ImmUniverse partners meet in person for the first time to hold successful annual meeting

On 24th of February 2020, the ImmUniverse partners were supposed to meet for the first time. With the first COVID-related death announced in Italy only two days prior, the meeting was cancelled very last minute and replaced by a spontaneous virtual meeting to kick off the project. Since then, the project partners and the world have adjusted to a new way of working and we have all become more and more familiar with the different online platforms available. Nevertheless, the time had finally come to meet in person in wonderful Italy. The annual project meeting took place from the 13th to the 14th of June 2022 at the premises of Humanitas University in Milan.

Now that the consortium was finally able to meet in person for the very first time, two years into the project, it was a great opportunity to update on the project progress, its challenges and the tasks ahead. People enjoyed being able to raise their hands in real life and made the most of the opportunities for discussions on the side over a coffee or dinner. As the second periodic report was accepted by the Innovative Health Initiative just ahead of the meeting, the main focus of the meeting was to discuss open points, align on the next steps and prepare for the review meeting that is taking place early in July 2022.

Humanitas University, the coordinating institution of ImmUniverse, kindly hosted the meeting and ensured that there was enough pasta and pecorino for everyone. Only the wonderful stroll through the park from the hotel to the dinner location was slightly dampened by the mosquito season. Overall, it was a fruitful and lively meeting and the consortium certainly looks forward to more in person meetings in the next months and years of the project.

The ImmUniverse Consortium at the annual progress meeting in Milan, Italy - June 2022