How the summer school works
The VERTINNOVATION thematic school is one of the tools offered by the GDR Vertige to promote the training of students, young researchers, clinicians or nursing staff, in research in neuro-otology. This initiative also helps to strengthen the links between GDR partner structures. The project consists of offering participants the opportunity to share a common week of theoretical and practical training, in contact with internationally renowned researchers and clinicians. Various laboratory and hospital-based workshops are proposed, as well as courses on various selected themes.
Thematic school format
The thematic school format has several advantages. It allows dense training over a week, combining courses and practical training in laboratory. It also makes it possible to offer thematic modules and tests to assess knowledges acquired at the end of the internship. The multimodule format preferred in our thematic school, allows participants to attend alternately in pairs or trinomials different workshops and courses during the week. This format therefore allow at the same time to combine working time in small groups and conviviality time on the historic sites of the host city. A certificate of attendee is provided to participants at the end of the summer school. The thematic school is open to students, scientists, clinicians, teachers and industry personnel involved in research on vestibular pathologies. The main objective of the school is to provide practical training in the mechanisms of vestibular pathologies and in the scientific and clinical exploration methods of these pathologies. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness among scientists of the practical reality of managing dizzying patients and of the use and limits of diagnostic tools and medical devices currently available. Finally, it is an opportunity to provide clinicians with a concrete vision of new technological and scientific advances in the field of research. The courses and workshops in the laboratory are an opportunity to promote interactive exchanges with private partners invested in technical innovation at the service of the practitioner and the researcher. The school’s scientific goals are renewed every year. The themes are chosen on the basis of the expertise of the laboratories hosting summer school participants, as well as their innovative aspect.
Pedagogical modalities
Two half-days are devoted to courses given by teacher-researchers, researchers and clinicians. These courses allow to detail the basics and principles of the different phases of development, encoding, transfer and integration of vestibular sensory information. They also allow to review functional and therapeutic aspects of vestibular disorders. Participants attend several research immersion workshops offered by the host teams. Participants are divided into pairs or trinomials on the basis of their choice of workshops. A half-day module is devoted to the clinical practice of otoneurology. Participants are welcomed in the ENT and Cervico-Facial Surgery department of the Conception Hospital in Marseille or in the ENT department of the European Hospital. Participation in posture and vestibular function assessment tests is offered. Sessions to visit technological platforms are organized at the end of the day on platforms of Neuroscience Institutes in Marseilles. The thematic school session ends with a half-day assessment and assessment tests which allows the knowledge acquired to be verified and the participants to receive feedback on the organization of the school.
Principle and organization of the thematic school
The principle of the thematic school is also to offer financial support through the CNRS subsidy and sponsors support in order to reduce the costs of participation and allow everyone to benefit from the training regardless of their status. The previous editions of the VERTINNOVATION thematic school took place during the month of July. For five days, around fifteen students and professionals in otoneurology were hosted in the Laboratory of Integrative and Adaptive Neurosciences (UMR7260 CNRS-AMU) on the Campus St Charles of AMU in Marseille. Different components of the otoneurology community were represented (ENT, physiotherapists, osteopaths, psychomotor therapists, doctoral students in Neuroscience). Around 16 attendees (clinicians, researchers, vertigo professionals and members of the LNC) participate each year in the training of trainees.
Previous Summer Schools
2016 to 2019 Schools
2016
2017
2018
2019
2019 Summer School
The 2019 VERTINNOVATION Summer School took place from July 1 to 5 on the Saint Charles Campus of the Aix-Marseille University. As every year, it brought together young neurologists, ENT specialists, posturological doctors, rehabilitation physiotherapists and young researchers. For 5 years, 60 young practitioners have been able, for a week of training, to immerse themselves in basic research and understand the challenges of high-level research and sustained translational activity for better grip. in charge of the dizzying and unstable patient.
2017 Summer School
Participants to the 2017 Summer School were able to familiarize themselves with the clinical practice of neuro-otology and discover the daily life of basic research in this field over five days. A half-day workshop in pairs was organized in the ENT and Cervico-Facial Surgery department of the Conception Hospital in Marseille, where participation in posture and vestibular function assessment tests was offered. The participants were also able to immerse themselves in small groups, in the various CNRS research teams, where they took part in concrete experiments relating to the study of multisensory control processes of vestibular information in humans. Two half-days were devoted to courses on vestibular physiology and the pathophysiology of vertigo. A discovery of two-photon microscopy and electron microscopy was also proposed. A friendly “networking” day was organized in the middle of the week around a walk in the Calanques of the “Cote Bleue”.
2018 Summer School
The 2018 edition of the VERTINNOVATION thematic school took place between July 9 and 13, 2018. For five days, 16 students and professionals of neuro-otology were hosted in the Laboratory of Sensory and Cognitive Neuroscience (LNSC-UMR7260 CNRS-AMU) on the St Charles Campus of Aix-Marseille University in Marseille. Different components of the neuro-otology community were represented (ENT, physiotherapists, osteopaths,
psychomotor therapists, doctoral students in Neurosciences). 12 speakers (clinicians, researchers, vertigo professionals and members of the LNIA) participated to the training of participants.
2019 Summer School
The 2019 VERTINNOVATION Summer School took place from July 1 to 5 on the Saint Charles Campus of the Aix-Marseille University. As every year, it brought together young neurologists, ENT specialists, posturological doctors, rehabilitation physiotherapists and young researchers. For 5 years, 60 young practitioners have been able, for a week of training, to immerse themselves in basic research and understand the challenges of high-level research and sustained translational activity for better grip. in charge of the dizzying and unstable patient.