Chair: E Seeman

To enable the interaction between young investigators and experts in the field of osteoporosis. The Working Group plans to develop educational activities for young investigators and nurture their knowledge and skills according to their research interests.

• To put in place a 1 to 2-year education program that would promote interaction between osteoporosis experts and selected talents in the field in order to develop sound scientific research opportunities and projects.
• To set-up mini-IOF satellite groups that would plan and participate in educational activities for regional IOF societies.

IOF Young Investigator Mentoring Programme 

This novel training programme seeks to foster scientific innovation by young scientists in order to increase scientific advances in the field, across status, cultures and gender.. A select group of around 20 promising young researchers under age 40, including  the winners of the IOF Young Investigator Awards, are invited to spend a constructive day of mentoring and interaction with key researchers in the field.

The pilot programme was held at the 2nd Middle East & Africa Osteoporosis Meeting in Jordan (Sept. 2012) , followed by a second course at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Dec. 2012).

The objectives of the Mentoring Preogramme are to:

• Establish professional relationships with leading scientific experts
• Receive constructive advice on their research
• Develop grant writing and research publication skills
• Develop speaking and presentation skills
• Develop critical analytical skills in relation to scientific literature...

and to assist young scientists to:

• Gain access to role models
• Develop their career plans
• Identify potential funding & collaborative research opportunities

IOF looks forward to  holding additional courses in conjunction with its Regional Meetings in Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Plans are also underway to enhance the course with long-term continued networking and mentoring that will facilitate communication between attendees and the faculty.