Europe
Regional Area Councilor: Patricia Kearney

The annual Society for Social Medicine & Population Health/International Epidemiology Association pre-conference early career researchers’ event took place on September 3rd, 2019 at the Mardyke Pavilion, University College Cork. The event was organised by Dr Kate O’Neill, Ms Niamh McGrath and Ms Emmy Racine from the School of Public Health, and held prior to the Joint SSM and IEA European Congress.

Almost 70 early career researchers attended the event; the largest attendance at a SSM preconference event to date. Funding from SSM, IEA and the Health Research Board meant the event was free and organisers were also able to offer accommodation bursaries and subsidise a networking dinner for attendees.

The event was centered around promoting early career researchers careers within and outside of academic settings. Topics which were covered included ways of engaging with existing organisational structures and initiatives, such as mentoring, the research support service and the innovative ‘Odyssey’ Programme and middle and senior career academic researchers spoke about key skills for ECRs such as securing funding and writing research papers, as well as the personal side of career progression in academia; finding what excites you and managing imposter syndrome. In the afternoon, those who attended the event heard from researchers who are pursuing competitive and fulfilling careers in business, the NGO sector and in private industry.

Speakers at the event included:

• Dr. Peter Tennant (SSM Honorary Secretary, University of Leeds) – “Supporting your Development with Mentoring”
• Ms. Sarah Fink (Athena Swan Project Officer, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland) – “Athena SWAN: Gender Equality and Support for Early Career Researchers”
• Ms. Imma Zoppi (Research Support Office, University College Cork) – “Understanding the Research Office: Its Role and Expertise”
• Ms. Mary-Kate O’Regan (HR Manager, University College Cork) – “How UCC Launched a Transformative Programme to Prepare PhDs and Research Staff for Rewarding Careers beyond Academia”
• Dr. Linda O’Keeffe (School of Public Health, University College Cork) – “Progressing from Early to Mid-Career; Finding a Direction,  Creating your Career Narrative and Beating Imposter Syndrome”
• Dr. Sheena McHugh (School of Public Health, University College Cork) – “Forever Finding Funding; Realities and Tricks of the Trade”
• Prof. Simon Capewell (Department of Public Health & Policy, University of Liverpool) – “Top Tips for Getting your Research Published and Disseminated”
• Dr. Martin Davoren (Executive Director, The Sexual Health Centre Cork) – “A Road Less Travelled: Turning Theory into Practice in the Third Sector”
• Dr. Fiona Geaney (Founder/CEO, Food Choice) “Cork Daring to Lead? Thinking Outside the Box to Bridge the Gap Between Research and Industry”
• Dr. Sarah Jo Sinnott (Harvard University, Massachusetts) – “Switching it Up - Academia to Industry”

 
Ms. Emmy Racine who won a prize for best rapid fire 
presentation during the SSM Conference: "Us" and "Them."

Members of the SSM ECR subcommittee who organized the joint SSM/IEA ECR event. Pictured (l-r): 
Mr. Paul Henery (communications officer); Dr. Kathryn Skivington (chair); Dr. Janice Atkins
(mentoring officer); Ms. Georgia Chatzi (newsletter officer); Dr. Kate O'Neill (local officer): and
Ms. Niamh McGrath (local officer),

The Joint Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine & Population Health and the International Epidemiology Association European Congress was held in Cork from 4th -6th of September, organised by the University College of Cork School of Public Health.

The conference was attended by more than 300 people from all over the world. Topics which were covered include epidemiology, health services research, psychology, public health and social sciences. 

The event featured 90 speakers dispersed over three days who spoke about topics such as; Cancer, Food Policy, Lifecourse Epidemiology, Cardiovascular Disease, Ageing / Older People and Mental Health. This was accompanied by 36 rapid fire presentations throughout the course of the conference which covered topics such as; Chronic Disease, Mental Health, Pregnancy & Infant, Child & Adolescent Health, Interventions & Stakeholders’ Perspectives, Health inequalities and Social Medicine & Population Health.

In addition, two poster presentation sessions displayed eighty-three posters, these addressed topics such as;

• “Healthcare system performance in continuity of care for patients with severe mental illness: a comparison of five European countries”, Nicaise et al
• “Adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term risk of maternal renal disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis”, Barrett et al
• “Communication is the root issue: Informing the development of cyberbullying interventions”, Dennehy et al
• “Developing a healthy lifestyle index for asthma and allergy prevention in childhood”, Morales et al

Key speakers and topics included: 

•  Professor Kenneth Rothman (Boston University, USA) – “The End of Statistical Significance Questing”

•  Professor Margaret Whitehead (University of Liverpool, UK) - “Barely Believable” or Nakedly Truthful: What is the Point of Doing Research on Child Poverty and Health?

•  Professor Valerie Beral (University of Oxford, UK) – “The Power of Collaborative Research in Epidemiology”

Eunice T. Phillip, Eve Griffin & Elaine McMahon

More than 300 participants attended

The IEA is seeking nominations for IEA Council Membership for 2017-2020

Nominations are requested of the following positions:

• President Elect
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• 7 Regional Councillors, respectively for the African Region; the Eastern Mediterranean Region;  the European Region; the Latin American and Caribbean Region; the South East Asian Region; the North American Region; and the Western Pacific Region

Any IEA member may submit to the Nominating Committee names of candidates for President Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer. IEA members may submit nominations for Regional Councillors for their own region only.

Those nominating candidates must ensure that:

• the candidate is aware of their responsibilities as IEA Councillors and of the tasks they are expected to carry out, that can be found on the IEA Handbook (IEA-Handbook-2015-11-7-16 (1).pdf)
• the candidate is committed to accept the mandate, if elected
• the candidate is a current IEA member

Self nominations can be accepted ONLY from current IEA Secretary, Treasurer, and Regional Councillors.

Nominations should specify the name and address of the candidate and summarize briefly:

• current affiliations
• professional curriculum
• past and present involvement in IEA activities
• past and present involvement in national epidemiological societies

The Nominating Committee will treat in strict confidence any comments proposers may wish to add.  Nominations must be submitted to Peter Kralka, IEA Account Executive (peter.kralka@ieaweb.org) by 31 December 2016.  Electronic voting by the entire IEA membership will take place during February 2017.

The current IEA Council will act until August 2017 and hand over responsibilities for the next three years to the newly appointed members of Council at the 2017 IEA World Congress of Epidemiology in Saitama, Japan (http://wce2017.umin.jp/welcome/index.html).

At the beginning of February 2015 IEA announced a call for application for partial support towards the course fees of the EEPE 28th Residential Summer Course in Epidemiology for up to two members from low or middle-income countries and by the closing date, on April 30 2015, IEA received 25 applications from the following countries: Brazil (3), Camerun (3), Guinea-Bissau (1), India (10), Nigeria (3), Senegal (1), Sri-lanka (1), Sudan (1), Uganda (1), and Zambia (1).
The quality of the applications was impressive. The IEA Executive Committee appointed an Evaluation Committee that assessed the applications on the basis of pre-defined criteria.

Manya Prasad (India) and Maria Carolina Borges (Brazil) have been awarded the fellowship, which will cover the course fees for the two students (up to $6,000, which is a reduced price from EEPE).

Congratulations to the two awarded students! IEA thanks all the applicants and wish them all the best in their professional development.