Conference for Swiss NSF Fellows Organized by Geosciences Postdoctoral Fellow

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Postdoctoral fellow in the geosciences department, Tobias Schneider, has been instrumental in organizing an online conference for Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) fellows covering a broad range of disciplines.

Schneider teamed up with SNSF fellow Sandra O. Brugger, at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. Together they partnered with SNSF, Swissnex Boston and Swissnex San Francisco to put the conference together.

The virtual event comes as a response to the cancellation of many scientific meetings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

From June 29 through July 2, 52 talks can be attended online for free and without any registration. 

The sessions cover humanities, social sciences, medicine, biology, mathematics, engineering and other natural sciences and will highlight research conducted at various institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

The program will feature invited keynote speakers as well as daily panels on COVID-19 featuring frontline workers.

Keynote speakers:

  • Raymond S. Bradley, UMass Amherst, “The first settlers on the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic,” Monday, June 29, 9 a.m. PDT
  • Theresa Watts, University of Reno, “Influencing Policy Through Research: Achieving Universal Hepatitis C Testing,” Tuesday June 30, 9 a.m. PDT
  • Joseph R. McConnell, Desert Research Institute, “Aerosols and Ancient History in Arctic Ice,” Wednesday, July 1, 9 a.m. PDT
  • Monica M. Arienzo, Desert Research Institute, “Microplastic presence in alpine environments of the Sierra Nevada, U.S.,” Thursday, July 2, 9 a.m. PDT
  • Ajay K. Sethi, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Misinformation and Conspiracies during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Thursday, July 2, 12.30 p.m. PDT

COVID-19 panels:

  • Perspectives from Skilled Nursing Facilities, Monday, June 29, 12:30 p.m. PDT
  • Perspectives from Hospital Workers in COVID-19 Hotspots, Tuesday, June 30, 12:30 p.m. PDT
  • Perspectives from Ambulance Workers, Wednesday, July 1, 12.30 p.m. PDT

The virtual conference can be joined for free on Zoom and will be live-streamed on Youtube. Please visit the event website to learn more about the conference. 

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) awards annually hundreds of postdoc-fellowships to Swiss trained early career researchers to enable them to go abroad in order to improve their scientific profile. 

Currently, there are over 300 ongoing postdoc research projects in the United States and more than 700 spread around the globe.