In review: 2018 Irish Association for Cancer Research annual meeting
The 54th Annual Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) meeting took place in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Santry in Dublin on Wednesday 21 - Friday 23 February 2018. It was another successful event with approximately 250 registered attendees for the meeting. As in previous years, the Irish Cancer Society contributed significantly to the sponsorship of the event, in addition to other charities and companies, and the research team were on hand at the stand to talk to attendees over the three days.
The meeting kicked off on Wednesday evening with the IACR career event for early-stage researchers organised by the Junior Council of the association. Speakers at the career event included John Halligan TD (Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development); Rose Kidd (Senior Vice President, Global Clinical Operations, Icon); Professor Mark Ferguson (Director General, Science Foundation Ireland); and Louise Holden (Director, FH Media Consulting Ltd).
A number of topics were discussed at the event including the options available to researchers both within and outside academia with the speakers sharing their personal career stories. Also discussed was the important role researchers have in communicating their research to the public, especially in the current 'fake news' era.
The Plenary Sessions over Thursday and Friday mixed the best of local and international speakers in a range of cutting edge cancer topics including findings from trials in low survival cancers, nanomedicine, cellular stress and biomarker-driven patient stratification.
The research highlight of the meeting was the annual Irish Cancer Society lecture delivered this year by Professor Clotilde Théry (The Institut Curie, France) focusing on our emerging understanding of the key contribution of exosomes and extracellular vehicles in tumour immune cross talk.
An important theme at this year’s conference was that of communication, and more specifically the responsibility of research professionals to accurately communicate their work to the public. This was evident in the media training organised by the Junior Council, the excellent presentation given by Louise Holden of FM Media Consulting, and the Oral Poster Session which, for the first time ever was presented in lay terms and judged predominantly by a non-scientific panel. This not only showed the IACR commitment to communication but to the inclusion of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in this annual event.
The meeting drew to a close with a fittingly poignant but joyful celebration of the contribution of our friend and colleague, Prof Patrick Johnson, who sadly passed away in June the previous year. Prof Johnson has made significant contributions to the field of cancer research, especially colon cancer treatment but had also left on unrivaled imprint on the basic aspiration and activity of cancer research in Queens University Belfast and the wider island of Ireland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
