Biopôle Discovery Day and transferable skills

Since 2019, I’ve been organizing events to support students and academic researchers in life sciences in Switzerland with their career transitions. The goal: help them develop new skills, explore career paths beyond the lab bench, and discover new professional opportunities.

I started in a university association, BSNL Lausanne, where I spent four years. I was involved in organizing workshops, science competitions, panel discussions, and job fairs. These events were always successful, largely thanks to the reputation built by previous members of the association. Those four years were incredibly formative for me.

In 2023, this time at Biopôle SA, I was given the responsibility of rethinking and organizing an already exciting event, with the aim of making it even more attractive. The target audience remained the same: students and researchers in the life sciences. And that’s when I put pressure on myself, I wanted to live up to, or even exceed, the expectations set by the previous edition before I joined Biopôle. Luckily, just like at BSNL, I wasn’t alone in this task , I was organizing the event with the support of colleagues from different departments (MarCom, Business Development, etc).

The event: Biopôle Discovery Day. This annual event is designed for Master’s and PhD students, early-career professionals, and academic researchers looking to stand out in the life sciences. It offers the chance to explore the Biopôle campus, learn about its various programs, discover the StartLab incubator that supports innovative life sciences start-ups, gain valuable knowledge for transitioning into the private sector, and benefit from great networking opportunities.

I waited until I had organized two editions before writing about it, I wanted to see if the success of the 2024 edition would be repeated in 2025. And it was: over 200 participants, and 40 companies from the Biopôle campus involved in each edition. I already have plans in mind for the 2026 edition, with ideas on how to further enhance the experience for both participants and companies.

People often talk about transferable skills. Well, I learned how to organize events through my involvement in BSNL, first as a member, then as president. Some might think that work in a university association isn’t “professional” enough, but everything I learned there directly helped me shape the Biopôle Discovery Day into what it is today.

I'm still learning and improving in this area  and I’m loving the journey.