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Wednesday September 04, 2024

Congratulations to Kirsten Ward-Hartstonge
2023 ASI Women's Initiative Awardee

We warmly congratulate
Kirsten Ward-Hartstonge
winner of the 2023 ASI Women's Initiative Award

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I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Otago.

I work in Professor Roslyn Kemp’s Lab, where we study the immune responses of people with inflammatory bowel diseases and cancer.

I was awarded the 2023 Women’s Initiative Award to attend the international Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Conference in Auckland. This award allowed me to bring my 1-year old daughter with me by providing funding to assist with childcare in Auckland while I attended the conference (and social events), and accomodation that was close to the conference venue.

The most important part of my trip to Auckland was to catch up with my previous postdoctoral supervisor, Profressor Megan Levings, about a paper that we are writing together. Being able to speak to Megan in person was invailable and we were able to make effecient progress. As a result of our discussions, our paper is now going to be ready for submission at the beginning of 2024 (stay tuned!). This would never have been possible without being able to talk to her face-to-face and I am so grateful I was given this opportunity.

One of my favourite moments from the conference was presenting my first, senior author poster at one of the poster evenings (photo attached). It was a suprise to find that Dr Laura Cook, who was also presenting her first senior author poster (and also did a postdoc with me in Megan Levings Lab), shared a poster board with me! Laura Cook (now at the Doherty) wrote a X post about this https://x.com/drlaura_cook/status/1732598263319261464?s=20

I was also very lucky to be able to open and co-chair the first session of the tumour immunology SIG with A/Prof Lisa Ebert. It was one of my favourite days of the conference as I enjoyed all of the presentations so much. The sundowner event was such a nice was to close the SIG as it was a great way to meet some of the other tumour immunology researchers that I have been reading the papers of for years.

One of the main lessons I learnt during my time at ASI 2023 was that attending a conference with a toddler is much more difficult than it used to be. I especially missed the ability to be able to be more spontaneous and not having to plan everything days in advance. I would like to thank ASI for providing me the Women’s Initiative Award and making the experience much more manageable and allowing me to have a fun and productive time in Auckland.

Author: Kirsten Ward-Hartstonge

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ASI