In the gap between finishing her PhD and starting her first postdoc job, Verena Haage published a study on the conference travel behavior of German scientists. Reflecting on how many conferences both her and her PI attended during her PhD, Verena wanted to investigate the efficiency and sustainability of such events.
Her work, which was completed pre-COVID-19, has attracted a lot of attention recently given the rise in online conferences as a result of the pandemic.
Verena discovered that the research community is more open to virtual or hybrid conferences than you might think. Around 60% of the scientists she surveyed as part of her investigation were interested in alternative or novel conference formats. Most weren’t aware of any initiatives at their institutions around digital or carbon-neutral conferencing.
Verena believes the onus should be on institutions and conference organizers to promote novel conferencing formats, but as her research shows, this simply isn’t happening enough. That’s one of the reasons why she’s recently been involved in setting up an ambassador group of young investigators that want to push for virtual conferencing.
Verena and a colleague during a hands-on SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic workshop in Mexico.
The virtual conference organizers that Verena was able to speak to were pleased with the format and attendance. The fact that these conferences can be attended at the click of a button make them much more accessible for scientists from less privileged backgrounds or countries. And while it’s difficult to recreate the spontaneity of encounters that happen at physical conferences, Verena has had positive experiences interacting with other attendees online with technical tools like virtual coffee corners and Slack channels. She’s also found that useful discussions are able to continue for longer in a digital setting.
Verena is passionate about sustainability and efficiency beyond conferencing, and is particularly interested in coaching early-stage researchers. She is a co-founder of the Sustainable Leadership for Science initiative, a network which promotes effective work collaboration and advocates for better ‘work-life-science’ balance to empower young academic and scientific professionals in their leadership journeys. She urges all researchers to get involved with sustainability initiatives within their institutions, take part in webinars on the subject, or seek out networks, such as Women in Sustainability (WINS).
Verena’s studies in biological sciences began at the University of Konstanz, Germany. She spent time in Sydney, Australia, and Newcastle, UK, for her studies and research, before completing her master’s thesis on pancreatic cancer stem cells at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid. For her PhD, Verena returned to Germany where she expanded her research into cancer immunology, with a focus on neuroimmunology, at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association in Berlin.
Before the pandemic put her plans on pause, Verena was looking forward to beginning a postdoc position at the Center for Translational and Computational Neuroimmunology at Columbia University in New York City. She will take up this role in April 2021. In the meantime, she’s been fortunate to find a position that’s both relevant to her interests and contributes to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
At the Institute of Virology at the Charité in Berlin, Verena is currently working across various projects including one focusing on the analytical validation of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests. The institute is part of a national team of health experts carrying out international SARS-CoV-2 missions in cooperation with the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) and the German Development Ministry.
