On the move!
Submitted by chris on
Robert Kennedy once said: "Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator." We agree on that.
For the European Scientific Working group on Influenza we have created a brand new concept to enhance public health security: the Multiparty Group for Advice on Science (MUGAS). The idea of MUGAS is to stimulate scientific debate over unsolved issues that seem to hamper public health guidance. After all, the best health policy measures are based on undisputed scientific data. Still, MUGAS meetings are quite different from similar initiatives taken by individual research institutes, companies or leading academics, as MUGAS explicitly calls upon all parties involved to share their views and have their voices heard. In other words, the MUGAS concept has been designed to bring benefit to society, in an open and transparent environment that allows in-depth discussion based on the latest scientific knowledge. MUGAS meetings on "hot" topics can therefore be initiated by any scientist or research institute that aims to improve public health in Europe. ESWI will be organizing the first MUGAS on the explicit request of Professor Ab Osterhaus (Erasmus MC Rotterdam), Professor Arnold Monto (University of Michigan/School of Public Health), Professor Menno de Jong (Academic Medical Center Amsterdam) and Professor Rich Whitley (University of Alabama at Birmingham) who engaged in a partnership to organize a Multiparty Group for Advice on Science meeting that will review oseltamivir data and develop a statistical analysis plan.
Our translational "Science Policy Interface"(SPI) programme at scientific conferences enjoys growing international attention and interest. While we are shaping the concept into a "SPI 2.0" for the Fifth European Influenza Conference in Riga, Latvia (2014), the organizers of the One Health meeting (2015) invited us to implement the concept at their conference. Needless to say we are very enthusiastic about it!
Meanwhile, our work for the Viroscience lab in Rotterdam is in full progress. We developed a portal site for their educational work - yes: it is a lab that takes its responsibility towards society very seriously! Have a look at www.planetvirus.nl. And we continued to give science a "face" and to bring it closer to the people: check the lab's spoken annual report at www.virosciencelab.com and have a look at SEQUENCE, the brand new lab magazine.
Oh, and we are moving! Literally. I'm writing this blog while surrounded by moving boxes. Our new address: Zevensterstraat 1, 9270 Laarne, Belgium.
Keeping the words of Robert Kennedy in mind: we might change our pink trademark any time now - will be made clear when we launch our new website! While travelling, I often think about the words of Richard Branson: "A business has to be involving, it has to be fun and it has to exercise your creative instincts". Cheers!
Let’s celebrate!
Submitted by chris on
Exactly one year ago, Semiotics was born. At that time, we were still very busy testing our name in an international context, finetuning the company logo and the colours (oh the pink !), writing texts and keynotes for our website. The tension was intense and times were exciting. We were creating, checking, phoning each other and our peers... And finally drinking champagne. We made it. There we were. Shining in pink.
And now we have one year of life behind us. It reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s saying: “In the end, it is not the years that count. It’s the life in your years.” We could not agree more. We developed and registered our Science Inspired Tales, we travelled around Europe to check the pandemic preparedness on influenza (results to come in 2013!), we built the interactive scientific internet platform “Flu Community”, we had a “pied-à-terre” in Rotterdam while turning the top researchers of the Erasmus MC into the “Viroscience lab”, we learned about HIV in South-Africa, built public health networks in four countries and even created our own WEB SLA’s. Oh! And we published in Vaccine, “About courageous scientists, responsible policy makers, bridge-builders and preparedness for the next influenza pandemic.”
But we always take the time to get inspired. We learned about Simon Sinek’s golden circle: WHY? HOW? WHAT? Ever wondered why the Wright Brothers were the first to fly an airplane (and so many other engineers were not)? Or why Martin Luther King became the spokesperson of the civil rights movement (and so many others fighting for the same cause did not?) Because they thought, acted and communicated so very differently. Most organisations know what they do, some know how they do it (and know their USP’s for example), but few of them know why they do what they do (besides making a profit). We have the privilege of working for scientists, for people who know why they get out of bed every morning.
And we @ Semiotics know our own purpose, our belief and our cause too. Translating scientific data to anyone who can benefit from it. Or to anyone who is responsible for taking action. We believe that science and scientific insights make a difference and that the world should know about it. Of course we develop great strategies and we are making wonderfully designed virtual communities and websites – but we are not asking you to buy one just for that purpose. We are here because people buy why we do it.
We are travelling to the UK next year to talk with a major scientific institute about collaboration. We are exploring the organisation of a “Science Policy Interface” at three major international scientific conferences, we are developing a strategy to create awareness about “Neglected Emerging Exotic Diseases” and we are talking to an organisation that is dedicated to infectious diseases in children.
And we are excited. We are creating, checking, phoning each other and our peers. And having fun with our own promotional tools. Have a look at them here!
It’s our anniversary – we are one year old now. Picasso said: “It takes a long time to grow young.” We leave that to everyone’s own interpretation. But we know for sure: “The best is always yet to come”.
Our crew wishes you a nice Xmas and a splendid New Year!