Andreas Perkileous shares the benefits of attending the Centre’s face-to-face postgraduate training meetings Andreas Perkileous, a PhD student based at Imperial College London, recently attended a face-to-face meeting as part of the Postgraduate Training Platform in the Centre. Here he tells us about his experience and what he gained from the session. Image Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research PhD student, Andreas Perikleous The Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research Postgraduate Training Platform met face-to-face in beautiful Edinburgh in December 2022. It was a great opportunity for all of us to gather together and share updates on our research projects and obtain further knowledge from the field which is respiratory diseases, like asthma. Varied presentations The meeting took place over 2 consecutive days and all the PhD and MD students and Early Career Researchers who attended presented their work, among other presentations. I really enjoyed the lecture by Professor Jurgen Schwarze on the implication of allergy in asthma. The lecture involved background knowledge on allergy and asthma with case studies of how allergy can be used as a tool for treatment decisions in clinical practice. This was a great opportunity to apply knowledge into practice and use our critical thinking on how treatment decisions can be altered based on allergic sensitisation status. It was really interesting to watch a wonderful presentation from some volunteer members of the Patient and Public Involvement group in the Centre. They showed us the impact of their work in research and the importance of this input when conducting clinical research. For example, these members can provide help in recruitment which is a struggle for many scientists when starting a clinical study, especially when a certain sample size is needed in order for the final report to have significance. Overall, the experience of both these presentations was rewarding as they focused on how the knowledge they provided could be applied in real life. A rewarding experience It is worth mentioning that the meeting was rewarding not only for its knowledge basis, but for the opportunity to meet other fellow researchers as well. It allowed me to obtain a deeper understanding of their work, any obstacles they may have had and how they managed to overcome them. Apart from its scientific aspect, the meeting was a great opportunity to socialise and have a wonderful night out with some members of the Centre and enjoy Edinburgh by having a guided tour. Events like this help us get to know each other a little bit more and create friendships with many of the members, making us feel like a big happy family. Thank you so much to the Centre’s Postgraduate Training Platform for this amazing meeting! Find out more about Andreas’ study on his PhD student profile page: Andreas Perikleous PhD profile page Publication date 22 Mar, 2023