The first meetup for ‘Research in Cluj’ has just happened, and it was fully of enthusiastic people and very interesting discussions. Out of 13 people that RSVPed they will join, 12 actually showed up, which is a very encouraging number for such a kind of meeting.
We got to know each other, presented our backround, shared our experiences and current occupation and frustrations in the research system. And eventually we created a plan for the future meetups and their format. It seems that most of us are really looking forward more networking possibilities among researchers, and even more with researchers from totally different fields. Therefore a primary goal of the group will be to reach out to people from different fields and backgrounds.
Since we moved in Cluj last year, I’ve been trying to get more active in research. It is a bit difficult without a research grant, and steps have been slow, but it’s going somewhere. All this time, I had the impression that research in Cluj is rather dead, but I am constantly discovering here and there initiatives and people doing serious research. Since one disabling factor for not being able to perform research is the fact that I don’t know other researchers here, I decided to do something about it :)