A week in the company of 70 Nobel laureates: "I will not experience anything like this again"
Three junior researchers and one student from AU have spent a week of their summer in the exclusive company of no fewer than 70 Nobel laureates.
About the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is held every year in the German city of Lindau, which gave the conference its name.
The purpose of the conference is to create an opportunity for Nobel Laureates and junior researchers to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences in various formats such as talks, panel debates and more informal events.
The theme of the conference changes from year to year, rotating between the scientific disciplines in which Nobel Prizes are awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine and Economics. Every fifth meeting is interdisciplinary.
You can only participate in the conference once as a junior researcher. After that, you are in the Lindau Alumni Network. Participation is by nomination only. Nominations can be made by, for example, universities, foundations, or academic programmes.
Every year, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting creates informal meetings between junior researchers and academic heavyweights who have achieved the highest academic honour in the form of the Nobel Prize. The meetings usually focus on one of the scientific disciplines for which Nobel Prizes are awarded. But this year, the conference celebrated its 75th anniversary with a large, interdisciplinary conference with the participation of more than 70 Nobel Laureates and hundreds of research talents from all over the world. Among the latter were 3 researchers and one student from AU.
One of them is Camilla Gottlieb Andersen, who is a postdoc at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. She was not familiar with the conference beforehand, but through her research director, she was given the opportunity to apply for nomination to attend.
"It was a unique opportunity. I will not experience anything like this again, literally, because you are only allowed to participate once," she says.
One of the things that made the biggest impression on her was a talk by Hungarian professor Katalin Karikó, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her research that paved the way for the development of mRNA vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. For a number of years, while working on her discovery, Karikó was met with massive academic opposition at the University of Pennsylvania.
"She has an insane story and gave a really inspiring speech about staying true to yourself and holding on to what you believe in," says Camilla Gottlieb Andersen.
But the interdisciplinary focus and the meeting with research talents from other disciplines were also rewarding, she says.
"I was at a talk with the German physicist Stephen Hall, who works interdisciplinarily, and talked about some of the latest technical challenges his group has overcome. It was also interesting in the context of the biological research I work in. I spoke to him afterwards, and he recommended specific articles and the use of a particular type of antibody.”
Rather than focusing on highly specialised niche expertise, many of the discussions addressed broader issues shared by researchers across disciplines, something Camilla Gottlieb Andersen found particularly valuable:
"We have the entire research structure in common. So the conversations were about how we get more diversity in research, what impact AI will have on research articles, the future of research publications, and how to get the good idea," she says.
Direct access to Nobel laureates
She and the other research talents had direct access to the Nobel Laureates, says Camilla Gottlieb Andersen.
"There were no layers between us. It was just them and us. Often when you are at a conference, you represent your research group and thus your group leaders. But here you only represented yourself, your own career, interests and ideas, which was quite unique."
During the week, the researchers were put together in different constellations in both more formal talks and panel debates and informal contexts such as barbecue evenings. A packed and intense programme that started early in the morning and ended late in the evening. For Camilla Gottlieb Andersen, the week was a great experience:
"It was an unparalleled networking opportunity," she says.
Uncertainty and setbacks
Judith Zubia Aranburu, a PhD student at iNANO at AU, also highlights the opportunity to interact directly with the Nobel Laureates in an informal way:
"Hearing about challenges, mistakes and unexpected turns in their careers, in addition to their scientific discoveries, made me acknowledge the human side of research on a deeper level," she says, and also highlights the conversations with the many other junior researchers from other cultures and scientific disciplines:
"We all share the same curiosity and passion for research. The conversations with them reminded me of the value of thinking and collaborating interdisciplinarily."
Judith Zubia Aranburu was also very inspired by the meeting with Katalin Karikó, and highlights the Nobel Laureates Anne L'Huillier, Fred Ramsdell and Ben Feringa, with whom she had the opportunity to speak.
"On a personal level, it was valuable to hear how the Nobel Laureates have experienced uncertainty, setbacks and long periods without significant success. Their stories testify that persistence, curiosity and openness to new ideas are just as important as technical expertise," she says.
Judith Zubia Aranburu was nominated for the meeting through the European Commission's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme.
Unique opportunity
The four participants from AU did not know each other in advance. Nele Eggers, an international master's degree student at the Department of Chemistry, says that she arrived the evening before the start of the conference, where Judith Zubia Aranburu happened to be among the first people she met. They quickly found out that they both came from AU. From the list of participants, they could see that Camilla Gottlieb Andersen and Charlotte Steen Duholm also participated, and all four met during the conference.
Nele Eggers agrees with Camilla Gottlieb Andersen that the conference was a unique opportunity:
"It was really overwhelming and surreal to be a part of, and in the beginning I was a little unsure whether I could just go and talk to the Nobel Laureates. But through the various events, we were brought together," says Nele Eggers and continues:
"It's easy to glorify these excellent researchers, but they're normal, friendly people who enjoy doing research. And that was one of the things I took with me: The importance of holding on to the joy of research."
Nele Eggers had the pleasure of meeting Professor Michel H. Devoret, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics last year, and Sir Martin J. Evans, who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2007.
Nele Eggers was nominated for the meeting through the University of Potsdam in Germany, where she studied physics. She is currently a master's student at AU via the Erasmus programme and will continue at AU as a PhD student.
This text is machine translated and post-edited by Mie Skov Jeppesen.