Hydrozoan workforce at ForBio 2022 annual Assembly

Do you do not forget that feeling of dread earlier than you will need to current at school a few matter you didn’t actually research for? Your thoughts racing, making an attempt to scramble a coherent story to inform the ocean of eyes fastened expressionless on you and your powerpoint? We consider all of us have a minimum of one reminiscence of this from our days in faculty.

That was an analogous feeling to what we felt on November 28^th, 2022, once we had simply landed in Trondheim and had been on our solution to the Norwegian College of Science and Expertise (NTNU) for this 12 months’s ForBio Assembly, a 3-day gauntlet the place we’ll current the Grasp’s initiatives we’re at present engaged on. Besides this time, we weren’t presenting in a small classroom stuffed with uninterested youngsters excited about tik tok dances, however in an auditorium stuffed with fellow researchers who work in your identical area, and who will in all probability have extraordinarily troublesome questions on the finish of your speak. Being the primary time we current in an atmosphere like this, one can’t assist however think about all of the worst outcomes

And so we’re sitting there, watching the hours and the talks go by, pondering to ourselves “I ought to/shouldn’t attempt that for my speak!”. At lunch, all we take into consideration is our talks. After we’re performing some gentle sightseeing in Trondheim, all we take into consideration is our talks. We’re laying in our beds the evening earlier than, and all we take into consideration is our talks. “How will I make my matter sound as skilled and educated as I need to?”, we expect to ourselves.

The day arrives, and once more the dread begins setting in, proper till the second they name every of our names. At our each flip, we stroll down the steps, seize the microphone, and begin speaking. Aside from some motive, this time it seems like we’re in management. The phrases circulation effortlessly; we even crack a joke or two, and the viewers laughs. There’s no stumbling across the phrases like these faculty days.

As a result of this time, we’re not the common seat-warming scholar. This time, we’re those which have spent chilly and raining hours on a analysis vessel or diving to get our samples; we’re those who’ve spent hours working along with our supervisors, studying and studying about our matters; we’re those who’ve spent hours trying down a microscope making an attempt to establish our organisms. This time, we’re those who know what we’re speaking about, and the viewers is there to study from us.

After every of our talks, we give our acknowledgements, and everybody claps. The questions thrown at you’re answered effortlessly, and the second is completed with a thumbs as much as our supervisors, returning to our seats smiling.

Probably the most thrilling half for us was exhibiting to specialists what we do with our favourite invertebrates: Hydrozoans. These organisms are an not easily seen class within the phylum Cnidaria that most individuals ignore. Our job was not solely to current what we do with them, however to indicate what they’re, what they do, how fascinating they are often and why they’re necessary. And we expect that we did a great job.

Now we’re lastly free to benefit from the world well-known Trondheim bike elevate (and the Nidaros Cathedral too), closing the evening with burgers, beer and buddies.

Every part has been nice on this journey and we’ll all the time bear in mind the recommendation from different professionals; how totally different or comparable the work of every one is; and the sensation that you’re a part of a gaggle of specialists who’re excited to share their information with others. However, above all, we have now realized why these conferences are necessary: Realizing what different researchers are doing offers us the prospect to collaborate collectively and assist one another, as a result of working as a workforce is how science strikes ahead.

The hydrozoa group (and buddies) from UiB taking part on the ForBio assembly

Pedro, Ana & Håvard