CONFERENCE. Hello, Professor Gisela Brändén, responsible for the Engineering Health conference, which this year has the Faculty of Science as the main organizer.
What exactly is Engineering Health? Why is it so special?
“Engineering Health is an interdisciplinary conference with rotating hosts. The conference is a collaboration among the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Chalmers University of Technology, and Region Västra Götaland. This is the fourth time the conference has been arranged and the first time that the Faculty of Science has served as host.
What I consider special about Engineering Health is the transdisciplinary perspective. Those of us in the research world talk about this more and more, and we are doing it better, but it is something we need to work on even more. As a researcher, you can often benefit from talking to colleagues who have different areas of expertise and can provide new perspectives on the same research question.
We want Engineering Health to serve as an arena for sharing examples of successful transdisciplinary collaborations and inspiring participants to think about which collaborations could be interesting in their own projects.”
Who do you think should attend the conference?
“Anyone interested in collaboration between healthcare and academia. Not only for their own research projects, but also to learn about different collaboration arenas, such as in teaching and infrastructure. In addition, anyone who wants to know more about what is happening locally in the Life Sciences field. At Engineering Health, we highlight the importance of research, healthcare, and the private sector being in such close proximity in Gothenburg and having many areas for collaboration.
This year’s conference program has many exciting aspects on healthcare, health, and current research. One example is the segment on antibiotic resistance, an area where there are plans for enhanced collaboration among the organizations. I think the session on what we have learned from the pandemic can be very interesting.”
How important is this type of conference?
“This is especially important because it is a meeting place where, in addition to the seminar program, there are opportunities to social and meeting informally. But also because this offers an opportunity to hear about exciting research, find out more about our joint educational programs, and take part in the broad perspective on collaboration in health, technology, and life sciences.”
What do you hope will be the outcome of the conference?
“Personally, I would like us at the Faculty of Science to become even more aware of the region’s opportunities for collaborations and to increase the visibility of collaborative projects in which we are involved.
In general, I hope that the participants will be inspired by each other and come up with new ideas for collaborations. I also hope that the doctoral students who come will see what a broad area this is and become curious about other projects that are a little outside their own expertise.”
Are there any program items you are especially looking forward to attending?
“I look forward to sitting and listening to fascinating stories about when researchers have come together and managed to tackle research questions in a completely different way than if they were working alone.”
BY PATRIK CENTERWALL (SAHLGRENSKA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL)
