Events and Talks

The Max Planck Institute for Biology hosts several seminars. All presentations are in English and students and scientists from other institutions are always welcome.

Regular Talks Series

Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series

The Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series is a joint colloquium of the Max Planck Institute for Biology and the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory. External (inter)national guest speakers alternate with our own scientists presenting a range of exciting research that reflects the diversity of our institutes. Each seminar is followed by  opportunities to discuss research findings further with the speakers in an informal small group or 1-1 setting.

Time: Friday at 3:00 pm (according to announcement)
Place: In the seminar room of the MPI IS building, the MPI-Bio seminar room or online.
Organisers: Cátia Igreja, Michael Borg

Contact: Researcher Support Team

BioConnect Seminar Series

The BioConnect Seminar Series provides an opportunity for presentations of ongoing research projects by our postdocs, advanced doctoral researchers, group and project leaders, as well as facility heads.

The objective of those seminars is to discuss current work on projects, ideas and results in a bigger round, to get feedback and to facilitate collaborations.

Internal event only.
Date: first and third Wednesday of the month
Organisers: Birte Hernandez, Jörg Martin and Elisabeth Weir

Career Seminar Series

The Career Seminar Series (CSS), organised by the Researcher Support Team, aims to to provide our researchers with an overview of academic and non-academic career possibilities. In the monthly seminars life science doctoral graduates, who have taken different career routes, share their career so far, the day-to-day activities in their current role as well as the challenges and the expertise required for their positions.

Place: online
Contact: Sibylle Patheiger, Elisabeth Weir

One-off Events

Talk/Webinar: Public engagement - a two-way street

• Date: Jan 27, 2025
• Time: 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
• Speaker: Anil Seth
• Location: online only
• Host: Marie Luise Schreiter and Beatriz Lucas

Public engagement is increasingly recognised as an essential activity for scientists. Effective public engagement is a two-way street. One direction encourages dissemination of scientific results and their implications. The other encourages shaping of research projects and interdisciplinary collaborations. There are many challenges in both directions, including (but not limited to) negotiating the trade-offs between detail, accuracy, and accessibility. Nor is public engagement just about results. It is also about how science works, or how it ought to work, and how it is part of wider society. I will share some lessons learned from my own public engagement experience in neuroscience and consciousness research, covering public talks, art-science collaborations, podcasts and media, and more. I hope to provide both practical guidance and wider context that will help scientists become not only better communicators, but – in the process – better scientists too. [more]