YS2C initiative

YS2C — Young Scientist Cancer Congress — is an initiative led by early-career researchers for their peers, with a particular focus on postdocs and junior clinicians — residents, junior hospital practitioners, and post-doctoral clinical fellows working in or alongside cancer research.

These are pivotal years in a scientific career: years of intense productivity, growing independence, and yet often limited visibility in the spaces where science is discussed and decisions get made. YS2C exists to change that — to give postdocs and junior clinicians a stage where their work is heard, their ideas tested, and their networks built. PhD students who plan to continue in academia are warmly welcomed too: YS2C is the meeting that prepares them for what comes next.

How it started

The initiative emerged from the postdoc association of the Cancer Research Center of Toulouse (CRCT), founded in 2022 by Benoît Aliaga, Chloé Bessière and Steffen Fuchs to strengthen collaboration and networking among CRCT early-career scientists. What began as a local effort to bring colleagues together quickly revealed a wider need: across institutions and across borders, postdocs and junior clinicians in cancer research were looking for a meeting of their own — one designed around their questions, their career stage, and their ways of working.

In 2023, the association organised the first Young Scientist Cancer Congress at the Oncopole, Toulouse's cancer research campus. The response confirmed the intuition, and YS2C became an annual event.

What YS2C does

Each year, the initiative organises two connected events:

A pre-congress hackathon, where biologists and bioinformaticians work side by side on cutting-edge datasets. Introduced by Benoît Aliaga at the Berlin edition, this format has become a signature of YS2C — a space where interdisciplinarity isn't a buzzword but a concrete way of working together.

The annual Young Scientist Cancer Congress, bringing together early-career researchers and internationally recognised leaders for two days of talks, discussion and collaboration. The congress travels with its community: Toulouse in 2023, Montpellier in 2024, Berlin in 2025 through a French-German partnership with [partner], and back to Toulouse on October 1–2, 2026.

Two formats, one community, one shared conviction — that early-career researchers do their best science when they help design the spaces they meet in.

What drives us

A meeting designed for a career stage too often overlooked. Postdocs and junior clinicians carry much of academic research forward, but rarely get conferences built around their specific needs — visibility, peer connections, honest conversations about what the next step looks like. YS2C is built for them, and by them.

Real scientific exchange over passive listening. Keynotes from international leaders sit alongside formats — like the hackathon — that put early-career researchers at the centre of the discussion, not on its edges.

Bridges between disciplines and between countries. The questions oncology faces today don't fit inside a single lab or a single border, and neither should the meetings where they get discussed.

A door open to the next generation. PhD students considering an academic path are welcome — YS2C is a chance to see what the postdoc years actually look like, from the people living them.

Join us

If you are a postdoc, a resident, a junior hospital practitioner or a post-doctoral clinical fellow in cancer research, YS2C is built for you. If you are a PhD student thinking about an academic career, you'll find here the community you'll be joining.

The 2026 edition takes place in Toulouse on October 1 and 2 — register here.

During the congress, the experience goes well beyond the talks — discover all the networking opportunities we organise to help you connect with peers, clinicians, editors and sponsors.