20/01/2020
The new year started with a training week in Malta. The training event held at the University of Malta was open to other PhD student who found the courses relevant to their project. The week long training event was to be delivered by experts in the fields of Risk Assessment and Predictive Modelling (some of whom happened to be our supervisors).
A few of us arrived the day before the workshop was to be held. We planned to meet at a pub aptly named Cork’s Irish Bar where we warmed up to each other over rounds of karaoke and drinks. The evening went down well with all of us, the nervousness forgotten, we were comfortable with each other, and awaited the start of the training event the following day.
The first day of the training event started off with a few minor hitches, including technical and human errors (some people including myself arriving a bit late on the very first day). Professor Enda introduced the project goals, along with the flow of events and the other professors who would be taking over the event. The first session was an introductory session where all the PhD students spoke a bit about themselves and their projects. The itinerary for the rest of the sessions were as follows:
Day 1: Introduction to MATLAB by Professor Jan Van Impe and Satyajeet Bhonsale
Day 2: Predictive Modelling in Microbiology by Professor Jan Van Impe and Design of Experiments; Model Callibration based on informative experiments by Professors Vasillis Valdramidis and Jan Van Impe
Day 3: Risk Analysis, Risk Assessment and Risk based food safety management by Professor Enda Cummins and Dr. Jeanne-Marie Membré
Day 4: Predicitive modelling of microbial growth using Combase and PMP by Professors Kostas Koutsoumanis and Vasillis Valdramidis
Day 5: Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment during Food Processing and Food Storage by Professor Kostas Koutsoumanis and Dr. Geraldine Boue
Each session was highly relevant, and we could see how to incorporate the new information on predictive modelling and risk assessment into our respective projects. Even the students outside the project could relate the knowledge they gained to their projects. The Professors had a different teaching style, though all of them were equally helpful and funny. There was time allotted for self study, where students who were better at a certain subject went around and helped others if required. The coffee breaks proved to be an essential part of the workshop. These breaks allowed us some time to relax, get to know each project better and come up with possible ideas for collaboration. It also helped us engage with the Professors, who either solved our doubts on the project, shared interesting stories as well as discussed ideas for our research.
The week ended with a group dinner. The supervisors took us to a nice Maltese restaurant after which we went to a small bar which the supervisors had visited years ago, during their first training event in Malta. The informal session was fun, where we discovered everyone had hidden talents.
This was the first get together as a group since we had been recruited for the research project. In the short span of time we elected a leader to coordinate with the supervisory and project board. We held our first meeting and named ourselves “The Protectors” after our Project title. We set an agenda for our next meeting which would take place on video call. The key to the success of our project is communication since all the projects are interlinked. The expertise and progress of each ESR will be useful for another, therefore we decided to schedule a video meeting at least once a month.
It was an exciting week. The knowledge gain was incredible and useful for my project. Each of us is more motivated to see the project till the end after this meet, and we hope to keep each other motivated throughout the project.