Jessica Sue, BSc, MHSM
ISCT ANZ ESP Subcommittee Co-chair
Quality Manager, Sydney Cord Blood Bank
Sydney, Australia
Gemma Moir-Meyer
ISCT ANZ ESP Subcommittee Member
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Otago
Christchurch, New Zealand
The ISCT Australia and New Zealand Early Stage Professionals (ANZ ESP) Subcommittee were proud to contribute several ESP-focused components to this year’s ISCT ANZ Regional Meeting, held in beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand, from Wednesday 7th to Friday 9th August 2024. ESPs were well represented at the meeting, making up approximately 40 of the 150+ attendees who travelled from across the region to this incredible location, and an even greater proportion of the scientific content presented (Figure 1).
Our subcommittee aims to maintain regular conversations with our ESP contingent across the ANZ region, formally and informally, to understand what is important to ESPs and allow us to develop relevant and appealing content. Following on from last year’s ‘mentoring’ theme, this year we chose to focus on career pathways, trajectories and transitions throughout different roles and areas of our field. This concept informed the two formal events the subcommittee organised.
Whilst the meeting started on the Wednesday, the day prior (Tuesday 6th August) was a pre-conference day packed with a variety of workshops. Alongside the first ANZ CGT Manufacturing Training Course and the FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation Workshop, our subcommittee was delighted to host our very own inaugural ESP workshop held over two hours, with Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables serving as a beautiful backdrop for the afternoon. Titled ‘Forging your career pathway in cell & gene therapies’, we were honoured to have four panelists who agree to take part and share experiences: Associate Professor Emily Blyth (current ISCT ANZ region Vice-President), Professor Catherine Bollard (past ISCT President), Professor Rajiv Khanna (past ISCT ANZ region Vice President) & Dr Guy Klamer, PhD (past ISCT ANZ secretary), joined by approximately 20 ESP attendees. This workshop aimed to provide ESPs the opportunity to hear from senior members of ISCT about their career pathways in a close-knit and personal setting. The ESP subcommittee hoped that these discussions would facilitate an understanding of potential career pathways in the CGT field, including identifying what skillsets may assist transitioning between roles, and what opportunities may be available to develop these skills.
But first, an icebreaker: a Pictionary style contest to guess the first jobs held by some brave volunteers! In spite of several questionable artistic renditions, we learned where some of us began our working lives including a Movie Usher (Jessica Sue), Deli Offsider (Emily Blyth) and Paper Girl (Gemma Moir-Meyer). The panelists then shared an overview of their career pathways in a fireside style chat, complete with giant marshmallows on each table (unfortunately, no fire despite the chilly weather outside!). Slido allowed attendees to ask burning questions, which covered topics such as: “what advice would you give those desiring a similar career path?” (as we found out last year, engaging a good mentor is important), and “what things do you have in your ‘wellness toolbox’ to help prevent burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance?”. While there were many gold nuggets unearthed in this session, the subcommittee’s five top takeaways were:
- Saying yes to opportunities is important, but to prevent burnout, align with a mentor who can help you discern which opportunities to prioritise.
- Online profiles and personal branding have their place, but don’t allow yourself to become discouraged by what you read from other people on social media because it is information out of context and can be hyped-up.
- Don’t buy into the premise that it’s all or nothing, and there are no second chances. If it doesn’t work out the first time and you still want it, you’ll find a way.
- Approach challenges and difficulties by envisioning how you’ll describe the situation in a job interview as an example of your perseverance and tenacity in the face of adversity.
- Wellness Toolbox: breathing exercises, yoga, running and reframing the notion that “if I don’t do x, then it will all fall apart”.
For the second hour, the workshop moved into the more interactive, activity-based component, where attendees joined a roundtable with either Emily, Guy, Rajiv or Cath. Here, whilst keeping with the career pathway theme, groups delved further into the concept of transitions. Each panelist mapped out a visual representation of their career pathway using giant post-notes, and used this to discuss how they shifted between the differing roles in their career: who or what was fundamental to each transition, what skills they needed, and what worked well (and conversely, what didn’t!).