Of course, in addition to investment in product development, achieving sustained progress in aerosol research will require continuing development of aerosol researchers, a topic which has long been a priority of DDL sponsor The Aerosol Society. DDL 2019 served as the launching point for a new initiative called the New Researcher Network, whose goal “is to develop a broad community of early career scientists to help facilitate discussion surrounding research ideas/challenges, exchanges, joint projects and personal and professional development.”
Led by Snezana Radivojev of Medical University Graz, Marie Hellfritzsch of Kiel University, and Magda Swedrowska of King’s College London, the new group is open to PhD students as well as to new and early career aerosol researchers. Since 2016, DDL has encouraged students to attend the meeting by offering them free registration. The New Researcher Network held its initial meeting at a lunch prior to the start of the official DDL 2019 program.
The Aerosol Society is also a partner in another new initiative aimed at developing the next generation of aerosol scientists. From the podium, Jonathan Reid of the University of Bristol explained the new program, called the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science (CAS). Reid explained that the CAS involves a partnership of seven UK universities cooperating to provide comprehensive training in all areas of aerosol science, including drug delivery. The goal is to fund 80 PhD students and to produce online training materials that will be available to all Aerosol Society members. The first cohort of students has already begun the program, Reid reported.
Awards
Since 2011, DDL has offered students and early career researchers the opportunity to compete for the Pat Burnell Young Investigator Award. In one of the DDL 2019’s few looks to the past, three former winners of the award returned to update the attendees on the impact of the award on their careers and their current focus. The first winner, Regina Scherließ, is now a professor of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutics at Kiel University. 2014 Winner Abhinav Kumar has joined Elsevier as the lead of Chemistry Solutions Marketing. 2015 winner Sumit Arora is a Senior Research Scientist at modeling and simulation company Certara Simcyp.
