Connect and engage
We make time for...
...dialogue, connection and networking.
At AU, networking is not just an add-on to the conference programme. We view networking as a way to increase learning, insight and understanding – while also making valuable new contacts. So at MatchPoints, you’ll have a chance to engage in activities that boost social and intellectual engagement throughout the conference. We offer dedicated spaces and activities to help keynotes, speakers and participants connect and engage with the conference programme and each other.
Below, you can read about a few of the ways we will be facilitating and encouraging connection and networking during MatchPoints.
Discuss, chat, exchange, express
Throughout the conference programme you will be asked to actively participate in a number of interactive, engaging activities on topics, facts, challenges and solutions within the field of global health. You’ll be given lots of opportunities to actively engage in and reflect on the conference programme together with your fellow participants and peers. We have prepared a document you can use to get yourself ready for networking at the conference. Download it here.
For example, you can join in a variety of different inspiring conversation formats and use the Q&A app slido during the plenum programme to make your views, opinions and questions heard. You’ll encounter a number of creative, well-tested ways of structuring and facilitating engagement and dialogue that will stimulate you to think in new and creative ways.
‘Meet the Professor’ lunches
At MatchPoints 2023, early-career researchers, PhD students and postdocs will have the opportunity to attend an informal lunch with a selected number of keynotes and experts at the conference. Our Meet the Professor lunches are always a very popular activity: the intimate setting of twelve participants encourages a lively exchange of ideas and provides space for making new valuable contacts.
Further information on these lunches will be sent out prior to the conference. Seats will be booked on a first-come, first-served basis. Read about our keynotes.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the “Meet the Professor” event. It provided an opportunity to talk with students and trainees directly, which is invaluable for all concerned. We discussed scientific, philosophical and career related issues in a relaxed setting. I would definitely participate in this lunch format again.“
Lisa Barrett, University Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University, USA (Keynote speaker at MatchPoints 2022)
“I was very positive about the strategic seating at the evening events. It gave me a good opportunity to meet new people, have interesting conversations and open doors I wouldn’t have discovered myself otherwise.“
Anne-Mette Hvas, Dean at the Faculty of Health, Aarhus University (host and participant at the MatchPoints 2022 conference)
Semi-facilitated evening events
At MatchPoints’ two evening social events, you will have the chance to engage and continue the conversation with your fellow participants in very different surroundings that will open your mind to new perspectives on the conference programme.
On Thursday evening we will change the setting while keeping our focus on the Global Health conversation. We will explore the history of global health and take you on a voyage through time in Den Gamle By, one of the world’s most fascinating open-air cultural museums of urban history and culture. Read more about the Thursday evening event.
Friday evening will feature dinner and a concert. There will be strategic seating at the dinner to facilitate discussion and sharing of your experiences from the conference, followed by great live jazz at Concert Hall Aarhus. Read more about the Friday evening event.
