Researchers from PHOTOTHERAPORT project take part in the “Shadow day” 2024

Valērija Groma, principal investigator of PHOTOTHERAPORT at Riga Stradins University (RSU) in Latvia, together with several members of her team, hosted a group of students during the “Shadow day”.

“Shadow day” is a recognised junior achievement career education programme for students in Latvia that aims to bring pupils close to different professions and sectors, taking place across the country. The idea is to brake students’ stereotypes and provide occupational guidance, connecting them with real life and helping them to plan their careers, make choices about their future professions and get ready for the labour market. On the other hand, it represents a valuable opportunity for enterprises and employers to raise their company’s profile and attract future colleagues. Participants spend 4-6 hours observing the daily work of members of the profession of interest, and that’s why they are called “shadows”.

In this context, last 04th of April, the Riga Stradins University (RSU) received 98 young students from 22 Latvian cities, and Dr. Valērija Groma and members of her laboratory were in charge of hosting several of them. The students learned about PHOTOTHERAPORT project and were able to follow the procedure for preparing tissue samples, analyse human brain samples under an electron microscope, and listen to more than two hours of lectures on the structure of nervous tissue and the nervous system and changes in the brain in epilepsy. It was a very fruitful journey where students got closer to scientific research in the biomedical field.

This year, Shadow Day was organised in Latvia for the 20th time, and attracted around 40.000 students, that took the opportunity to visit about 2300 companies. Even if the most popular professions at RSU on the day were project manager, medical equipment engineer, clinical simulation specialist, nurse and dentist among others, research is attracting more and more the attention of the future generation.

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