The Science and Engineering Research Associate Society (SERAS) was established to support the development of researchers within the Faculty of Science & Engineering.
SERAS organises a range of activities to support research staff including mock academic interviews, fellowship workshops, electing a postdoc representative in Athena SWAN sub-committee alongside many social events.
SERAS recently organised the first postdoctoral symposium for the Faculty of Science and Engineering which took place on 9th July.
The aim of the symposium, which attracted over 40 attendees, was to promote networking opportunities and multidisciplinary research among researchers and to bring industrial and entrepreneurial insights for future career developments
Professor Anthony Hollander, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Impact at University of Liverpool, opened the proceedings and spoke about the University’s strategy for creating a vibrant and entrepreneurial research environment for early career researchers.
The day included six oral presentations, eight elevator pitch presentations and eight poster presentations. Presentations were judged by a panel of academics that included Dr Ahmed Abass lecturer in biomedical engineering, Dr Riaz Akhtar a senior lecturer in biomedical engineering and Professor Geoff Dearden, a senior lecturer with extensive academic and industrial experience in laser engineering and photonics R&D.
Certificates and prizes were provided to:
• Dr Hay Wong for the best oral presentation
• Dr Bernardo Lopes for the best elevator pitch
• Dr Andrea Vezzoli for the second-best elevator pitch
• Dr Bruna Baggio for the best poster presentation
The day included talks from Dr Paul Colbon, CEO of Liverpool ChiroChem and Dr Joanne Phoenix, Interim Executive Director, Sensor City, who talked about the journey they took to become successful entrepreneurs. Dr Phoenix provided consultancy and advice in business planning, patent strategy and development, fund raising and relationship management and Dr Colbon offered mentoring to our postdocs.
The symposium came to a close with a talk from Dr Matthew Benatan, a software engineer at IBM who researches on Artificial Intelligence, optimisation and machine learning.
The event was chaired by Ashkan Eliasy who is the chairman and founder of SERAS and organised by the SERAS committee, Dr Ya Hua Chim, Dr Adeayo Sotayo and Dr Henry Ng.
For further information, to join the society and participate in future events, please contact Ahkan Elisay or one of the committee members.