We met up with Luis Gandarillas, Vice President of External Relations for IAAS (International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences) at the IROICA conference in Wroclaw at the beginning of June. IAAS is run by undergraduate students in life sciences and offers a range of international learning and training opportunities. You can gain knowledge of key topics in life sciences in your own local or national context but IAAS gives you the chance to see how issues such as sustainability or food security are dealt with on other continents. Thanks to the initiative and enthusiasm of Laia Vilatersana, a first-year biologist at our faculty, IAAS is planning to set up a committee at UVic. If you’re studying biology or biotechnology and would like to add an international element to your CV, get in touch with Laia to see how you can take part in the UVic IAAS committee and join seminars, conferences, field trips and even internships in different locations all over the world.
IROICA is the International Relations Officers’ Network of the Association of European Life Science Universities. Every year it holds a conference in a different European city and IAAS always have a representative present. This year Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Poland did a wonderful in hosting the conference and welcoming International Relations Officers from over 20 countries. The conference is a good opportunity for networking in Life Sciences and has a friendly atmosphere. Besides meeting people and making connections with other life science universities, talks are organized on different topics. This year talks included staff mobility, planning international master’s programmes, ELLS (Euroleague for Life Sciences Network) and a practical workshop on stress management.
In the title picture you can see Sarah Khan, UST International Unit at UVic and Luis Gandarillas, IAAS Vice President of External Relations from Mexico.
