In this post, Kym reports about their bake sale as a fundraiser for their trips to the SETAC Europe AM.

Bake sale in the university’s atrium (photo by K. Newton).

Scientific Conferences offer the opportunity to connect with others conducting similar research to your own. This can be quite beneficial for graduate students, as it can help by increasing your scientific network adding to the pool of people you can draw on for advice, offer a way to get your research known, bring you up to date with the latest research in your field, and make you aware of job offers to further your career both within academia and industry.

For us in the field of ecotoxicology, THE conference to go to is SETAC (the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry). During our first year in the Master’s of Ecotoxicology program we were encouraged to apply for the student volunteer positions at the conference, about four of our classmates actually got the positions (if you manage to get accepted, it is a great way for students to be exposed to the conference world and your entry into the conference is free the following year). However, the rest of us were SOL, so a small group of us decided to start fundraising. We decided to start doing bake sales in the atrium of our University, last year between six of us we actually managed to raise approximately 150 euros each, which doesn’t cover all our expenses, but definitely helped.

So in an effort to get a head start on fundraising we have started the bake sales again this year. If you have a little money burning a hole in your pocket, come out and try some of our delicious baked goods and help support us in our efforts to go to SETAC!