As I am coming to the end of my gap year, I have been missing the scientific field for some time, so I decided to attend the 23rd European Congress of Herpetology. As it was being held in Bonn, I was already familiar with the location, having collected data there as part of my master's thesis.
I attended the congress with two good friends: Dylan Vonhoff (who presented a poster) from my university and Mateo Millet (a PhD student at CEBC) from my student team during my master's thesis. We spent five days meeting researchers and extraordinary people working on projects we wanted to learn more about. It was also an opportunity to put faces to all the scientific names we cited in our studies. I was lucky enough to be able to give a presentation on my master's thesis on snake morphology.

I had the chance to meet Deepak, a wonderful scientist (and whose incredible reptile nerd T-shirts I dream of stealing) who published an article on snake morphometry that greatly inspired my studies on morphological convergence in snakes. It was also time for Dylan to look for a PhD position, while Mateo was looking for a Hungarian scientific team specializing in meadow vipers. We met other extraordinary people, such as Mark Scherz, whose presentation on the importance of miniaturization was truly fascinating, with plenty of scientific humor, just the way we like it (cf. see the Mini frog genus).

Something was missing in my internship... Something that will finish my thesis project, and in parallel my master’s degree, in a remarkable way... The cherry on the cake... That thing was the World Herpetology Congress, which takes place every 4 years and was held that summer : the best conference ever... I didn’t know it was so amazing to meet so many people in your field, living the same passion around reptiles, discussing what we are interested in these animals and how we can connect to build projects together. I went there with my lab team from the MNHN in Paris, led by Anthony Herrel.

So far, this congress has been a big step forward for my future in working with snakes and my herpetologist career. I am very grateful to have been able to travel to Borneo to attend this special event. I had the chance to present my master’s thesis there. I have spoken with many famous herpetologists, especially the sea snake specialist group as I am looking for a PhD focused on sea snakes.

Borneo was a wonderful place to visit during these 10 days in Kuching. I look forward to returning there because wildlife is fascinating for biologists. This conference shows me what it’s like to be connected with people in your field, to understand the current trends in the field that interests you most. I will forever thank the people who motivate me to come.

If being a student is something I really enjoy, it's even more interesting when you can take part in seminars on subjects that interest you. You meet lots of people who are famous scientists in their field or PhDs who aspire to become great biologists.

But in 2023, I was lucky enough to take part in a seminar attended by one of the most famous figures in Australian herpetology: Rick Shine.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with him and to have him put my name down for future projects (I hope!). This seminar showed me why the seminar exists. And why, as a student, it's important to take part in this event.

I was also lucky enough to meet one of my closest contacts in herpetology: Anthony Herrel from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. It was really good to see him and talk to him in this context, as it was all about meeting new people and making new contacts.

I'd like to organise other meetings of this type on the theme of evolution. I met some very interesting people in different fields and I'm very grateful to have had the chance to take part in this event.

When I finished my biology degree in France at the University of Paris-Saclay, I wanted to leave something to the students at my faculty. Something that has always fascinated me and that I have aspired to do for so long: organise a seminar on snakes. I decided to take the plunge because I felt I had a certain knowledge and vision of these animals that I could share with an audience. So, at the end of the year, I decided to organise my first lecture on snakes for students with one of my student associations.

With a friend of mine, we brought along a few specimens to handle, to share our passion and also to show everyone how beautiful these reptiles are. I saw on some people's faces the discovery of a completely new animal that they had never really tried to understand or appreciate, and that was very gratifying for me. This first step in my passion has motivated me even more to organise other conferences in the future and to share as much as possible with people in order to bring the world of snakes and humans together.