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| PRESIDENTS MESSAGE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 18
| Issue : 2 | Page : 129 |
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Conference: A place for scientific appetite or gourmet feast
Ashish Jain
President, Indian Society of Periodontology, Principal, Institute of Dental Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India
| Date of Web Publication | 23-Apr-2014 |
Correspondence Address:
Ashish Jain
President, Indian Society of Periodontology, Principal, Institute of Dental Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-124X.131293
How to cite this article:
Jain A. Conference: A place for scientific appetite or gourmet feast. J Indian Soc Periodontol 2014;18:129 |
On the way back from Mangalore, after having attended a very well-organized PG convention, few questions logged on to my mind, which are still scooping for logical explanations. Over the past few years, observing successive conferences and conventions, all of us often wonder about the loss of scientific "appetite" among our fraternity. We usually boast of the numbers registering for our conferences, which is reflective of our rapidly growing family and the organizers toil hard to ensure a flawless scientific event. They take that extra step to invite "gurus" that Perio world has to offer across the oceans, yet when it comes down to the moment of scientific delivery, there are empty halls. Is it that for the students conventions and conferences have been reduced to purely for food, drinks, music, sightseeing and possibly a 10-min presence at the conference venue to present their "paper"? Given their young minds, often uninhibited, a concession may be granted to them. However as their mentors, can we escape an explanation to this loss of scientific appetite in our students? Most of us still remember the "postconference audit" that our teachers used to subject us to ensuring that as students we not only attend the scientific deliberations at the conferences, but attend it fully involved to be able to present the "audit report" on our return home (colleges). How many of us have passed this "postconference audit" to our students?
Now probably is the time for us to introspect, to ensure that our students enjoy the conferences not only exclusively at the banquet but also in the lecture halls too. Let them be enriched not only by networking with their peers over fellowships, but also networking scientifically. Let us take a cue from the other international meetings, wherein most of the scientific collaborations are built during such events. Let us "own it," let us "rectify it" and above all, let us "lead by example." Let the science be not drained out of the scientific deliberations that these conferences are meant for.
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Ashish Jain
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