MCAA Annual Conference 2026: What for?
During the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) Annual Conference 2026, the MCAA Communication Working Group organised a blogging contest, inviting onsite and online participants to share key takeaways, insights, and reflections through engaging blog posts. This contest encouraged participants to engage deeply with various sessions and topics, providing a platform for sharing diverse perspectives and highlighting key moments from the event. After receiving several submissions, the top entries, showcasing exceptional quality and reporting, were published and honoured with awards. The blog post below earned a special mention in the blogging contest.
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Why are you going there? It's not a technical conference, it does not add anything to your expertise. That's what I was told by many colleagues every time I planned to attend the MCAA Annual Conference. I think this is an indication of where many colleagues are, somewhat closed in their own circle, but that's also an indication of what we, as MCAA members, should be better at: communicating the impact that events like the Annual Conference, and the Association in general, could have on us as persons.
This was my third time in a row of attending the Annual Conference, and it was, once again, way more than inspiring, getting in touch with guys that now I can consider friends and not just colleagues, and seeing new faces that curiosity brought on board. For me, it's hard to focus on a specific session, as I found the overall environment more important, with researchers and policymakers connecting to discuss where science is now and where it should go in a few years.
The Annual Conference somewhat forced me to step out of my comfort zone, speaking about topics that are never addressed at my host institution. Is it challenging? Yes. Is it rewarding? Absolutely. What I learned during these few days, the connections that were established and renewed, the discussions we had on almost everything, the smiles that I saw, the photos that I did not take to keep everything in my mind, all those aspects go well beyond science, and showcase the impact that science-related grants could have on researchers as people. If there is something that the first 30 years of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) contributed to creating, it is exactly a community able to leverage its experience to move forward.
This year's theme, "Research careers beyond borders: 30 years of the MSCA," could not have been more fitting. The Université libre de Bruxelles hosted us for four days, and Brussels, the political heart of Europe, felt like the right backdrop for conversations that kept oscillating between the personal and the systemic. From the opening ceremony, where the keynote by European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva turned into a real dialogue rather than a polished institutional address, to all the sessions and the closing debate, it was clear that this edition would not shy away from difficult questions.
Going back to my colleagues’ question - why are you going there? I think the honest answer is: because science does not happen in isolation, and neither do scientists. The MCAA Annual Conference is one of the rare spaces that remind you of that, loudly and warmly, every single time.
