Venue Maastricht University Location Maastricht | Inaugurated 1997 | |
Attendance Active: 100-200
Passive: 200-300 | ||
Mosa conference
Mosa Conference is an annual international (bio)medical research conference organised for students, held at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of Maastricht University. The conference is organised by students of Maastricht University. Mosa Conference 2016 will take place June 21 and 22.
Contents
Overview mosa conference 2013
History
In 1996, the Maastricht Medical Student Research Conference (MMSRC) Foundation was founded by medical students of the Maastricht University to create a platform for students to present their own research and learn about a specific medical theme via lectures and workshops. This led to the foundation of MMSRC.
The first conference, held in 1997, focused entirely on Dutch students of the Maastricht University. Through the years, the focus of the conference shifted towards an international conference which not only Dutch, but all (bio)medical students can visit and participate in.
In 2012, MMSRC fused with Clinical Investigator Science Symposium (CISS) to establish Mosa Conference. As a result of this fusion, students from the physician-clinical investigator study of Maastricht University are required to present their research at Mosa Conference as part of their curriculum.
In 2014, the organisation of the Biomedical Sciences Master study of Maastricht University agreed to create the same requirement for their Biomedical Sciences students to present at the conference from Mosa Conference 2015 onwards.
Call for abstracts
The call for abstracts refers to the period before the actual conference when students can send in an abstract of their research to the organisation of Mosa Conference. These abstracts are then blinded and randomised, and sent to the Scientific Advisory Board, consisting of (bio)medical professors, doctors and researchers who scores the abstracts based on predetermined criteria. The students with the highest scored abstracts are then invited to present their research at Mosa Conference by an oral or poster presentation.
Conference structure
Visitors of Mosa Conference are divided into two groups: regular visitors and participants. Regular visitors can attend the lectures and workshops, and function as audience to the student presentations. Participants are the students who present their research at Mosa Conference and compete to win prizes.
The conference offers certain elements that are consistent every year. Students can present their research via a poster or oral presentation. Furthermore, lectures and workshops are held at the conference which revolve around a yearly changing theme.
Student poster presentations
Most student presentations at the conference are poster presentations. Students present their research, depicted on their poster, to a professional and student jury. Both the poster and the presentation itself are judged based on predetermined criteria. The student with the best poster presentation wins a prize, which is awarded at the end of the conference.
Student oral presentation
Oral presentations are given by students whose abstracts received the highest scores from the Scientific Advisory Board. The students have about ten minutes to present their research to an audience and professional jury with a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation is, like the poster presentations, judged based on predetermined criteria. The students with the best and second-best oral presentations win prizes.
Lectures
The lectures at Mosa Conference revolve around a yearly changing (bio)medical theme and are given by speakers who are considered experts in their respective fields. These lectures last about an hour and are divided between the conference days.
Workshops
Workshops, also known as interactive lectures, are given in rounds where visitors and participants can choose between workshops (usually three per round) to attend. The workshops are more interactive with the audience than the regular lectures and are given by an expert in the field, a PhD student or a (bio)medical company.
Conference theme
Every year Mosa Conference has a different (bio)medical theme. The theme of Mosa Conference 2015 is Searching For Disease, and features screening and (pre-)diagnostics, together with the technology and research that form the foundation for this. The theme is central to the lectures and workshops held at the conference.
Themes of Mosa Conference over the years:
Recognition
Mosa Conference was nominated for the Maastricht University Student Prize 2014.