RSU Research Week gathers hundreds of international and local researchers

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Research Week commenced on Monday April 1. This entire week will be dedicated to research, including three large-scale scientific conferences where over 1 250 scientific reports will be presented, and include a series of guest lectures, practical workshops and additional events. All events are open to the public. The inauguration ceremony of two Honorary Doctors also took place on Monday adding an especially festive atmosphere to the week. Live broadcasts of some of the events are scheduled.

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‘I am certain that these five days of research will enable the demonstration of our achievements, help attendees get new ideas, find contacts for new co-operation projects, and expand their professional contact networks on an international scale. Research Week will serve as a platform for scientific breakthroughs for everyone from students to teams from scientific institutes,’ emphasizes RSU Rector, Professor Aigars Pētersons.

On Monday, 1 April, keynote presentations by former President of Latvia (1999-2007) Prof. Dr Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and molecular geneticist, and winner of the French innovation prize (Médaille de l’innovation 2017) Prof. Jamal Tazi, opened the conference on medicine and health sciences Knowledge for Use in Practice. Prof. Yehuda Shoenfeld, an autoimmune disease researcher from Israel, Peter Goretzki, a researcher and endocrine surgeon, Prof. Maija Dambrova, a pharmacologist and artificial intelligence researcher, and Prof. of biomedical engineering Simo Jaakko Saarakkala from Finland, gae reports at the opening plenary session. Later on the first day the presentations were organised in seven parallel sections covering such areas as cardiovascular health, oncology and haematology, children’s and women’s health, infectious diseases, psychological health and neuroscience, dentistry, orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, as well as pharmacy and pharmacology.

The Knowledge for Use in Practice conference continues on 2 and 3 April. Ten thematic conferences will be conducted in parallel sections: complementarity principles in the research of metabolic diseases, traumatology and orthopaedics, morphology, rare clinical cases, rare diseases, humanities and medicine, public health and the management of healthcare systems, digital pathology, as well as a thematic conference on education on a higher educational institution level, Students in the Role of Researchers, and the 3rd Symposium of the Baltic Sea Countries on simulation and the use of virtual reality.  

On Monday, 1 April, the inauguration ceremony of two Honorary Doctors will take place at 17:30 in the RSU Great Hall. The title of Honorary Doctor (Doctor Honoris Causa) will be granted to Prof. Matthew Goldsmith (USA) and Prof. Eugene Minevich (USA) for their special contribution to the development of studies and research at RSU.

On Tuesday, 2 April, the interdisciplinary social sciences conference PLACES was held - reports on social anthropology, scientific law and economy, media and communication, politics and international relations were presented. Additionally the international mobility of researchers and lecturers was evaluated during a panel session of research staff. This was the first time that RSU hosts a social sciences conference on such a large scale. Researchers from Sweden, Spain and Latvia participated in the conference with opening speeches. Before the conference, the Head of the conference’s organising committee, Prof. Deniss Hanovs, emphasised that ‘during the conference RSU will be a venue where the most diverse methodological directions and theoretical schools can meet. Furthermore the entire event will be open to the public as much as possible. Nowadays, when pseudo-fields like conspiracy theories, myths and esotericism compete with science, it is a researcher’s duty to communicate as actively as possible.’

Other events were scheduled in addition to the main programme of PLACES. The book The SCOPUS Diaries and the (il)logics of Academic Survival which contains ‘survival’ strategies for researchers who are nowadays required to lecture, manage, fundraise as well as be active on social networks, was presented on 2 April. Meanwhile on 3 April a programme for current and future journalists, A Day of Constructive Journalism, is being held all day enabling international experts to share their experiences on how to maintain quality at a time when subscriptions are declining.  

During the second half of the week, on 4-5 April, students will take over when the largest International Student Conference in "Health and Social Sciences" in the Baltic States will be held in 17 sections covering both social sciences, as well as healthcare. Participating students will present a series of practical workshops and guest lectures. 

Research Week language – English.

For detailed programme descriptions please visit the websites of all three conferences, and pay attention to the Side Events subsections. A live broadcast of the opening of Knowledge for Use in Practice will be available on LSM.lv on 1 April between 9:00 and 13:00, as well as a live broadcast of the introduction of PLACES on 2 April from 9:00 to 11.00.