Give and take

Integrating volunteer work into the daily life of a PhD student is far from easy. Laureen Wegert manages it anyway. “Because I’ve personally benefited from the work of others and want to give something back and pass it on,” says the 28-year-old. For her doctorate, she is involved in developing a new method of artificial ventilation – a highly specialized area within the broad field of biomedical engineering, where she often has little exposure to other subfields. “Yet it’s so exciting to see what others are doing, what they’re researching, and what companies are focusing on.”

Such opportunities to look beyond one’s own area and exchange ideas academically typically arise at scientific conferences. In biomedical engineering, the annual BMT Conference – the flagship event of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering within VDE (VDE DGBMT) – is a top venue.

This is also where Wegert first connected with the professional community beyond her own university. “I attended the conference for the first time virtually during the COVID pandemic,” she says. “That was great at the time because, as a student, I didn’t have to pay for travel or accommodation.” Now attending the BMT Conference in person is firmly on her annual calendar, as she finds meeting people face to face far more valuable than participating online. “By now, I have my own conference network.” It was also through this event that she joined VDE. “The student ticket discount drew me in,” she admits with a laugh. What truly convinced her, however, was a special event organized by VDE Young Net.