ETUDE’s second network-wide training took place from 25-29 April 2022 in Hamburg, Germany. The training week focused on the Diagnosis of Functional Disorders (FD), and was organized with the active involvement of a selection of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). All ESRs and some supervisors were finally able to meet each other in person, to get to know each other and to share academic insights.
The week started with a transferable skills course on patients´ involvement in research. The course was facilitated by pain patient and president of the Pain Alliance Europe, together with an experienced researcher. It highlighted the importance of patient engagement in the research process, and the impact that it may have on the process and the results.
The training week also included in-depth lectures on the history of diagnostic criteria, the impact of receiving a diagnosis, effective communication surrounding Diagnosis, and the intriguing topic of mind-body dualism. The talks were followed by engaging discussions with experts in the field of FD. Some lectures were also attended online by other researchers in the field.
Moreover, the four ESRs whose projects focus on Diagnosis presented the status of their projects and shared their insights from their preliminary results. It was impressive to see how much the ESRs could achieve already just a few months into their PhDs.
Other essential addressed topics included a lecture on data handling and cleaning in practice, a workshop on open science and communication, and a brief discussion on the subject of women in science/work life balance. In addition, three ESRs belonging to the Diagnosis Work Package recorded a new episode for the ETUDE podcast series, which will be published online soon.
The week ended with a workshop on Wikipedia entries, where the ESRs evaluated current descriptions for diagnostic concepts, covering 15 languages. The aim of this workshop was to initiate the development of an optimal, non-stigmatizing description of FD and the translation into languages spoken by the group, the adjustment of Wikipedia entries, and the preparation of a joint publication.
Overall, the second training event was a big success and everyone is already looking forward to the next event in Budapest from 27 February – 3 March 2023.
