As researchers, we work hard for promotions and increased responsibility which validates our efforts and helps us climb the ladder of ambition. Yet with increased pressure leading to stress, anxiety and depression, we must be aware of these and other possible pitfalls while striving for success. WIRI has organized an open discussion with two international researchers. Topics examined at this invent will include:

• Transitioning from undergrad to postgrad and beyond
• Emotions associated with these transitions
• Advice to help with transitions
• Support systems
• How to navigate future transitions given past experiences

Discussion will be held online via Zoom. Audience questions will be taken at the end. Questions can be submitted anonymously.

If you require Sign Language, please contact us at womeninresearchireland@gmail.com

MEET THE PANELISTS:

For ten years Dr. Robin Worthington Yeaton Woo coordinated the global program of food safety-related technical assistance for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With an Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) team, she developed the USDA-FAS food export certificate website to facilitate US exports through harmonization of certification at the State level. At the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Costa Rica, she created a training program in “Executive Leadership in Food Safety” for the developing world that trained 65 fellows from 24 countries in Latin America.

Dr. Woo enhanced global science communication for over 25 years, previously as an Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, Director of Meetings for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Manager of Program Development for the UCLA (now known as Keystone) Symposia in Molecular and Cellular Biology.

She has been an active member of the Graduate of Women In Science (GWIS) National Capitol Chapter since 1991, serving as National President and on the GWIS Board of Directors, as well on Committees for Fellowships, Chapter Establishment, National Meeting, and International Relations. After she retired from the FDA in 2012, Dr. Woo founded the International Chapter of GWIS and is current treasurer of the Chapter, mentoring the development of global careers of women in science.

Dr. Woo received a BS in anthropology and PhD in developmental biology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her UCLA postdoctoral research focused on cellular biochemistry; and she received an Executive MBA from UCLA. She has lectured extensively and authored conference proceedings and research papers about food safety, agricultural biotechnology, cellular growth factors, insect physiology, plant ecology, and pediatric dietary policy.

Dr. Cristina Cecchetti graduated with honours from a MSc degree in Chemistry from Sapienza-University of Rome, Italy. Her final year project focused on the structural and functional characterisation of a soluble protein. She was then awarded a competitive Erasmus scholarship for a 6-month internship at Eli Lilly&Co, Windlesham, UK in neurodegenerative diseases.

After that she moved to London for a Marie-Curie funded PhD project at Imperial College London in structural biology of membrane proteins. She defended her PhD thesis in September 2021, with 9 peer-reviewed publications and several successful collaborative projects. She then moved to the European Institute of Oncology-IEO in Milan, Italy where she is currently working as a Postdoctoral researcher in the structural characterisation of the components involved in cell division.

This event is funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry Inclusion and Diversity Fund