First EURONET-SOMA summer school in 2019
The first EURONET-SOMA summer school took place in June 2019, elaborating on multidisciplinary challenges in persistent physical symptoms. Twenty-five participants from eight European countries with diverse academic backgrounds in psychology, medicine, health, communication, sports and social sciences, met in the Netherlands at the beautiful Allersmaborg near Groningen.
The educational program with talks by experts in the field focused on the definition, conceptualization, modelling, and diagnostics of persistent physical symptoms, as well as the challenges in communicating with patients and treatment approaches both in primary care and in specialized settings.
A special thank you to the great talks by Judith Rosmalen, Omer van den Bergh, Tim olde Hartman, Bernd Löwe, Hanneke Wigman, Jenny Slatman, Chris Burton & Alexandra Martin!
In addition to the informative and inspiring input, three workshops allowed for practical experiences in involving patients and care providers in research, media training, and debating, led by Denise Hanssen, Gernant Deekens & Els Maeckelberghe!
The evenings were filled with social activities: a salsa workshop for getting into action, an entertaining self-organized pub quiz in the local pub and a delicious barbeque in the lounge-like garden. We want to thank the hosts of the Allersmaborg for allowing us such a wonderful time!
The summer school was evaluated very well. All students considered it a stimulating experience in their professional trainin, and 93 % answered that the summer school helped them to gain a better insight into the subject. The summer school received a mean grade of 9 on a 1-10 scale! In addition, the first collaborative projects have been initiated between researchers that met during the summer school, indicating that the goals of the summer school have been met.
EURONET-SOMA already received questions on when the next summer school will be organized. If you are interested in that, please send an email to euronet-soma@uke.de and we will keep you informed about upcoming activities.
Thanks to the great international group, we spent a ‘gezellige’ and networking-intensive time, learning and laughing together and we hope to see everyone again!
Last but not least: Thank you very much, Judith Rosmalen, Tim olde Hartman & Bernd Löwe, for making the first EURONET-SOMA summer school happen, it has been a great opportunity for young researchers to learn from you and to meet other researchers from across Europe and beyond!
The student organizing committee Angélica Acevedo Mesa, Ilona Plug & Kerstin Maehder