The Start-up Meeting for New DDEA Grant Recipients provides participants with greater knowledge about DDEA and how DDEA supports them through its education, networking and communication activities. The meeting also allows participants the opportunity to connect with other DDEA grantees, learning about their research projects and interests.
In addition, the participants will gain new knowledge about how to communicate their science and leverage their network in a specially planned workshop.

After the event you will be able to:

• Recognize how DDEA will support you by offering the best possible education and networking activities
• Demonstrate what DDEA expects from you as a DDEA grantee
• Apply new elements in how you communicate your science and leverage your network

Speakers:

• Lead Facilitator, IMPROV Communication (DK)
• DDEA Visiting Researchers
• DDEA Secretariat

Organisers:

• DDEA Secretariat

Participation in this meeting is limited to persons who have been awarded a PhD scholarship or a postdoctoral fellowship from DDEA.

Venue address:
Hotel Storebælt Sinatur Hotel, Østerøvej 121, DK 5800 Nyborg

Dinner registration
DDEA organises a networking dinner on 1 September. Participation in the dinner is free of charge. Please sign up for the dinner upon registration, and indicate whether you have any dietary requirements.

Accommodation
DDEA offers accommodation at the venue for all participants with check-in on 1 September and check-out on 2 September. Please sign up for accommodation when you register for the event.

Certification
A course certificate will be sent to all participants upon request at the end of the course.

Latest cancellation date & no-show fee
Please note that it is free of charge to participate in the event however the DDEA will charge a no-show fee of 1000 DKK if you do not show up and have not unregistered from the event by Thursday 20 August.

Deadline for submission of abstracts:  21 June 2026 at 23:59

Please submit an abstract of your project and plan to bring a scientific poster presenting that project.
At the Start-up meeting we will have time for project poster presentations and scientific networking. As you all are new to your projects, we do not expect traditional scientific abstracts and posters. Instead, we kindly ask you to prepare an abstract describing the rationale and aims of your project and an A1-sized “project poster.” You will use this poster for talking points, pitching, and discussing your project with the other participants.

Poster sessions:
We previously informed you that your posters would be presented as part of a “poster tour”. However, due to the high number of participants in the Start-up Meeting, this is no longer feasible. Instead, your posters will be presented as 2-minute pitches during two poster sessions. For these sessions, we ask you all to prepare one single slide in PowerPoint (.pptx) and send it to ouh.ddea@rsyd.dk no later than 24 August. 

Your projects will be pitched during sessions on 1 and 2 September. Each pitch will be chaired by another grant recipient. Further information about the poster session has been sent to all participants. A Poster presentation schedule is available in the list of materials in the bottom of this page. 

Abstract guidelines:
The abstract should be max 1500 characters, incl. spaces and written in Arial 10.

• Title of abstract (Use a short and specific title with title-style capitalisation and put it in bold)
• Presenting author name(s) (Underline the presenting author’s name)
• Affiliation (Include unit, institution/company/hospital, city and country for all authors and put it in italic)

Please do not include images, figures, charts or tables in the summary. Proofread carefully before sending, and upload a Word file and use your name in the file name.

Poster guidelines:
Size of poster: A1, portrait format

Your project poster should look like a traditional scientific poster, but it will lack the results and conclusions sections. You should include:

• A title
• Authors
• Affiliations
• Background and rationale
• Project aims
• Methods (if you already have ideas for these)
• Anticipated outcomes and impact from the project, and
• Take-home message box so that you leave the audience with the key message

The slide:
Your single slide should act as a teaser for your poster and encourage participants to visit your poster and discuss your project with you. We recommend not using a screenshot of your poster for this purpose. We also find that a “less is more” approach to slide content is often most effective.