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Recap | EARMA 2019 – Italian Style!

By SRAI News posted 06-14-2019 07:06 AM

  
DSD

Authored by Debra Schaller-Demers
Senior Director, Research Outreach and Compliance, Memorial Sloan Kettering
Adjunct Lecturer, CUNY, School for Professional Studies

The 2019 European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) took place in Bologna, Italy from March 27-29. As a first-time visitor to Italy and first-time attendee/speaker at EARMA, I have to say it was an amazing opportunity.

Bologna is a small medieval city and the University of Bologna is the oldest university in the Western World, originally founded in 1088! I walked up 498 steps to the top of the ancient tower – Torre degli Asinelli (and 498 back down), but the view was amazing, even if I was light-headed and out of breath. The food and wine are outstanding and by taking a full day food tour of Modena (an hour ride from central Bologna) – I learned all about Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese, Balsamic Vinegar, and Prosciutto; and which wines to have with each!

But, yes, I was there to teach and learn! EARMA meetings are structured differently than SRAI – there are pre-conference workshops, Pecha Kucha (PK) sessions where you deliver 20 slides and have 20 seconds per slide (5 PKs per time slot), 30-minute sessions (2 per time slot), and 60-minute sessions. Tolise Dailey of Johns Hopkins University and I presented a Pecha Kucha on “Training Tools, Tips, and Tricks” and it seemed to be very well received. Immediately following the PK, I dashed one floor up to present a 30-minute session entitled “What’s So Different about Leadership in Research Management.” This is a session originally co-developed by myself, Ian Carter (UK), and Mark Hochman (AU) for INORMS 2018. It’s a good thing this New Yorker talks fast – it was a lot of information to deliver in 30 minutes! Yet again, the audience seemed receptive and engaged.

The Gala Dinner was in an ancient venue, Palazzo Re Enzo – and there were some more SRAI familiar faces in attendance, like a dear friend and colleague Annedorte Vad from Copenhagen.

2019_EARMA

I am truly grateful to my institution, Memorial Sloan Kettering for supporting my participation in SRAI through the years (member since 2003) and in more recent years, allowing me to expand my network globally by attending INORMS, ARMS, EARMA, CAREB, and WCRI – which is happening in Hong Kong in June 2019!

Hope to see you all at a future meeting! The next stop for me is NYC for the Research Leadership Intensive training program, that I get to teach.


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