European Students Conference

European Students' Conference (ESC) is an international scientific conference held annually for a week in October [http://www.esc-berlin.com] [http://youtube.com/watch?v=o5JQMZ0E0fM] [http://www.stethosglobe.de/inland/stud/b_10-2005_kj.php] . Entirely run by a team of mostly medical students, ESC is one of the largest student-run biomedical scientific conferences worldwide. It takes place at the Charité Medical School in Berlin, Germany. From Sept. 29th to Oct 3rd 2008 this conference will be held for the 19th time.

History

Over the years ESC has become one of the main scientific events at the Charité Medical School. Founded in the year 1989, at the time of major political changes at the -back then- most prestigious medical school of the German Democratic Republic, it is today one of the largest and well-known conferences of its kind. From the beginning, the central idea behind the ESC was to foster a better relationship between East and West. German reunification in October 1990 created the unique opportunity to transfer knowledge and to create a closer relationship between medical faculties in East and West. The elementary role of the ESC is the support of young scientists and the advance of biomedical science on an international scale.

** 18th ESC: 7-11th Oct 2007
** 17th ESC: 8-12th Oct 2006
** 16th ESC: 19-23rd Oct 2005
** 15th ESC: 19-23rd Oct 2004
** 14th ESC: 4-8th Nov 2003
** 13th ESC: 29th Oct-2nd Nov 2002
** 12th ESC: 21-25th Nov 2001
** 11th ESC: 22-26th Nov 2000

Objectives

The ESC is a platform for scientific exchange, as well as for the interaction of:

- students of medicine and related disciplines
- young and experienced scientists
- newcomers and the public
- university and industry
- medical students and young scientists, who wish to explore the possibilities of working and researching in Germany.

Program

General emphasis is put on a high quality scientific and educational program. This is realized in a series of scientific sessions, educational workshops and lectures that cover most fields of medicine. In addition to general subjects, each team selects a priority topic that becomes the focus of the respective ESC, e.g. cardiovascular research, regenerative medicine, neuroscience etc.

Structure

Operative Team

The ESC is run by an operative team of 5-8 students who are annually selected and appointed by the steering committee and the preceding operative team. Typically each of the new team members is assigned to manage a part of the operational process, including project management, scientific coordination, finances, fundraising, public relations, program, logistics and information technology. The operative team receives knowledge support from the active ESC alumni and institutional support from the faculty of Charité Medical School.

Alumni

As an ESC Alumni [http://www.esc-alumni.de] , every member of previous operative teams is encouraged to support the operative team by their knowledge of (1) process of conducting and (2) results of reworking the conference, and participate in general "across-the-board" discussions regarding the ESC.

Steering Committee

The ESC steering committee is a group of active ESC alumni [http://www.esc-alumni.de] . Every member of the ESC operational team can subsequently, however after a break of at least one year, be appointed a member of the steering committee.

" The Steering Committee works on a nonprofit basis to:"
- interview and select a current operative team, and facilitate its appointment by the dean and faculty of Charité
- promote transfer of knowledge between previous operative teams and the current team
- offer workshops to give an overview in organizational subfields
- meet with the operative team to set out timepoints for the achievement of organizational goals.
- together with the operative team impose measures how to deal with troublesome situations/team members if all other options have no effect.

" The Steering Committee does not:"
- affect, disturb or micromanage the operative team in their modus operandi.
- warrant the financial contracts provided by the faculty / participate in payment negotiations or deal with the failure thereof.

External links

* [http://www.esc-berlin.com] Official website
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=o5JQMZ0E0fM] Promotional video (shot at 15th ESC)
* [http://home.arcor.de/12thesc] Conserved website of 12th ESC
* [http://student.bmj.com/issues/07/05/reviews/210a.php] Student BMJ. Student conferences.