International Student Congress of Medical Sciences
The International Student Congress of (bio)Medical Sciences, also known as the ISCOMS is an annually held student congress on biomedical sciences. The ISCOMS is held at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands. It is a non-profit organisation made up of students. A primary aim of the ISCOMS is getting medical students acquainted with research and its many elements.
At the 18th edition of the ISCOMS in 2011 548 participants from 39 countries attended. From 5–8 June 2012 the 19th edition of the ISCOMS will take place.
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[edit] History
ISCOMS started as a conference for just the medical students in Groningen, named Studenten Congres Geneeskunde. In 2003, with the 10th edition the Student Congres Geneeskunde changed to an international congress with the name International Student Congress of Medicine. With the 11th edition in 2004 the name ISCOMS was founded. In 2010 the name was changed to the International Student Congress of (bio)Medical Sciences, to show that it is a congress for students on all biomedical fields.
[edit] Congress structure
The congress is for (bio)medical students interested in research. People can become presenting or passive participants. If a participant wants to present their research, they have to send in their abstract on the website www.ISCOMS.com. A strict selection will take place and only the best students will be invited to present their work on ISCOMS.
[edit] Different sessions
When accepted, a participant will be divided in different sessions. This can be a poster session, oral session or plenary. In a poster session, the participants can present their research with a poster. The oral sessions take place in a classroom where the students can present their research with a slideshow presentation. In both sessions other students and professionals from the UMCG listen and discuss the research. The last option is the plenary session: the eight best abstracts are presented in the primary conference room of the UMCG hospital.
[edit] Pre-course
The congress wil take place on wednesday and friday in the first week of june. On tuesday, the day before the congress, there is a pre-course with masterclasses about doing research and improving your skills. Topics are Scientific Writing, Medical Statistics, Critical Reading Class, and Present your Research. The goal of this pre-course is to improve research world wide and to improve the quality of research submitted for selection for ISCOMS.
[edit] Workshops
On both of the congress days the ISCOMS has several workshops. Some workshops teach practical skills like suturing, others are debates on topics such as the Groningen Protocol, embryoselection, and study possibilities in groningen.[1]
[edit] Keynote lectures
Every year the ISCOMS has three keynote speakers presenting their groundbreaking research to the participants. Last year, on the 18th ISCOMS in 2011 this included for instance Nobel Laureates Sir Tim Hunt and Professor Zur Hausen.[2] On thursday, there also is a debate with professionals from the UMCG Hospital in Groningen.
[edit] Social programme
Together with the conference programme there is a social programme, where all the participants can meet each other and get to know each other better.
[edit] Healthy Ageing
2012 Will be the year of Active ageing and Solidarity between generations, and Groningen will be the European City of Healthy Ageing. ISCOMS will have Healthy Ageing as focus for the third year on a row now, and wants to make students aware of the fact that a healthy life style has a major effect on almost all chronic diseases.
[edit] Organization structure
The ISCOMS organization exists of student from the University of Groningen. There are nine Executive Board members and 18 committee members.
The Executive Board contains the President, Secretary, Treasurer and the Chairmen of the different committees.
The different committees[3]:
[edit] Scientific Programme (SP)
SP is responsible for the programme of the congress. SP will take care of the keynotes, workshops and arrange everything for the plenary, oral and poster sessions. Also, SP is the committee who manages everything around the ISCOMS Research Fellowship (IRF)
[edit] Infrastructure & Logistics (I&L)
I&L is the committee who facilitates the congress. Being responsible for everything logistic, like people on the right places, posterboards and the social programme.
[edit] International Contacts (IC)
IC does the international promotion. Besides promotion worldwide they also answer the questions from international people.
[edit] Sponsors & Fundraising (S&F)
S&F contacts old sponsors and potential new sponsors. S&F facilitates the congress financially.
[edit] Public Relations (PR)
PR is responisble for the promotion in the Netherlands and Groningen. They are also responsible for all the press-work with ISCOMS on it.
[edit] Research & Development (R&D)
The R&D committee takes care of the ISCOMS as a long term project. Working on several projects R&D tries to expand the ISCOMS with new ideas.
[edit] ISCOMS Research Fellowship (IRF)
The ISCOMS has a two week internship for about 27 students. With this fellowship students can practice research for two weeks in the UMCG. The IRF comes with a social programme as well, which includes eating at the famous Pancake Ship. Goal of these research project is to improve research worldwide and give students the opportunity to broad their network and experience with research.
[edit] Committee of Recommendation ISCOMS 2012
Prof. Dr. R.H. Dijkgraaf, President Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Prof. Dr. J.J. Engelen, Chairman of the Dutch Organisation of Scientific Research
Prof. Dr. H. ten Have, Professor and director, Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, USA
Dr. R. Horton, Editor-in- chief, The Lancet
Prof. Dr. Sir T. Hunt, Nobel Laureate 2001, Keynote ISCOMS 2011
Prof. Dr. F. Kuipers, Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen
Prof. Dr. S. Poppema, Chairman of the Board of Directors, University of Groningen
Dr. J.P. Rehwinkel, Mayor of Groningen
Prof. Dr. C. Th. Smit Sibinga, WHO Expert Committee for Blood Transfusion, Groningen
Prof. Dr. E. Sterken, Rector Magnificus, University of Groningen
[edit] NEMSC
The Network of European Medical Students' Conferences is a collaboration between EMSA, ISCOMS and ESC-Berlin. In 2006 an idea was born to strengthen the knowledge and power of the European (bio)medical scientific student conferences. A consortium was formed of two leadingscientific student conferences (ESC-Berlin and ISCOMS-Groningen) and theMedical Students' Association (EMSA). This consortium set out a timelineformulated several objectives. In April 2007 all preparations were finished and decided to officially found a network, which had the support of the executive of these three organisations. This network is called: Network of European Students' Conferences (NEMSC) and has the following aims: 1. To enhance Medical Science Student Congresses in Europe by: • increasing the number of participants of individual congresses • improving the quality of the congresses by means ofsetting standards for member congresses of the NEMSCestablishing joint evaluating of the congressesorganising workshops and/or seminars for congress-organisations 2.To promote Science in Europe by informing students about research events and to establish a joint website 3.To enhance integration of medical science researchers [4].
[edit] Partners
The official partners of the ISCOMS are[5]:
- European Students Conference Berlin (ESC-Berlin)
- International Federation of Medical Students' Associations the Netherlands (IFMSA-NL)
- Zagreb International Medical Summit (ZIMS)
- European Medical Students' Association (EMSA)
- Asian Medical Students' Association (AMSA)
- Young European Scientists meeting Porto (YES-meeting)
- International Medical Students' Congress Novi Stad (IMSCNS)
- Leiden International Medical Student Conference (LIMSC)
