Honestly Impactful: Role Model Inspiration Series (Summer 2026)
What it is
Honestly Impactful: Role Model Inspiration Series spotlighting real life science founders and their journeys from 0 to 1. We invite founders to share what it actually looked like to translate their PhD research into a life science company—the doubts, failures, hard choices — and why it’s still worth it. All events will only be in-person.
Why it matters
We’re building this series around two things:
1) Role model
Most life science students only see two paths: academia or industry. They’re trained to publish; few are shown how to build. We bring in role models students rarely meet— life science startup founders (PhD → venture), scientists in startups, and intrapreneurs to expand your career imagination beyond academia and industry. Expect honest conversations, field-specific insight, and no hype.
We believe life science students can become founders, innovators, and changemakers—if they consistently see that it’s possible and worth it.
2) Community
No matter how determined you are, it’s hard to stay motivated when no one around you shares your ambition. We’re building a high signal, interdisciplinary community where passionate and ambitious students find each other, combine their strengths, and create impact in life science.
You should come if:
- You’re ambitious about building the future
- You want to translate your research into startup
- You want to build something that matters—not just publish papers
How it works
All events will only be in-person.
Each field-specific event brings three speakers, representing three ways to build in life science:
- Founder (PhD → venture only): a relatable “someone like me” who turned their PhD research into a startup
- Intrapreneur (in a company): proves you don’t need to quit and found a startup to innovate—you can build new things from inside established organizations
- Scientist in a startup: shows how you can stay deeply scientific while working in an early-stage company
Each speaker shares their personal journey: why they started, the biggest challenges, what failed, how they navigated uncertainty, what they learned, and how you can do something similar. Each event can be attended separately.
Program
• Duration: 2-4.5 hours (evening)
• Dates: to be announced
• Kick-off (May): From PhD to real-world impact (founder story + ecosystem)
• Field-specific Event: Immunology & Oncology
• Field-specific Event: Sustainability & Circular Bioeconomy
• Field-specific Event: AI in Life Science
• Field-specific Event: Synthetic Biology & Bioengineering
• Fire chat (June): Female founders & leaders in life science
• Fire chat (June): Female student leaders in life science
• Networking Meetup (July): Gather passionate and ambitious students in life science
Each event can be attended individually. We also encourage you to join multiple (or all) events.
The key data
• Target Audience: MSc / PhD / Postdoc / MD from any discipline (science, engineering, medicine, data, business, etc.) who want to create an impact in life science. Ambitious BSc students are also welcome.
• Attendance fees: Completely Free
• Language: English (all events)
• Dates: May-July 2026
• Location: In-person only, Mainz/Frankfurt/Darmstadt (details announced later)
If you have any questions, please contact us at info@launch-rm.de
Official announcement of exact date and location will be made in late March.
