Two MacDiarmid students reflect on their time at the Global Young Scientists Summit, Singapore 2023

27 February, 2023

PhD student Mohsin Ijaz supervised by Emeritus Investigator, Professor Richard Blaikie and science undergraduate Discovery Scholar Maia Dean, both at the University of Otago have returned after attending the tenth Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) in Singapore, in January 2023. 

GYSS brings together a select group of young researchers from around the world to discuss science and technology trends and how research can address major global challenges. This year the theme was "Advancing Science, Creating Technologies for a Better World". Over four-days, the multi-disciplinary summit enabled young researchers to take part in lectures, plenary sessions and panel discussions, with the opportunity to interact with and be mentored by speakers in informal small group sessions, including speakers being recipients of the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal, Millennium Technology Prize and Turing Award. 

Mohsin and Maia reflect on their experience below:

Mohsin Ijaz

Mohsin Ijaz (standing left) mid-discussion with Professor Andre Geim, a Nobel Laureate in physics (right)

"I had the opportunity to attend the Global Young Scientist’s Summit (GYSS) at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where I got to interact and have scientific discussions with participants from over 30 countries, as well as esteemed Nobel Laureates, Field’s Medalists and Millennium Technology Winners. 

During this, I also had the opportunity to have an informal talk with Professor Andre Geim, a Nobel Laureate in physics for work on graphene monolayer. Professor Geim highlighted that the research for finding new experimental systems is relatively more significant than a specific target approach, which is the same method that I used for my soon-to-be-submitted PhD. 

In addition to exploring Singapore, I made lots of new contacts for future research collaboration."

Maia Dean

"I was invited to attend the Global Young Scientists Summit 2023 (GYSS) held in Singapore through the National Research Foundation of Singapore. This once in a lifetime opportunity gave me the chance to develop as a young scientist as well as experience the rich culture of Singapore.

Through the summit I was able to make connections with scientists across the globe and encounter new ideas through plenary lectures given by Nobel Laureates, Field’s Medallists and Millennium Technology Award Winners. Some personal favourites included a talk by Didier Queloz on “Exoplanet revolution: exploring the consequences of a paradigm shift” as well as one from Tim Hunt on how he accidentally “stumbled across the secret of cell division.”

On top of the phenomenal speaker line-up, I was able to get a glimpse at the latest scientific and technological advances from the young scientist presentations and poster sessions. It has been an incredible experience and I look forward to applying the knowledge I have gained from this trip into the rest of my studies."