect, disturb or micromanage the operative team in their modus operandi.
- warrant the financial contracts provided by the faculty / participate in payment negotiations or deal with the failure thereof.
[edit] External links
