23 Jan 2017
In 2016, Sophie Larnaudie was awarded a Rideal Travel Bursary to attend the 36th Australasian Polymer Symposium, which covers all areas of polymer science, engineering and technologies. Here, she tells us how sharing her work at the congress helped her research by gaining valuable feedback.
‘Last November I attended the 36th Australasian Polymer Symposium (36APS) 2016 congress, which was held in Lorne, Australia. This conference welcomed around 300 participants and offered more than 200 talks organised in over 10 sections which covered a very wide range of topics, from advanced polymer synthesis and characterisation to various applications including electronics, nanocomposites and thermosets. There was a strong focus on nanomedicine, which is the area most relevant to my research, with an excellent selection of presentations.
‘The talks included 6 plenary lecturers and 30 keynote speakers, including Takuzo Aida, Kristi Anseth, Karen Wooley, Frank Caruso, Martina Stenzel, just to name a few. I presented my work in the Polymeric Nanomedicine session, Cyclic peptide-polymer conjugates: self-assembling vectors for drug delivery. It was the second time I have had the chance to present my research at a conference, and despite the stress that it generated, I really enjoyed this opportunity to share my work and to get valuable questions and feedback from other researchers.
‘The poster session was organised at the end of the first day and provided an excellent occasion to meet fellow young researchers who work in extremely diversified areas of polymer science, especially since there was a small number of posters. The small scale of the conference, together with the rich social program and the laid-back Australian atmosphere allowed for a better chance to interact with leaders of the field. Overall, the conference was a very enriching and stimulating experience, which gave me the opportunity to network and to develop new ideas for my future work.
‘I attended the conference while I was in Melbourne on a 3-month research placement, which has been very profitable to my PhD project. I am grateful to the RSC and SCI for granting me the Rideal Travel Bursary which helped making my stay in Australia even more valuable by funding my attendance to the 36APS.’
Sophie Larnaudie
PhD Student
University of Warwick
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