Hello everyone! İ. Kaan Özgencil here. I am excited to share my EOU 2023 journey which was made possible through a travel grant from BOU. Through this post, I aim to share the emotions I felt during my trip to Denmark and Sweden, and provide a glimpse into the experience of attending a large conference as a PhD student from a developing country. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
Following a series of delayed flights, I finally landed safely in Copenhagen. The city was a spectacle with its abundant bicycles, truly showcasing a different lifestyle. Upon arrival, I was warmly welcomed by the ongoing pride month celebrations which painted the town with colours of joy and inclusivity.
The next day, I took the famous Oresund Bridge to Scania, Sweden, the venue for EOU 2023. The prevalence of bicycle lanes continued to impress me. I checked into my modest AirBnB flat and immediately rested up for the Migrant Landbird Study Group’s (MLSG) pre-conference meeting happening the next day. MLSG is a non-profit NGO I’ve been involved with for the past four years, aiming to connect researchers and students from all around the world working on migrant landbirds. However, due to a mix-up with the dates, I arrived at the venue a day early. Realising my mistake, which took some time, I took the opportunity to do some birdwatching and explore Malmö, enjoying a hearty breakfast and visiting some local landmarks. Finally, on the correct day this time, the MLSG meeting took place, and it was delightful catching up with researchers and students from around the globe. The meeting was rich with information, especially the announcement about the COST action acquired by MLSG a few months ago.
EOU 2023 kicked off the next day with a captivating plenary by Thomas Alerstam, a legend in the field of bird migration studies. The hall was buzzing with excitement! The first day was more of a warm-up, with the bulk of presentations and discussions happening on the second day. The conference was structured with multiple parallel sessions, enabling participants to choose based on their interests, although it was a challenge deciding between overlapping sessions of interest. The poster sessions stood out as they facilitated detailed and long discussions with the presenters. I am already in contact with two wonderful people that I met during poster sessions for possible collaborations in the near future.
An excursion to Falsterbo provided a much-needed break amidst the intense conference schedule. Though the weather was not ideal for bird migration, the trip was rewarding with a good number of migrating birds and some several lifers for me.
My oral presentation was scheduled for the day following the excursion. I spent the whole night rehearsing, ensuring my talk would fit within the allotted 10-minute slot. Although there were two really good talks clashing with mine, there were some 25+ people at my talk and what made me especially happy was the presence of all the people that I had previously invited to my talk. The only problem was that the audience had to watch the whole thing at 1.25x speed due to me trying very hard to finish my talk before the 10-minutes mark, which I fortunately did.
EOU 2023 was not merely an academic conference, but a rich experience that expanded my horizons. This journey allowed me to explore beautiful places, reconnect with old friends, and foster new connections that may lead to collaborative projects in the future. All of this was made possible by the BOU travel grant. Such grants are invaluable for students from developing countries, providing a gateway to engage with the global academic community. I am immensely grateful to BOU and its supporters for granting me this opportunity. The conference has already started discussions regarding a potential post-doc position in Sweden, and collaboration with researchers on future projects. I am committed to ensuring the grant was well utilised, and judging by the unfolding opportunities, it indeed was a very fruitful experience. A huge thank you to BOU for making this incredible journey come true!
