A shower of awards on a sunny PhD Day

Blue skies, sunshine and a much-needed opportunity to mingle and present research results. After PhD Day had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 back in January, it was finally time to present the students' work on Friday 24 June. And with 146 flash talks on subjects like ”DARE – DAiry pain RElief: Role of dairy proteins in the reduction of oral burn”, ”Generation of in vitro-grown human eggs” and ”Bleeding and thromnosis in intensive care patients with liver cirrhosis”, there was ample opportunity to learn about many different topics for the around 500 participants.

Keynote speech on headwinds in career paths

You can draw parallels between a bike ride and a life’s career path. This was the message of this year's keynote speaker, Christine Parsons from the Interacting Minds Centre, when she opened the PhD Day to a full Per Kirkeby Lecture Theatre. The heading was "Diversity in Academia", and one of its key points was that it can be difficult to see the problems if you are not a minority yourself.

"When riding a bike, we can feel if there’s a strong headwind. But if there’s a tailwind, we quickly forget everything about the wind. We just enjoy the ride. We have to acknowledge that some people in academia ride against a headwind, while others are pushed forward by an invisible tailwind.

Christine Parsons also pointed out that minorities themselves are often the ones fighting to remove the obstacles in their path. And that gender is not the only obstacle. Ethnic minorities or researchers with disabilities also have to ride against a career headwind. Therefore, she emphasised that everyone has a role in breaking down prejudices and helping to level the playing field. Among other things, she emphasised that mentors and sponsors play a major role. And while most PhD students have a mentor to spar with, it is mainly male students who have a sponsor in the form of a senior researcher who actively paves their career path by knocking on doors and using their network to boost the students career.

And the winners are….

No PhD Day without a flood of awards. This year, three prizes were awarded: the Fogh-Nielsen Prize, the JCD Prize for the best PhD supervisor of the year and, not least, the 3R Prize for this year's most animal-friendly research.

The Fogh-Nielsen Prize celebrates a PhD student who is not only able to conduct high-quality research, but who also masters the difficult art of presenting their knowledge. Three talented finalists took the stage for a communication battle, and the level was high, said Chairman of the Fogh-Nielsen Board, Søren K. Moestrup, before he announced this year's winner at the party that same evening.

The winner of the main prize of DKK 100.000 was Trine Strandgaard from the Department of Clinical Medicine. She delivered an impressive presentation of her research into how 'tired' immune cells can influence the treatment of patients with bladder cancer. The panel of judges said the following about Trine Strandgaard:

"Trine won because she balanced content and communication, and her presentation was based on solid research. The Fogh-Nielsen assessment committee was deeply impressed with the level of all three finalists, especially in light of the research challenges caused by Covid."

PhD student Jacob Horsager from the Department of Clinical Medicine shared second place with Peder Berg from the Department of Biomedicine. They each received a prize of DKK 50,000.

There is no doubt that supervisors play an important role for PhD students. This year's supervisor award – the JDC Prize – went to Vibeke E. Hjortdal from the Department of Clinical Medicine. "She opens the world for her PhD students and focuses on ensuring that they achieve their full potential, both academically and personally," said the group of PhD students who had nominated her for this year's award. Vibeke E. Hjortdal has supervised more than 50 PhD students at Health, and her supervisor during her own PhD was Jens Christian Djurhuus, who the prize is named after.

Replacement – Refinement – Reduction. These are the three Rs behind the 3R Prize. Each year, the award goes to a PhD student who either works to reduce or improve the use of laboratory animals in research projects.

"I may not be an award-winning communicator, but at least I'm good to animals", said PhD student Michael Schou Jensen from the Department of Clinical Medicine as he received this year's 3R Prize. Michael Schou Jensen received the prize for having reduced the number of laboratory animals by using several organs from the same animal.