ISC 2023 International Jury Coordinators: the Conference is a Safe Environment to Practice Presenting Research

03 February 2023

Conferences, workshops

Hoshika Sivapalan is in her 12th semester and was previously the Medical Science Director of the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) International Student Association (ISA). Rini Stella Roy Francis Xavier is a medical student in her 6th semester and has been actively involved in RSU student life from her first year. She has been involved with the RSU ISA, the Student Union (Studējošo pašpārvalde, SP), and been a student council member.

Sivapalan and Xavier are both International Jury Coordinators on the Organising Committee of the RSU International Student Conference (ISC) that will take place on 27-28 March 2023.

Previous interviews: ISC 2021, ISC 2022

What made you want to help organise the ISC?

Xavier: I have attended ISC and been an activist. I applied to be on the organising committee thinking it would be a great opportunity to see what it looks like to put together the biggest conference in the Baltics. I like that all the organisers are students.

Sivapalan: It was the same for me. I used to participate in the conference through ISA, then I became an activist. Once you become an activist, you want to be part of the organising committee, because as an activist you see the work that has already gone in. It makes you want to take on a bigger role the next year. I was the International Jury Coordinator last year, when most of the jury attended via Zoom, but this year we are mainly onsite. I wanted to be on the organising committee again to see how things had changed.

Hoshika Sivapalan

Rini Stella Roy Francis Xavier

What are the benefits of working on this conference?

Sivapalan: I feel like working on the conference is like a break from studying rather than adding to my workload. It's also a lot of fun. We hang out at the SP house and hear updates about what each office has done. Afterwards we can talk and meet new people.

It's a great way to meet people who have similar opinions and drives as you.

Xavier: I agree with Hoshika. One thing I really like is that when I look for jury members for the surgery session I come across very impressing people. They handle surgery after surgery, even 18 hour-long surgeries, and then find enough time to do their research, and relax. It's surreal to see that we would be like that in 3 or 6 years. It's useful to see different kinds of role models.

What field are you interested in?

Xavier: I'm inclined towards psychiatry, because I love minds, but for a while I was interested in emergency medicine. The cases you see there can be unique.

Sivapalan: I am interested in paediatrics and obstetrics and gynaecology (OBGYN). These are the sections that I'm most looking forward to at the conference, but like Rini said, I've also always been interested in the psychiatry sessions. I've even moderated this section a couple of times. The research in this field is quite varied and the methodologies are interesting.

Xavier: Also, at every conference I've attended, someone will always be talking about Alzheimer's. Every time you hear a presentation about Alzheimer's they are presenting a new set of data. This is interesting, because in the medical field, we are all looking to solve the Alzheimer's problem.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Xavier: I love the workshops because they're more intimate.

Last conference, when I was an activist, I participated in a surgical workshop where we got the chance to work on a pig's heart. It was quite thrilling, because it almost looked like a human heart. Two doctors taught us different sewing techniques. I'm looking forward to the surgery workshop this year too.

Sivapalan: The workshops focus on skills we haven't covered in class yet. I remember that the Latvian cardiology society organised an echocardiography workshop. I found what I learned there very useful during my placements. One of the perks of being on the committee is that we know which abstracts are coming up in different sessions and which workshops are being organised. We can already see what seems interesting and what we want to attend. Surgery and OBGYN seem very popular this year, which must mean that there will be some interesting research presented in these sessions. We also know the times of the sessions so it's easier for us to plan our day around them.

Why would you say that research is important for students?

Sivapalan: I think the best thing about a student conference as opposed to a larger conference, is that it's like practice. You're being judged as a student and the feedback is meant to encourage and improve your research, your methods, and your presentation.

In an actual conference, the jury tends to be harsher in their criticism. Here, the questions are more like prompts to bring out the best in your research. It's a very nice environment in which to present for the first time. As a doctor, I don't think you necessarily need to do research, but if you want to leave a mark, you need to do something different. I felt that by the third week of my placement already, I was kind of seeing the same cases every day, but if you do something research-oriented, then you get to work on more exciting subjects.

Xavier: I agree with Hoshika. I alway liken the work we do as doctors to being a detective. The work is mainly about signs and symptoms. It's like cracking a case every time you see a patient. Sometimes you might get a case where you don't even know has happened, or how to approach it, but then there was one doctor who had a case and they published it. If they hadn't published it, you wouldn't know that there was a precedent that would help you solve your case and save the patient.

Are there any presentations that you're looking forward to at Research Week?

Xavier: At the moment I haven't thought so much about RW because I've been focused on getting ISC done, but the whole week I'll feel like I'm in a candy store. At any time, I will be able to go hear doctors talk about a lot of interesting things! I have never heard anyone present on forensic science, for example, so I'm going to be looking out for this topic. That's what I'm looking forward to!

Sivapalan: As I'm interested in OBGYN, I'm looking forward to the Women and Children's Health section of course. There are some pretty amazing keynote speakers even coming all the way from Miami! However, something that I feel would be interesting to everyone is the Innovation in Medicine and Healthcare – from Research to Practice section.

There will be interesting discussions about AI and medical technologies, personalised medicine, and so much more that I feel will be a large part of our careers moving forward.