EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee Meetings

At ACR and EULAR conferences, EMEUNET arranges informal meetings with mentees and one/two mentors with matching research interests. 

The meeting give mentees the opportunity to discuss possible career options, their research, and their involvement with leaders in the field, and a special focus was made on networking for career development.

The EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee meetings are a wonderful opportunity to discuss research topics and career plans in an informal atmosphere with an expert in the field of clinical or basic research in rheumatology. The activity takes place as a face-to-face on-site meeting at the Congress venue and lasts approximately 60 minutes.

This year’s meetings at the 2023 EULAR European Congress of Rheumatology will give our community the opportunity to meet and learn from Prof Gerd Burmester, Prof David Isenberg, Dr Elena Nikiphorou, and Dr Anne Troldborg.

This event will take place on Thursday, 1 June 2023, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM CEST.

The location will be communicated by email to the participating mentees.

Apply here for the EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee Meetings: Application Form

 

You can find details on the previous mentor-mentee meetings below!

The meetings were a great success and positive feedback has been recorded in video by mentees as well as mentors.

Stay tuned with EMEUNET to see these videos, which will be released soon on EULAR YouTube channel.

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at EULAR 2022

 

EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee Meeting: the interview with Prof. Peter Lamprecht at EULAR 2022.

 

EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee Meeting: the interview with Prof. Laura Coates at EULAR 2022.

 

These meetings are an outstanding opportunity to interact with renowned mentors in a very informal atmosphere. No materials or formal presentations need to be prepared in advance except sending a few questions before the meeting.


Mentor-Mentee Meetings at e-ACR 2021

The 17th edition of the Mentor-Mentees meeting was organized as teleconference at ACR Convergence with Peter Merkel and Mariola Kurowska-Stolarska.

Some feedbacks from mentees ...

It was an honour for me to meet Dr Mariola Kurowska-Stolarska and Prof Peter Merkel, who are very relevant personalities in the field of Basic and Clinical Sciences in Rheumatology. It was inspiring to have listened to their personal lives as individuals and professionals. The main messages are to be persistent in our projects despite the difficulties and to maintain some balance and belief under any ups and downs of a career. I think we need these suggestions from experienced Mentors at the beginning of a career of independent researchers .

First of all, it was a wonderful experience for me to attend such a productive and wonderful meeting. It was an excellent opportunity to come together with a team with different academic backgrounds. I gained important perspectives about obstacles that we may encounter during the academic journey.. I am looking forward to participate a new meeting with you in the near future.

This was my first chance to attend an EMEUNET meeting. It was a great oppurtunity to meet with experts like Dr. Merkel. I'm looking forward to establish further collaboration with your network and I'm deeply grateful to your kind invitation.

It was a great experience to participate EMEUNET Mentor-Mentee Meeting during ACR 2021 with a legend , Dr.Merkel. He shared his own pathway with us, and I took very useful take-home messages for my further career. I am looking forward to meet you at a future EMEUNET event.

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at EULAR Virtual Congress 2021

The 16th edition of the Mentor-Mentees meeting was organized as teleconference at the e-EULAR Congress with Rene Westhovens, Lars Erik Kristensen, Laura Andreoli and Ioannis Parodis.

Some feedbacks from mentees ...

"I am very glad to have attended this wonderful meeting and I appreciate the efforts of subcommittee. There was a very relaxed atmosphere in the meeting, Prof. Andreoli and Dr. Parodis were sincere about the pros and cons of an academic career. They clearly explained how to make our own way and I think, now, I have more courage and enthusiasm for shaping my path forward. I believe these kinds of meetings in small groups with mentors are important for all young scientists who seek for their research interest".

"It was truly refreshing to meet Prof. Andreoli and Dr. Parodis and listen to their academic and personal journeys. The discussion brought in fresh perspectives including equity, equality, and building one's path up from scratch. A mentor's guidance and support can be instrumental in determining career choices, and I am glad to have connected with both of them for an honest account of their experiences. I would like to congratulate the EULAR for this wonderful initiative; and hope to stay connected with both mentors and even work together at some point over shared interests like gender equality and CTDs."

"It was a pleasure to participate in mentor/mentee meeting during EULAR 2021 with Dr. Parodis and Prof. Andreoli. Both mentors shared with us their own way for a successful professional career in Rheumatology and gave us helpful clear advice for future steps in developing as a researcher. Thank you EMEUNET for the possibility to take part in this amazing online meeting and communicate with experienced professionals."

"It was a truly inspiring experience to participate in the EMEUNET mentor-mentee meeting in EULAR 2021 with Prof. Westhovens and Prof. Kristensen. I really enjoyed hearing about their clinical academic journey in Rheumatology and learnt from the excellent advice they gave for future aspiring clinical academics. It was a great event to be part of- thank you to EMEUNET, Prof. Westhovens and Prof. Kristensen!"

"It was my pleasure to attend an informal interesting meeting with Professor Rene Westhovens & Prof Lars Erik Kristensen and with dear colleagues from different places. It gave me more experiences, and this was a great opportunity to get informations about research career and future plans. Really It was amazing, fruitful meeting I'm looking forward to meeting with you all in future EMEUNET events."

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at e-ACR 2020

The 15th edition of the Mentor-Mentees meeting was organized as teleconference at ACR Convergence with Betty Diamond and Pedro Machado.

Some feedbacks from mentees ...

 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at e-EULAR Congress 2020

The 14th edition of the Mentor-Mentees meeting was organized as teleconference
at the e-EULAR Congress with Caroline Ospelt and Diane van Der Woude.

Some feedbacks from mentees ...

 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at ACR Congress in Atlanta 2019

 

The 13th edition of the Mentor-Mentee meeting  was held at the ACR Congress in Atlanta with two mentors (John Stone and Anja Strangfeld ) and 12 mentees.

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at EULAR Congress in Madrid 2019

 

The 12th edition of the Mentor-Mentee meetings  was held at the EULAR congress 2019 in Madrid. The format was slightly different from the previous editions, with three pairs of mentors, as this was the 10 th  year anniversary of EMEUNET:

Victoria Navarro Compán (Spain) and Denis Poddubnyy (Germany):

 

Jiri Vencovsky (Czech republic) and Lisa van Baarsen (the Netherlands):

 

Kimme Hyrich (UK) and Sofia Ramiro (the Netherlands):


 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at ACR Congress in Chicago 2018

The 11th edition of the Mentor-Mentee meetings was held at the ACR Congress in Chicago with Robert Landewé from Amsterdam Academic Medical Centre (the Netherlands) and 7 mentees.

“Great opportunity to understand how to improve our career. The key message was networking!” (Mary Lucy Marques, Portugal)

“The informal information given was very helpful to create a plan for self-development. Important to know what the established experts find important for the young people and what they see helpful for self-development” (Mikhail Protopopov, Germany)

“I could not expect how much I could learn from the meeting! Prof. Landewé told us useful tips for our careers. He told us how his own experience was and how me manage to make the most of his career, the importance of networking and making choices. These kind of things can only be made in such a wonderful activity.” (Diego Benavent, Spain)

“It has been for me an impressive meeting. It made me realise what I have done in the past to reach a certain level. […] It is very good to be able to convey a little bit of this information to young people, willing to follow their careers. The people that were around the table were very motivated in doing a lot of these networking activities. In sum, a very good meeting” (Prof. R. Landewé, the Netherlands)

 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at EULAR Congress in Amsterdam 2018

The 10th edition of the Mentor-Mentee meetings was held at the EULAR Congress in Amsterdam with 3 mentors (Christopher Buckley, Maurizio Cutolo and Joachim Sieper) and 12 mentees. 

“Great opportunity for those starting in the field of Rheumatology. To have the chance to talk to great professors is something we should really cherish and embrace” (Valentina E. Emperiale, Spain)

“This provide us a way to get in touch with people that have a great knowledge on career path for us to take, and help us to realice about the several options we have. Mentors really dare to help us and provide the most knowledgeable advice” (Vital Da Silva, Portugal) 

“I really enjoyed it. Right answers and lots of advice on how to pursue our goals. An opportunity that every EMEUNET member should take ” (Luis F. Pérez, The Netherlands)

Some pictures of this year's event:

 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at ACR Congress in San Diego 2017

The 9th edition of the mentor-mentee meetings was held at the ACR Congress in San Diego, California with 3 mentors (Tom Huizinga, Yusuf Yazici, Xenofon Baraliakos ) and 10 mentees. 

 

Mentor-Mentee Meetings at EULAR Congress in Madrid 2017

Our previous EULAR event was in Madrid with Ian McInnes, William Dixon and Josef Smolen .