OUR EVENTS
ImAGEin Erasmums Mundus Joint Master organizes a variety of events designed to foster academic and professional development. These activities include workshops, seminars, and networking opportunities, aimed at enriching students' learning experience and connecting them with experts in the field.
Sep 2-4, 2026: Welcome Week 2026-2028
From September 2 to 4, Université Côte d’Azur welcomed the 29 students of the second cohort of the joint Erasmus Mundus (EMJM) imAGEin master’s program to Antibes for their “Welcome Week”—three days dedicated to learning about the program, meeting the people who will be supporting them, and, above all, integrating into the imAGEin community.
Welcome Week: A Unique First Experience for Carefully Selected Students
Selected from a large pool of applicants, these talented students from 16 different countries are embarking on an ambitious two-year academic journey. For some, this is their first experience in France—or even in Europe. Beyond getting to know their new academic environment, this orientation week provided an opportunity to build connections, discover a new culture, and meet the people who will share this international adventure with them over the next two years.
One of the highlights of this orientation week was the chance to bring together two generations of imAGEin students: the new class of 2026–2028 and the pioneering class of 2025–2027 (which was attending its “Summer School” during the same week).
Through workshops, poster sessions, thematic discussions, and networking activities, these first few days provided an opportunity to build connections, foster collaboration, and strengthen the rapidly growing imAGEin community.
New students had the opportunity to meet those who had already taken their first steps in the program, share experiences, and ask questions about life, mobility, and research within imAGEin. Bringing together the program’s pioneers and those who are now writing its next chapter, this gathering served as a reminder that imAGEin is much more than a degree: it is an international community that is being built and growing, generation after generation.
A week to remember through many memorable moments:
- The “Meet Me in 180 Seconds” initiative allowed each new student to introduce themselves to the entire community—not only through their academic background, but also through their interests, experiences, jobs, passions, and the stories that make each of them unique. What a great way to start putting faces, personalities, and stories to the new class!
- At the same time, the first graduating class shared their experiences with internships and first-year lab rotations, giving new students a first glimpse of what lies ahead on their own journey.
- The program also featured an inspiring talk by Bertrand Friguet, professor emeritus of biology at Sorbonne University, who shared his reflections and insights drawn from his own career in aging research, while encouraging students to consider the many paths their own professional journeys might take.
A Community of Experts in the Making
Over the course of these three days, academic presentations, discussions, interactive activities, and informal gatherings all contributed to a common goal: building connections from the very beginning. Because imAGEin is not limited to the study of the biology of aging across Europe. It’s about learning together, sharing experiences, discovering new perspectives, and building an international community that grows stronger with each new generation of students.
EUR LIFE would like to thank all the local coordinators, their representatives, and everyone who helped make this orientation week a memorable start for our new students.
Welcome to the imAGEin Class of 2026–2028—your adventure begins here!
Past events
- Sep 2 to 5, 2025 - imAGEin Welcome Week for Cohort 2025-2027
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From September 2nd to 5th, Université Côte d’Azur had the pleasure of welcoming the very first cohort of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master imAGEin programme, for a week of integration, exchange, and discovery.Selected from hundreds of outstanding applicants, these talented students have come from all over the world to begin an ambitious academic journey in the Life Sciences — with a specialisation in the biology of ageing.
For many of them, this marks not only their first experience in France, but also in Europe. With origins spanning Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe, this diverse group brings incredible cultural and human richness to the programme.The Welcome Week served as both a warm introduction to their new academic environment and an opportunity to connect with their peers — future collaborators, friends, and fellow adventurers on this international journey.
Highlights from the week included:- A Joint Welcome Day with the MemBioMed programme on the Valrose campus in Nice
- Academic seminars
- Group meals with the cohort
- Free evenings to relax and connect
- A guided tour of Antibes, showcasing the beauty of the Côte d’Azur
We are proud to support this new generation of international students as they begin their studies — and their lives — in a new country, language, and culture.
✨Here’s to our first cohort and to 2 years of growth, collaboration, and academic excellence!
- Dec 11-16, 2023: ImAGEin Winter School at Université Côte d'Azur
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Back in December 2023, we organized a Winter School with the EUR Life Graduate School in Nice, within the Université Cote d'Azur.
A winter (or summer) school is an intensive program around an annual theme aimed at providing an intensive and innovative learning experience to discover and strengthen knowledge of the fundamental disciplines of Life Sciences. Each of our Winter School and Summer school are offered in the EU or with free access to the scientific public subject to registration.winter school 2023 gynko group photo winter school 2023 keynote speaker winter school 2023 research project winter school 2023 lab visit
About 50 persons attended this event, during which speakers and participants discussed a wide spectrum of general concepts (genome stability, cellular senescence, stem cell, cellular regeneration, mytochodrial function, immune responses, physiopathology), creating an unique opportunity to fulfill the following objectives :- To identify halmarks of aging.
- To know experimental models of aging and their application in research.
- To understand aging-related alterations at different organisational levels: from cell to organism.
- To perceive the biology of aging as a broad, individual and multifactorial biological process.
- To develop and present an idea with societal impact resulting from scientific observations.
winter school 2023 research project Over this exciting week, we were proud to welcome 3 prestigious keynote speakers:Dr. Deepak Kumar Saini (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India) Dr. Mario Pende (l’Institut Necker-Enfants malades, Paris, France) Dr. Bjorn Schumacher (Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease, CECAD, Cologne, Germany)
