Future Physiology 2020 was The Society’s first entirely virtual conference. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made to host the conference online to avoid cancellation or postponement. Hosting a virtual conference enabled us to offer early career researchers the opportunity to meet with one another, hear the latest science, and gain invaluable experience for their professional development, despite the outbreak.
Sessions were run each afternoon throughout the week beginning Monday 6 July and comprised 15 oral communications, nine invited speaker talks, four professional development workshops and three ePoster sessions. The programme was created by the Organising Committee who selected the scientific focus ‘Physiology in a changing climate: the inter-dependence between physiology, behaviour and the environment’. The Committee was formed of the following researchers:
- Alina Lynn Evans, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
- Jean-Pierre Desforges, McGill University, Canada
- Liv Monica Trondrud, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
- Anne Randi Græsli, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
- Larissa Teresa Beumer, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Alexandra Thiel, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
All programme timings are BST
14:00 SA01 The dependence of life histories on body size and temperature
Richard Sibly, University of Reading, UK
14:30 OC01 Movement and heart rate in the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos)
Leslie Blanchet, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
14:45 OC02 Mitochondrial respiration in adipose tissue following long-term diet-induced obesity
Paula Darwin, University of Cambridge, UK
15:00 OC03 A zebrafish model of embryonic growth disruption reveals an ongoing impact on metabolic and cardiac phenotype
Bridget Evans, The University of Manchester, UK
15:30 SA02 Heat dissipation limit theory: Origin and application
Elzbieta B. Krol, University of Aberdeen, UK
14:00 SA03 Environmental variation and the distribution and behaviour of aquatic animals
Nicholas Payne, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
14:30 OC04 Maximum voluntary torque and rate of torque development are not effected by whole-body hyperthermia or ten consecutive days of isothermic heat acclimation
Ralph Gordon, University of Roehampton, UK
14:45 OC05 Effectiveness of short-term heat acclimation on heat shock protein 70 in a trained female and male population
Edward Cole, University of Hull, UK
15:00 OC06 Exercise performance of moderate altitude native athletes at varying altitudes
Emma Clare, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
15:30 OC07 Carbohydrate utilisation during prolonged submaximal exercise is associated with post-exercise ad libitum energy intake in healthy adults
Benjamin Narang, University of Bath, UK
15:45 SA04 Mammals and birds in a changing world
Andrew Clarke, British Antarctic Survey, UK
14:00 SA05 Human physiological responses to heat exposure
Emily Watkins, University of Roehampton, UK
Your mind matters: The relationship between academic culture and mental health
Join us for a workshop exploring mental health in academia as part of Future Physiology 2020. Lecturer Francesco Tamagnini (University of Reading, UK) will be joined by post-doc Cristiana Bercea (University of Reading, UK) and Ben Bleasdale from the Wellcome Trust to discuss the relationship between undergraduate and post-graduate career development and the onset of mental health disorders.
The main questions they will look to answer are:
1) Is there a mental health disorder epidemic in HE/academic research?
2) What is the cause/causes?
3) What is being done about it?
15:45 OC08 Protective effect of co-administration of vitamins C and E on reserpine-induced motor and cognitive impairments and oxidative stress in mice (Mus musculus)
Timothy Danboyi, Kaduna State University, Nigeria
16:00 OC09 The increased sensitivity of Alzheimer’s disease patients to antipsychotics such as amisulpride could be linked to changes in solute carrier (SLC) transporters expression at the blood-brain barrier (BBB)
Sevda Boyanova, King’s College London, UK
16:15 OC10 NMDA receptors modulate Ca2+-dependent presynaptic activity at multisensory synapses of the dorsal cochlear nucleus
Maša Švent, University of Leicester, UK
16:30 SA06 The physical activity transition: How urbanisation is leading to a global sedentarization and an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases in humans?
Audrey Bergouignan, CNRS-IPHC Strasbourg, France
Faculty positions, long-term career planning – from PhD student to permanent faculty
In this workshop, both early career and senior researchers will share their perspectives on career progression – how to bridge the gap from PhD to permanent faculty positions.
Speakers:
Dr Beatrice Filippi, University of Leeds, UK
Professor Prem Kumar, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Gladys Onambale-Pearson, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Dr Alina Evans, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
15:00 OC11 Artificial intelligence, bioprinting and nanotechnology: The role of future physiologist
Abdulrahman Olagunju, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Nigeria
15:30 OC12 Enhancing physiology teaching and learning through the use of holograms in health sciences and medicine
Charlotte Phelps, Bond University, Australia
15:45 SA07 The effect of increasing environmental temperature on human thermophysiology and cardiometabolic health
Hannah Pallubinsky, Maastricht University, Netherlands
14:00 SA08 Interactions between physiology, behaviour and the environment in a large carnivore
David Michael Scantlebury, Queen's University Belfast, UK
14:30 OC13 Establishing baseline physiological parameters in the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) for future environmental impact studies
Noelle Laske, University of St. Thomas, US & Roberta Ryan, Wildlife Science Center, US
14:45 OC14 Small heart revealing big insights: understanding pharmacology of cardiotoxic air pollutant phenanthrene using zebrafish
Shiva Kompella, The University of Manchester, UK
15:00 OC15 Faster, warmer, stronger: Calcium cycling in avian myocardium
Tatiana Filatova, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Future of thermal/metabolic physiology under climate change
Join this workshop to hear our panel of leading scientists discuss their views on what the future of thermal and metabolic physiology will look like under climate change.
Speakers:
Dr Hannah Pallubinsky, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Dr Andrew Clarke, British Antarctic Survey, UK
Dr Christopher Tyler, University of Roehampton, UK
Perspectives on time management and balancing work responsibilities with research productivity
After securing a permanent position, some researchers are able to make highly productive research careers, in spite of administrative and teaching responsibilities, while others get overwhelmed by these tasks. In this workshop, our three panellists will give their perspectives on how they find balancing work responsibilities and research productivity.
Speakers:
Dr Holly Shiels, The University of Manchester, UK
Dr Bethan Phillips, University of Nottingham, UK
Professor Jon Martin Arnemo, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
16:30 SA09 Protein from dairy, meat, or plant sources: What’s the difference for ageing muscles?
Oliver Witard, King’s College London, UK
Registration
Registration was free of charge for all Members of The Society.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
This event is approved by the Royal Society of Biology for purposes of CPD and may be counted as 45 CPD credits.You must be a current member of the Royal Society of Biology to collect these credits.
To qualify for the CPD credits, you must at least:
- Attend a minimum of 50% of the invited speaker talks
- Attend a minimum of 50% of the oral communications
- Attend at least one of the professional development workshops
- Spoken to at least two ePoster presenters at both ePoster session 1 and ePoster session 2 (four presenters in total)
If you attended Future Physiology 2020 and would like a certificate of attendance to collect these CPD points, please email events@physoc.org.
Abstract submission
A total of 92 abstracts were presented at Future Physiology 2020: 15 were presented as oral communications and 77 were presented as ePosters.
Prizes
The annual Michael J Rennie Prize was awarded for the best oral communication by an early career researcher at Future Physiology 2020. Each of the 15 oral communications was scored by a combination of invited judges and asking the audience to vote via polls on Zoom. The prize was given to Maša Švent from the University of Leicester, UK.
A second competition was run for the best ePosters created by early career researchers at Future Physiology 2020. There were nine awardees as follows:
Mia Burleigh, University of the West of Scotland, UK
Thomas Inns, University of Nottingham, UK
Qutuba Karwi, University of Alberta, Canada
Jordan Bird, Mount Royal University, Canada
Laura Rich, University of Nottingham, UK
Taylor Bader, Mount Royal University, Canada
Timothy Olsen, University of California San Francisco, US
Siobhra Dooley, University of Nottingham, UK
Sarah Miller, University of Nottingham, UK
Key Facts and Figures
Several software platforms were combined to make Future Physiology 2020 an interactive and engaging experience for every attendee. Each of the talks and professional development workshops were streamed using Zoom. We utilised the webinar polling and Q&A functionality to allow audience members to submit questions and vote for the annual Michael J Rennie Oral Communication Prize. We also worked with a company called NetworkTables to build a ‘Conference Hub’ where attendees could find information about each session and ‘seat’ themselves at whatever they were interested in. In doing so, they created a tailored agenda and even had the option of adding reminders to their calendars. Attendees were also able to connect with one another on the Conference Hub, facilitating remote networking. The third and final software platform we used for Future Physiology 2020 was Kubify’s Learning Toolbox for ePosters. Kubify helped our presenters create the 77 ePosters that were displayed in the Future Physiology 2020 ePoster Showcase and presented across the three ePoster sessions. The showcase is still live and can be viewed by following the link below.