Why you should attend the conference

It takes a lifetime to learn, especially when it comes to medicine. The conference will gather international experts from all around the world. All that's left for you to do is to come, listen and get inspired! Research Week is distinctly interdisciplinary, and it is a great platform for innovative ideas. Small talk can turn into big ideas. It is therefore important to stay open-minded and to accept challenges.

Marta Laņģe,
project manager, RSU Medical Education Technology Centre

I am glad that the concept of the conference is changing – it's becoming more dynamic and the topics are chosen more thoroughly than before. I think that it is important for researchers, physicians and representatives of other fields to interact. Sometimes there are situations when a colleague, or someone attending the conference shares an opinion which unexpectedly provides a solution to a problem, or sparks an idea in another participant. The conference is a unique opportunity and a platform to make new contacts. Its potential should definitely be utilised.

Jānis Mednieks,
Neurologist, Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital

It is essential not only to carry out research and to accurately interpret the results, but also to disseminate your results to the public thus improving collective knowledge on a particular topic. In my opinion the last step – presenting the data on an international platform – is a rather big problem in Latvia. We can only succeed by doing. Conferences like this offer an opportunity for us to train and learn to display the results of our studies on an international level. I think that young researchers are those that have the greatest potential of showing off Latvian science to the world.

Kristaps Šablinskis,
RSU medical resident of Cardiology,
1st year doctoral student in Medicine

Young researchers should definitely attend in order to gain new knowledge and inspiration to engage in research themselves. There are many fields in Latvia in which we refer solely to international sources as there is no local data available. Although it is not likely that someone would win the Nobel Prize for analysing local processes, doing this research gives an opportunity to gain insight into the situation in Latvia, and to understand what can be changed when working with patients. For those who have been engaged in research for some time already events like these allow us to ‘re-charge’ and get inspired for continued research.

Lāsma Līdaka,
RSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
2nd year student in the doctoral study programme Medicine

The conference provides a great opportunity to familiarise other participants with our discoveries. The conference is an ideal platform for forming new ideas and finding common ground for further research projects by communicating with colleagues. Informal communication and contact is also significant. Despite modern digital communication face-to-face communication, with its unique character, opportunities and even charm, still remains relevant. 

Toms Pulmanis,
Vice-Dean, RSU Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare
Academic Staff, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology 

Every Latvian healthcare professional should allocate time to attend the conference to present their studies, and get to know about the research currently being carried out by their colleagues. We are often aware of studies carried out in France or Italy while having no idea about what is happening here in Kleisti or at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopaedics. This event presents a great opportunity to discover what is new in Latvia in other fields of medicine. In other words, the need for information exchange among our closest neighbours is self-evident, but unfortunately relevant information does not always reach everyone who would be interested. 

Mārtiņš Kalējs,
Leading Researcher, RSU Scientific Laboratory of Biomechanics

The conference will be a positive and inspiring event which will serve as a meeting point for students and residents, clinicians, institute researchers, and gurus of medicine. It will be an opportunity to meet, to learn something new, get answers or simply to socialise. Latvians still need to fine-tune their communication skills, learn not to be shy, to approach colleagues who they have not seen for ages or even people they do not know. Research Week will provide plenty of opportunities to perfect these skills. 

Inga Ziemele,
Infectologist Children's Clinical University Hospital,
Academic Staff, RSU Department of Paediatrics

This type of conference is like an annual knowledge update on the advancements in the field and the university's research in general. We don't actually interact that often with colleagues from other structural units during our daily work in our specific areas. It's a great opportunity to meet colleagues in one place, to learn about their current projects and, perhaps, to gain some ideas for scientific cooperation or improvement of the study process. Furthermore, this year as the conference is international, everyone should take note of the names of guest lecturers, so that you don't miss a presentation of a leading researcher. 

Ieva Lībiete,
Academic Staff, RSU Institute of the History of Medicine

The conference will be an opportunity to recharge. I am interested in people, and the conference is a great place to meet charismatic people – special and interesting personalities who are involved in their work because they enjoy and care about it, not because they are being paid well. These types of people are a great inspiration for my work as well, and it is always a pleasure to meet them. By taking part in the RSU International Research Conference and listening to presentations, anyone can get an idea of what is happening in a specific scientific field and the directions of European research. 

Gundega Jākobsone,
Head of the Department, RSU Department of Orthodontics
Associate Professor, Department of Orthodontics

The conference and preparing for it inspires and motivates. Individually, one can read various scientific articles, whereas the conference gives new contacts, ideas and knowledge. It is a chance to become acquainted with other researchers, find out about their work, collectively assess various ideas and maybe develop them into a research project after the conference.

Maksims Čistjakovs,
Researcher, RSU Institute of Microbiology and Virology

Participation in the conference gives a unique opportunity to gain topical and innovative ideas, also in the field of university pedagogy. Students should attend to feel the scientific atmosphere, to talk about their own research, to learn from information provided by other participants which can be later integrated into their own study process, to generate innovative ideas, find answers to questions and search for cooperation partners for further research and projects. Lecturers and researchers should participate to gain new ideas, find confirmation for their studies, or maybe also arguments against their proposals, and to establish new contacts. 

Inese Stars,
Academic Staff, RSU Department of Public Health and Epidemiology 

The Conference will provide a great opportunity for inspiration for your future plans. I would definitely suggest that professionals attend the Traumatology and Orthopaedics session with well-known professor Alexander Lerner from Ziv Medical Centre (Israel). The theme of his presentation will be the treatment of limb injuries caused by armed conflict, so it should be visually impressive and memorable. Several well-known Latvian traumatologists and orthopaedicians will share their practical experience during the sessions as well. It is going to be interesting to everyone!

Toms Arcimovičs,
RSU medical resident of Traumatology and Orthopaedics

Sometimes, when you focus on one particular study direction for a long period of time, the global view on various things starts to blur and some things may slip past unnoticed; therefore, an international conference is a great opportunity to find out what other researchers are doing and get to know researchers from various countries in one place. Research cannot be put in a small, closed box and kept for yourself, what you know must be shared with others. For scientists with extensive experience in research it is a chance to share their experience, whereas for us, the younger generation researchers, it is not only a way to acquire additional knowledge, but also a great chance to present, test and prove oneself. The greatest value added is provided by constructive discussions and the questions asked following presentations, because very often it allows one to understand, in which direction to continue one's own studies and what has been done correctly or incorrectly.

Džeina Mežale,
Doctoral student, Acting Assistant and Lecturer,
RSU Department of Pathology

Research requires discussion and constructive criticism; therefore, every important international scientific conference is very significant. Very often we don't even realise how much is happening in science at RSU or in Latvia. At the conference, participants will have the opportunity to find out about all current research directions in one place, meet colleagues from other structural units and propose ideas for cooperation, including interdisciplinary cooperation.

Elita Poplavska,
Head of the Department, RSU Department of Dosage Form Technology
Leading Researcher, RSU Institute of Public Health

To dispel the myth that nothing happens in Latvian science because of its relatively meagre funding. The conference will showcase the most recent scientific contributions both in clinics as well as medical research institutes. It is essential to share this not only with researchers at all levels, but also students, doctoral students and residents. It is essential for the general public to be aware that there are many achievements in Latvian science.

Inese Čakstiņa,
Molecular Biologist, Academic Staff,
RSU Department of Biology and Microbiology
Leading Researcher, RSU Institute of Oncology