News from the SETAC Europe Student Advisory Council - September 2012

The promotion of young scientists should be a top priority in a sustainably operating scientific community. Besides university education, great importance has to be placed upon the integration of young researchers into this community and coaching them for everyday life in the scientific world. It is for this reason that during the 2006 Annual Meeting in The Hague, the SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Europe Student Advisory Council (SAC) was founded as the speaking tube of SETAC Europe’s students. The aim of the SAC is to support these young researchers to become well-networked, self-confident scientists, and as a result, fully-fledged members of the Society. To achieve these goals the SAC regularly organizes special student activities during SETAC Europe Annual Meetings and, on a biennial basis, an international students-only meeting (see below). Starting with this article, the SAC will regularly report its latest and upcoming activities in ESEU. For further information visit the council’s webpage at http://www.sac-online.eu/ webcite.For the 6th SETAC World Congress/SETAC Europe 22nd Annual Meeting from May 20 to 24 in Berlin, Germany, the SAC organized several activities. On Monday, a Mentor Lunch took place (co-organized by the North American SAC and kindly sponsored by the German Federal Environment Agency). In a relaxing atmosphere, students had the chance to meet established scientists from all over the world (Figure 1). On Tuesday we had a lunch time session with Career Talks given by three professors at different stages of their academic careers, namely Ralf B. Sch？fer (D), Lúcia Guilhermino (PT), and John Sumpter (UK). All three provided very interesting insights into their personal careers and presented useful information on crucial skills required for scientific progress, as well as the opportunities and challenges scientists may face during their academic careers. During the annual Student Assembly on Wednesday, SETAC’s students