Jo Kelly is a PhD Student at The University of Southampton, and a BALR Travel Award winner for the BTS Winter Meeting 2018. She gave an oral presentation her abstract "SS27: Adam33 knockout mice have an altered metabolic transcriptional profile in response to house dust mite when compared to wild type mice" on Wednesday 5th December 2018 in the session "Mucosal and microbial drivers of asthma" and she has kindly shared her experience of the BTS with us.
"This year I was able to attend the BTS winter meeting thanks to a travel bursary awarded by the BALR. This was the second time I have visited and presented at the BTS and both experiences have been valuable, exciting and informative. As a final year PhD student preparing to have my viva, presenting my findings and discussing them with representatives from within the field at this event is an invaluable experience. The BTS provides a friendly atmosphere for early career researchers to present their work in suitably themed sessions, where all involved can learn from one another and discuss the research that has been presented. This discussion encourages you to think broadly about your findings and highlights potential future avenues to be explored.
As well as providing, a friendly environment in which to discuss your findings the BTS winter meeting is also a great place to network as it brings all the experts in the field together. In the lunch break, our group was able to meet with fellow researchers and discuss potential collaboration opportunities for future research. At this point in my career, where I will soon be making the transition from student to employee, these opportunities are of increasing importance to me, not just because they allow me to put names to faces, but also because they allow me to explore different areas of respiratory research and identify possible opportunities for my future. I would highly recommend submitting an abstract to future meetings for both personal and professional development, and it is always nice to have an excuse to visit the big smoke."