At one time self-caterers, artists and nudists came to the Monte Verità above Ascona looking for a new way of life. The visitors in the context of the first Idea League Summer School (1) from 18-22 September 2006 were new generation researchers who spent the week discussing what they had discovered about biotechnology and the bioengineering sciences and their application in medicine. This occasion will probably go down in the eventful history of the Mountain of Truth as just another scientific conference, but it is an important entry in the still young history of the Idea League. The Summer School, which drew to a close on Friday 22 September 2006 in the Centro Stefano Franscini (2), makes this higher education association comprehensible to the non-professorial academic world as well.

Two years in preparation

65 new generation researchers together with professors took part in the 5-day congress, two thirds of them from the five Idea League partners ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, TU Delft, RWTU Aachen and Paris Tech, and one third from other European and North American universities. With 20 representatives, ETH Zurich constituted the biggest group of participants. Ten of them gave lectures. As befitted the main theme, the spectrum of lectures was very broad, extending from biological substrate materials used in regenerative medicine, through the recently discovered attachment mechanisms of E. coli bacteria, to imaging methods in the study of proteins embedded in cell membranes.

The preparations for the Summer School took just under two years and were carried out at the request of the Rectorate by an organising committee centred around Markus Aebi, Professor at the Institute for Microbiology, and Viola Vogel, Professor for Biologically Aligned Materials, together with Silvia Weber and Jacques Laville from the Institute for Microbiology. In addition to the organising committee there was also a scientific committee whose members were, in addition to Aebi and Vogel, ETH Professor Martin Fussenegger, Tony Cass, Imperial College, Lothar Elling, RWTH Aachen and Wilfried Hagen from the TU Delft.

An informal setting

Halfway through the Summer School, Markus Aebi was satisfied with the result of their efforts. He said that the number of participants was just right. “There would scarcely have been room here for more people.” He was also satisfied with the scientific program. He said that Idea League representatives and “external” lecturers had been invited to enable a high-calibre conference to be offered.

“The Summer School is very inspiring,” was Viola Vogel’s summary of her first impressions. She said the invited speakers were experts with whom the doctoral students would be able to form contacts thanks to this event, and added “That’s how the doctoral students can build up a network that has functioned very well up to now.”

Conversations between experts take place thanks to the Summer School: Samuel Stupp, Katharina Maniura and Viola Vogel (Photo: J. Laville) large

Jacques Laville also praised the good spirit of the Summer School. He said the setting was informal. After a few hours the doctoral students had already got to know one another. “The atmosphere is super and the topic is brilliant."

Scientific and social exchange

Postdoc Chris Johnson from Imperial College London, who was taking part in a Summer School for the first time, also considered that “The Summer School provides a good opportunity to build oneself a network.” He said that the exchange of ideas with specialist colleagues and also with people from other fields was important. Not least, the participation had given him the opportunity to get to know Zurich before the Summer School.

However, the doctoral student level is not the only place where contacts are made. Lecturer Katharina Maniura from EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research) said that doctoral students were more courageous in the context of such an event, and were able to make contact with the experts more easily. She said she had also found the exchange of ideas stimulating. “I can learn something from doctoral students as well.”

Searching for talented individuals

Something that was also confirmed by Samuel Stupp, Professor of Materials Sciences and Chemistry at Northwestern University (3). He was one of the highest calibre researchers at the Idea League Summer School. In 2005 “Scientific American” elevated him to the leading group of the 50 most important scientists. He praised the Summer School as an outstanding opportunity to enter into discussions with doctoral students – and also to trace talents. He said this was simply impossible at a normal conference because the established scientists only exchanged ideas among themselves and paid no attention to the small fry.

Despite the positive mood, it is still uncertain whether there will be a second repeat of the Idea League Summer School.