Young Investigators United (YIU)

YIU at ECO 2008

The 3rd EASO Young Investigators United (YIU) Symposium was held in sunny Geneva during ECO 2008. More than 80 young investigators participated in the meeting - twice the number the organisers expected. A positive surprise, indeed!

The program included two parts, 1. Evening Talks - Obesity prevention and treatment in theory, and 2. Evening Walks - Obesity prevention and treatment in practice.

In the first part, Professor Jaap Seidell from the Netherlands gave us an inspiring and educative presentation on career development. Four talented young researchers then competed for the EASO Young Investigators United Best Thesis Award - won by Salome Scholtens from Netherlands. 

The cosy atmosphere of the symposium encouraged lively discussions between YIs - a fact acknowledged by several YIs after the event.

Uniting YIs continued in the second part of the program. Villa Sarasin's VIP Lounge provided the perfect venue for networking, dining and dancing. EASO kindly offered snacks and a great DJ who offered us brisk dancesport, for example in the form of letkiss.

The four Thesis Award finalists were presented with bottles of wine, provided by Professor Arya Sharma from the Canadian Obesity Network. The Evening Walks part of the program literally started when the YIs searched for an after-party. After interactive walks and entertaining train rides, the YIs found an intimate salsa bar, leaving us with good memories of our experiences in Geneva-by-night.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 4th EASO YIU meeting next year in Amsterdam, ECO2009!

We encourage all Young Investigators to join this group and ask all EASO Member Associations to encourage their student members to do the same.

YIU at ECO 2007

In its second official meeting during ECO2007 in Budapest, YIU was given a new definition by one of its founders, Tommy Visscher from the Netherlands. YIU is now an association for ‘all obesity researchers who feel young’. (Maybe the new definition was launched because the founders themselves are reaching the age of 35 but still wish to be called YIs).

At the ECO2007 45 young(ish) researchers from 15 different countries came together at the YIU meeting. The workshop began with a presentation given by Arya Sharma, Canada, tackling the question whether health professionals really understand obesity. Three talented young researchers presented their thesis work: Anna Sigridur Olafsdottir talked about diet and lifestyle in women of childbearing age. Angelique CM Heinsbroek’s presentation on Aetiology of Insulin Resistance bridged us from obese mothers to the metabolic syndrome in the offspring in the Netherlands. And Irena Hainerova from the Czech Republic showed us interesting results on the Pathogenesis of early-onset obesity in Czech children.

Cédric Moro (France) and Vanessa van Harmelen (Sweden) - the two winners of the Young Investigator Award - had the honour to start the scientific program of the congress by presenting their own work. EASO also introduced Young Investigator Poster Prizes at ECO 2007 for eight promising young researchers.

YIU are already planning the next annual meeting at ECO2008 in Geneva. If you wish to participate in the organising committee, please send an email to:

kirsi.pietilainen@helsinki.fi

YIU at ECO 2005

YIU held its first meeting on 2nd June 2005 during the 14th European Congress on Obesity held in Athens, Greece. Over 65 participants, from 13 different European countries attend and we would like to thank everyone who came along to support us.

We would also like to congratulate all five of our presenters on the night: Pavel Flachs, Kaisa Valli-Jaakola, Johan Jocken, Sebastien Czernichow and in particular Nina Karnehed who was awarded with a trophy for Best Presentation.

New ideas on future YIs activities

Dimiter Dimitrov (Bulgaria) presented new ideas about collaborations within YIs for the forthcoming years: 

• Database with all YIU researchers
• Focus Teams / Groups of Interest
• Online Forum
• Job bank for PhD students and Post Docs
• IASO/ EASO/ IOTF eLearning Courses
• YIU posters, leaflet and fact sheets of major YIU achievements
• Ideas and initiatives
• YIU online e-magazine
• Interactive web materials
• Links to educational resources

If you have any further ideas for YIU activities or if you would like to work on any of the above named suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us by sending an email to yiu@easo.org.