400 attendees came together this week to discuss sustainability at the 2020 BIST Conference

By October 30, 2020BIST

The 2020 BIST Conference took place yesterday, along with three satellite sessions leading up to the conference from October 26th to 28th. 400 attendees took part in the week’s sessions in total, which were focused on the latest developments in an area of priority for BIST research: sustainability.

Under the title Buiding a sustainable world together, the 2020 BIST Conference programme included two round-tables with BIST researchers working on nano-bioengineering for pollution remediation and on clean energy, as well as two keynote speakers: Esther Alarcón Lladó, 3D-Photovoltaics group leader at AMOLF (The Netherlands) and Philip Ball, science writer, author, and broadcaster. Three satellite sessions took place from October 26th to 28th, as a lead-up to the conference. The topics covered included closing the gender gap in research, the future of science communication, and engaging institutes in sustainable research.

This fourth edition of the BIST Annual Conference succeeded in igniting meaningful, provocative discussions among members of the BIST Community and other stakeholders. The more than 300 attendees that joined us this week had the opportunity to enter into discussion with the speakers about the most important issues we currently face in science. Many different perspectives on these issues were addressed.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held completely virtually, something that had never been done before at BIST. Thanks to the cooperation of the speakers and attendees, and of course the hard work of the entire organising committee, the conference streaming went off without a hitch.

The event was also covered on twitter, using the hashtags #BISTConf2020 and #2020BISTConference. Follow us here.

For a peek behind the scenes, have a look through these photos taken on the day of the conference.

Photos: Albert Mollon