2022 Secret Sessions

Off-program content. Just for you.

Jump to a day:
Monday • Tuesday • Wednesday • Thursday

Monday

“Juggling without struggling – can, and should, academics do it all?”

Joana Pinto, Hendrik Mattern, Sanam Assili

Time: Monday 09 May 10:15-11:15
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: Marion Smits, Tchoyoson Lim, Molly Bright, Jana Hutter, Andre Paschoal, Patricia Clement

Description: Are you juggling your academic and personal life and feeling overwhelmed? There is so much to do and think about that it is hard to focus and to know where to start?

In this Secret Session we will discuss the topic of time management and burnout in an open and inclusive way. We will highlight the impact of COVID-19 and remote working, as well as the disproportional effect this has on early career researchers from marginalised groups. We hope to generate a fruitful discussion surrounding the best habits and tactics to tackle this issue. By the end of this session, we hope the attendees have a clearer vision of inclusive ways to promote a healthier and more productive academic environment.

Mentor speed meeting

Nivin Nyström, Stefan Ruschke, Linda Heskamp

Time: Monday 09 May 17:00-18:00
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium

Description: Pre-registration is mandatory and registration is closed. The pandemic has taken its toll on networking opportunities for junior trainees through the cancellation and online reformatting of many conferences. Many labs may have also experienced reduced recruitment channels as a result. The Mentor Speed Dating session hopes to alleviate some of this lost time by directly connecting scholars at different career stages with shared research interests.

Tuesday

Writing a white (gray) paper – the good, the bad and the ugly

Thomas Lindner

Time: Tuesday 10 May 09:15-10:15
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: Luis Hernandez-Garcia, Henk-Jan Mutsaerts, Manuel Taso, Joseph Woods, Qin Qin, Thomas Lindner

Description: A “white paper” is a guide to inform about an issue presenting the current state and helps solving problems and making decisions. Five years after the publication of the Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) white paper, the ASL community decided to write five “gray papers”‘ to harmonize the implementation and application of Arterial Spin Labeling. To write such a paper, you can get academical “out of the book” information. Reality however is often different. This session aims to provide the interested participants with the naked reality without sugar coating. The panel consists of the first/last authors of the papers and we talk about the ups and downs we had, how we motivated ourselves and the co-authors, how our expectations and reality matched (or drifted apart), how to deal with co-authors not answering on time, delays in the process and many other issues we faced. We think that the information and our experience provided in this session will benefit other fields within the MRI community who plan such an approach and gives guidance to what future authors can expect.

MR Physicists: Delivering Patient Care

Simon Shah, Caitlin O’Brien

Time: Tuesday 10 May 10:15-11:15
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: Damien McHugh, Holly Elbert, Sam Butler, and Maria Yanez Lopez.

Description: What role does MRI Physics play in a large, busy hospital? Temporarily step away from behind the desk of academia and come and hear clinical scientists, radiologists, and radiographers present and discuss real life case studies from the front lines of MRI. Find out how together we translate research into the clinic, enable patients to access vital treatment and care, and make hospitals more efficient and cost-effective.

Task failed successfully: your greatest ideas that never were

Francesco Santini, Nikola Stikov, Shaihan Malik, Florian Knoll, Efrat Shimron

Time: Tuesday 10 May 14:45-15:45
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium

Description: Failure is a natural and essential part of the scientific process, and the publication of failed ideas and experiments has potentially great teachable value for the scientific community. However, negative results are shoved under the rug and never get spoken of. We want to change this! Come hear about failure stories, unpublishable papers, and negative results, and talk about your own! Better research, and better academic life, start here!

From Comfort Zone to Success: How I did it?

Christian Montalba

Time: Tuesday 10 May 15:45-16:45
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: Krishna Nayak, Karin Shmuelli, Anya van der Kolk, Mark Schweitzer, Vikas Gulani

Description: Stories and insights from senior researchers that work in academic, industrial, and clinical fields will be shared during this session. You will learn how different professionals stepped out of their comfort zone and learned skills that made them unique in their respective areas. We will discuss how you can find your path and find out out which skills would like to acquire, to be successful in your future field.

Wednesday

Clinical MR Imaging in Iran; Opportunities and Challenge

Hamidreza Saligheh Rad, Davoud Khani

Time: Wednesday 11 May 09:15-10:15
Format and Location: Virtual at Gather.town in the Virtual Resonarium
Panelists: Hamidreza Saligheh Rad, Hossein Ghanaati, Mohammadreza Ay, Masume Giti, Mansoor Fatehi, Hamid Soltanian Zadeh

Description: Major purpose of this panel discussion is to make sure we understand the multidisciplinary nature of research activities in the field of clinical MRI, how this field is formed in Iran and how different parties (including research centers, companies, universities, scientific societies and imaging centers) are managing this field within the country. Secret session tries to discuss the opportunities and challenges that the stakeholders are facing to improve research and life of researchers in this field within the country both in quality and quantity.

To attend the Gather.town Secret Sessions, click here.
You must be logged in to Pathable to use this link.

Get Funded to Network: The European Experience with COST Actions

Patricia Clement, Joana Pinto

Time: Wednesday 11 May 10:15-11:15
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: Xavier Golay, Esther Warnert, Fatemeh Arzanforoosh, Christoffer Laustsen and Hermien Kan

Description: Would you like to create a research network with your peers, but lack funding?

The COST Actions provide funding to create networks, building bridges between researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders across Europe and beyond. But how do you successfully apply for one? Which opportunities do these Actions offer for marginalised groups, such as early-career researchers and researchers from less research-intensive countries? And how can non-EU researchers join and profit from these Actions?

During this interactive secret session, these questions will be answered by a panel of experts, involved in one of the past and ongoing Actions. By the end of this session you will know how to join or even apply for a COST Action. Join us!

Magnetic ExChange: How to Become a Changemaker

Nikou Louise Damestani, Laura Bortolotti, Jodi Watt

Time: Wednesday 11 May 14:45-15:45
Format and Location: Hybrid; In-person at the Resonarium or online via “LiveStreams” in the Virtual Resonarium in
Gather.Town
Panelists: Dr. Laura Bell, Dr. Nikola Stikov, Dr. Özlem Ipek, Dr. Nicole Seiberlich, Dr. Carinne Piekema, Dr. Andrew Webb

Description: Are you a trainee with ideas for the future of ISMRM? This is the secret session for you! We will be hosting a discussion with changemakers of ISMRM on how to get involved in ISMRM, and we also aim to raise awareness of both the barriers and avenues for trainee participation in the community. The session will be hybrid and live!

To attend the Gather.town Secret Sessions, click here.
You must be logged in to Pathable to use this link.

Afternoon Tea with BART

BART Development Team

Time: Wednesday 11 May 15:45-16:45
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium

Description: Join us for a lively discussion and update on the BART open-source toolbox for Computational MRI. The BART team will introduce the toolbox to new users and share the latest features that we have incorporated into the project. In particular, we will showcase some of the recent demos and tutorials to get you up-to-speed with using BART for your own research projects. We will also showcase real-world research done by you, the users! Finally, we will end with an open panel and Q&A with the BART team.

“The nuts and bolts of getting your research funded by NSF, NIH and CDMRP”

Ileana Hancu

Time: Wednesday 11 May 17:00-18:00
Format and Location: Virtual at Gather.town in the Virtual Resonarium
Panelists: Dr. Laurel C. Kuxhaus, Program Director of the NSF; Dr. Ileana Hancu, Program Director of the NIH; and Dr. Henry Nothnagel, Program Director of the CDMRP.

Description: A session focused on providing direct information from key funding programs on: 1) how to find a funding opportunity announcement tailored to your idea, 2) how to write a solid, convincing application: ingredients of the magic sauce, 3) What happens to an application after being submitted: where it goes, who reviews it and criteria for review, 4) common problems in applications, and 5) what happens after review.

To attend the Gather.town Secret Sessions, click here.
You must be logged in to Pathable to use this link.

Thursday

Explain It Like I’m Five: Communicating MRI Research to a Live Layman Audience

Kimberly Hemmerling, Divya Joshi, Jasmine Vu, Kristina Zvolanek

Time: Thursday 12 May 10:30-11:30
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium

Description: Ever been asked to explain your research at a “10th-grade level” or in “layman terms”? In this session, you will have an opportunity to practice exactly that by explaining your science to a live audience of London-based secondary school students. You will craft a 1-minute elevator pitch to practice applying appropriate organization, tone, and jargon-free language. Then, you will recite this pitch to secondary students and receive feedback based on their understanding and enthusiasm. Preparation of the elevator pitch before the session is recommended but not necessary; we have built-in brainstorming time for this purpose. The best pitch will receive a small ISMRM prize!

MRI Challenges: The impacts beyond the field’s development

Andre Paschoal, Emma Biondetti, Joana Pinto, Rianne van der Heijden

Time: Thursday 12 May 14:45-15:45
Format and Location: Virtual at Gather.town. IMPORTANT: For all onsite attendees, you are invited to come in-person to the Resonarium and bring you own laptop to join this session.
Panelists:

  • Laura Bell – Genentech, USA: talking about open science in MRI challenges.
  • Godwin Ogbole – University of Ibadan, Nigeria: the importance of MRI challenge to push the field in developing countries.
  • Anahita Fathi Kazerooni – Penn Medicine, USA: the experiences of OSIPI in organizing MRI challenges.

Description: MRI challenges are known to provide several key direct benefits to the respective field, such as validating analysis methods and workflows or providing curated data sources. Nevertheless, there are also invisible effects that go beyond this direct impact. In this 1-hour round table discussion with a Q&A session, we plan to discuss the hidden benefits of organizing challenges and the important role of open-science and inclusiveness when setting up and disseminating these challenges. The invited panelists will cover a broad range of experiences, both in terms of expertise as well as in a more personal level (location, ethnicity, etc).

To attend the Gather.town Secret Sessions, click here.
You must be logged in to Pathable to use this link.

Dads of ISMRM – How up-to-date is our community with gender equality in childcare?

Sola Adeleke, Thomas Lindner

Time: Thursday 12 May 15:45-16:45
Format and Location: In-person at the Resonarium
Panelists: T.B.A.

Description: By continuous advancement in many parts of todays’ society the pursuit to abolish fixed gender roles and opening possibilities for both partners to balance work and childcare has increased the possibilities for men to spend more time with their children. Academic societies like the ISMRM play a pioneer role for equity and equality. In this session, we will have a panel talk with fathers from various cultural backgrounds and views towards family, work and the balance of these. The aim is to see where the ISMRM and our field of science stands regarding the role of fathers. We will highlight what it means to be a father in our field, what are the challenges but also the benefits in the academic surroundings. We will furthermore deal with the prejudice fathers face and what solutions we can take home for the benefit of us, our families and how it helps planning a family in the future. We invite everyone, junior and senior members with and without kids to join the discussion. We specifically ask to not to try and make a “man vs. woman” debate and refrain from comparisons, since this session should specifically highlight the position of fathers.

A Bit of History...

The Secret Sessions initiative started at ISMRM 2017 in Honolulu (Hawaii). These sessions are run in a dedicated space at the annual meeting: the “Resonarium,” a comfortable and less formal meeting space in the exhibition hall. Due to the great success, the Secret Sessions also accompanied the annual ISMRM meetings of the following years. And also this year, the Secret Sessions will be back – partly online, partly on site – at ISMRM 2022!

The real secret is that… these sessions are not secret at all! They’re separate from the main scientific program, and much more informal, explorative and frequently tailored (but not limited) to early-career researchers.

The idea of the Secret Sessions is to create an appropriate framework to host an original session for everyone with an idea. For early-career researchers, this is a unique opportunity to not only gain experience in organizing a session, but also to meet new people and increase exposure in the ISMRM community.

You can reach us at secret@ismrm.org for all relevant questions and feedback.

Organizers’ Biographies

Nivin Nyström is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Caltech. In 2021, she was awarded a Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF) fellowship, sponsored by Amgen, to pursue her current research. Prior to this, she received her PhD in October 2020 from the Department of Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, where she engineered contrast agents for targeted imaging of cancer metastasis.

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Linda Heskamp is a postdoctoral fellow at the Newcastle MR Centre at Newcastle University. Before this, she received her PhD in January 2020 from the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance group at the Radboud university medical center. Her research focuses on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy to further understand the muscle pathophysiology in muscular dystrophies as well as understanding healthy muscle physiology and metabolism.

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Stefan Ruscke is a post-doctoral researcher at the Body Magnetic Resonance Group at the Technical University of Munich. This work is focusing on quantitative water-fat imaging and spectroscopy methods in bone and musculoskeletal applications.

It’s a secret to everybody.