✨ This year in May, Synapse hosted the first Internal Synapse Summit 2024 in central Copenhagen, bringing together 100+ Synapsees from all the Synapse hubs from across Sweden (Stockholm, Lund and Linköping) and Denmark (Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg). The Synapse Summit was a two-day event filled with a series of inspiring talks and workshops.
💡 Our first speaker, Lene Gerlach, delivered an insightful presentation on the power of inclusive leadership and the critical role of psychological safety in enhancing the performance of diverse teams. Commitment, humility, an open mindset, and cultural intelligence are some of the characteristics highlighted by Lene as key traits of an inclusive leader. She also inspired us with her passion for her work and her dedication to mentoring women in life sciences through WiLD, emphasizing the essential nature of embracing diversity for creating an inclusive environment where every team member's perspective is valued.
🧠 The second speaker, Anke Karabanov, delved into the brain's role in both learning and aging. Throughout her presentation, she interestingly focuses on how the human brain can maintain flexibility and resilience, while also emphasizing the significance of sleep and potential consequences of sleep deprivation. It's essential to bear in mind why prioritizing sleep, even during more busy periods of life, is crucial.
🌐 The last talk was given by Synapse’s founder and former chairmans. Inspired by the collaboration between academia and industry in New Zeland, Holti mapped the Danish life-science ecosystem and founded Synapse in 2014. Afterwards, chairman Jonas, who joined in 2015, talked about growth of Synapse, new events they implemented such as the mentorship program and how they got funding from NNF. Then Lisa, who was the Synapse Lund founder, talked about how she was surprised that there was no student organization in Lund so she launched Synapse Sweden to reduce the gap between academia and industry. Felicia the current chair of Synapse Sweden talked about the growth of Synapse Sweden from 9 to 60 members in 3 years and some of the differences with Copenhagen, for example, swedish partners host partner exclusive events! Finally Kasper (Synapse Copenhagen) talked to us about many achievements during his time such as the expansion to other danish cities, connection with alumni’s and some flagship events such as clinical winter school, nucleate Denmark and the jobbank. Synapse stepped from being a little family to be a huge one!
The event also featured several workshops designed to strengthen connections among Synapsees and enhance both personal and organizational skills. We had an engaging series of workshops covering the life science ecosystem and Synapse’s significant role in it, sessions focused on making Synapsees feel comfortable and increasing their confidence in public speaking, and a fun team-building exercise where the task was to build the tallest LEGO structure. 🚀
