The Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) 2020 was organised by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore from 14th-17th January, gathering bright young researchers from all over the world. During this four-day summit, distinguished scientists including Nobel Laureates, Fields Medallists, Millennium Technology Prize winners, and Turing Award winners discussed the latest advances and major global challenges in science and technology with young scientists, and mentored the younger generation with their personal experiences and careers advice. GYSS is a multi-disciplinary event covering chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, computer science and engineering. The highlights of the conference included plenary talks entitled “The Revolution of Personalised Medicine” by Aaron Ciechanover (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004) and the “Materials for the Future” by Sir Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize for Physics 2010). There were also panel discussions on “the future of medicine” and “science and society”, and small group discussions on different topics ranging from machine learning to personal career development in science.
Dr Yibin Liu (Song lab) was nominated by the Ludwig Oxford Branch and selected by the University of Oxford as one of its five candidates. During the summit, he learned about other research fields from eminent scientists and technology leaders, including a small group discussion with Kurt Wüthrich (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002). Yibin was selected to present a poster on the recent ground-breaking TAPS technology for the analysis of DNA methylation, which helped him establish international collaborations with other young scientists during the summit.