OHBM blog: 2021 Roundup
By OHBM Blog Team
Elizabeth DuPre (Lead editor)
While many of us hoped that 2021 would be back to “business as usual,” it instead offered a chance to re-evaluate our relationship to one another and to the larger systems we find ourselves in. The OHBM blog, too, often took a reflective tone, with posts on the ongoing work from the brain mapping community as well as the past, present, and future of how we communicate these efforts. We reviewed our second fully-virtual meeting and looked ahead to a new hybrid future, with a new OHBM2022 post series to highlight the behind-the-scenes work that makes the annual meeting possible. The OHBM podcast NeuroSalience offered thoughtful conversations with community leaders across brain mapping, providing a consistent bright spot in continued uncertainty. I hope that the new year brings you and yours health and happiness, and I look forward to continue highlighting our OHBM community!
Eduardo A. Garza-Villarreal
I joined the OHBM ComCom in 2020 during the pandemic, a very difficult time for everyone, and especially challenging for us in the developing world. But things are improving with vaccination. I have a role as the leader of the laymedia team where we work on science communication for the general public. This year I worked on a keynote blogpost for OHBM 2021 keynote interview series and finished a post on Neuroimaging in Latin America where I highlighted the research from several groups across the region. I hope this new year brings more lay media articles to share with the world.
Stephanie Forkel
I joined the OHBM ComCom team this year and will lead as social media content editor for the OHBM YouTube channel. The first new content to go online will be the OHBM podcast NeuroSalience. Going forward, season 3 will be available with videos of the conversations between community leaders. We are also working on other formats and content to offer to the community online. While this is my main focus, I also contribute to the writing/editing of other communication pieces.
Ekaterina Dobryakova
This year, there have been some changes in my role in OHBM ComCom. I consider myself an avid podcast listener. Thus, I was very excited to get behind the scenes of making a podcast. I got a chance to edit some podcasts after joining the ComCom podcast team. The team is tasked with producing podcasts recorded by the esteemed Dr. Peter Bandettini. I usually listen to a podcast or an audiobook during my drive to the office. However, I have a very short commute and never get to listen to an entire podcast. Thus, being part of the podcast team allowed me to listen to podcasts for longer. They are very educational and personable at the same time. I am looking forward to working on more podcasts next year, in addition to doing some interviews.
Alfie Wearn
Following a relocation from the UK to Canada in the midst of a pandemic, and the start of an exciting new academic chapter for me, this year I have decided to get involved with the OHBM ComCom team, to see what I can offer. It’s great to see the varied roles that ComCom is involved in. Already I have co-authored a blog post detailing how next year’s OHBM conference may go ahead in a ‘hybrid’ format. Next year I hope to continue my involvement with the blog team, help out with the OHBM YouTube channel as well as the Neurosalience podcast. It’s all still very new to me, but the rest of the team has been extremely welcoming, and I’m looking forward to being more involved next year.
Kevin Sitek
Although 2021 had plenty of ups and downs, I’m proud of my involvement with OHBM—particularly the Communications Committee—this year. I joined ComCom as a liaison from the Student–Postdoc SIG and quickly got involved with the new Neurosalience podcast. It’s been a joy working with this smart, dedicated team and seeing the podcast take off over the year. In addition, since I was also serving on the Technology Task Force to steer the 2021 virtual conference development, I contributed a post to our blog about the virtual platform selection process and what to look forward to at OHBM2021. As we turn our sights to 2022, I co-wrote a recent blog post introducing the OHBM2022 planning efforts. I’m excited to now be a full ComCom member, and I’m excited about the next steps for the podcast, blog, and OHBM as a whole!
Steven Baete
This year, actually just the last few months, I started volunteering with ComCom and I was fortunate to immediately be involved in writing up a behind the scenes look at the upcoming OHBM 2022 conference. Writing this post together with Randy Gollub and Elizabeth DuPre was an exciting experience and I hope to further contribute to blog, ComCom and the wider OHBM community.
Ilona Lipp (ComCom Chair)
Having moved from contributor to lead editor and finally to ComCom chair, my actual writing for the blog has steadily decreased. This is why I was even happier to finally see another OHBM tutorial out, this time on Network Neuroscience. One of the current ComCom leadership’s goal (as discussed in this blog post) is to increase reporting on the activities of the various OHBM Committees and SIGs. With this aim in mind, I started a regular collective update post, the first of which recently got published.
