In recent years, scientific research has got closer to medical students, and this has been reflected in the growing interest shown by students and the opening of several Laboratories, Institutes and University Clinics of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) to them.

The existence of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML), which comprises the Faculty, Santa Maria Hospital and the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), is critical to ensure that every student has endless opportunities to learn about, share science, and conduct scientific projects.

For these reasons, the Students’ Association of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon (AEFML), together with GAPIC, sought to address two main issues at the session Research Opportunities for Students on the 2nd Research Day: Research at the CAML and Model Pathways in Research.

In the first part of the talk, the main objective was to inform students about the possibilities of participating in the scientific component of their academic path, with the presence of student Maria Guilhermina, President of the AEFML, Sónia Barroso (MSc), representing the GAPIC and students Ana Rita Constante and Carolina Cardoso, members of the Organizing Committee of the Fifth AIMS Meeting.

The role of the AEFML as a promoter of critical thinking among students and the importance of its relationship with science were explained, as well as the Education through Science Project, GAPIC’s support to scientific research at the CAML. It was also an opportunity to disseminate the Fifth AIMS Meeting, which is a conference organized by students for students and an occasion to present work done by students and to share scientific knowledge.

The second part of the session focused on three model pathways and had the participation of highly committed persons experienced in their own fields: the path of students involved in research, the path of clinicians involved in scientific research, and the path of doctors fully dedicated to science.

With the aim of disclosing personal choices, interests and opportunities essential to attaining each model pathway, the following people were invited: student Inês Figueiredo, who has been committed to science for several years and received various awards, Dr Inês Vaz Luís, a clinical oncologist undertaking a PhD at Harvard with several years of experience of research, and Professor Maria Carmo Fonseca, the Executive Director of the IMM and a medical researcher with unquestionable and exemplary scientific activity.

The discourse employed by the guests in the second part of the session included sharing experiences and the demonstration of several possible paths, with the goal of bringing students closer to the several options of becoming involved in scientific research now and in the future.

Thus, the session Research Opportunities for Students aimed to address the questions posed by students regarding the possibility of contributing to the scientific output of the CAML, the prospect of having their work recognized in future, and to show students the countless options at their disposal to include science in their academic and professional paths.

Filipe Cortes Figueiredo
Training and Science Dpt.