Copyright 2016 © Trakya University Faculty of Medicine Balkan Med J 2016;33:485-7 A New Cornerstone of Education of Authorship and Biomedical Project Design: International Research Interdisciplinary School, Slovakia, 2016 Editorial | 485 In today’s world, the only way to realize innovative idea is to turn it into a project. This allows the ideas to exit the realm of thought and take the frst step toward realization. It is pos- sible to build a project out of a dream, an experience, a preju- dice, a premonition, a routine observation, or an idea. Thus the planned work is supervised by other experts, is regulated, and matures. Moreover, this is the only way of attaining fnancial support for a project. On the other hand, it is unrealistic to cre- ate projects based on ideas that are not unique, have no wide- spread impact, and make no direct or indirect contribution to life or science (1). Ideas that are not built on solid foundations cannot be supported by society. The persons and groups that discover innovative ideas are expected to explain the signifcance and realization of their point of view in an orderly manner. The projects must clearly defne the hypothesis, primary outcomes, secondary outcomes, the methods and materials of experimentation, the persons tak- ing part in the process, offcial and special permits, ethical ap- provals, and informed consent requirements. The study groups to be used in the realization of the project, the selection of such groups, the applicability, feasibility, and repeatability of methods, and the statistical evaluation of the outcomes should be described (1,2). Furthermore, the prospective benefactors of the project’s outcomes and the new horizons brought by the study should be clearly expressed. All the aforementioned components of project design establish the main area of study for the event titled International Research Interdisciplinary School (IRIS) hosted by a civilian initiative comprising seven international journals. Carried out in eastern and south-eastern European coun- tries as well as Brazil and Kyrgyzstan for over ten years, IRIS aims to educate the young scientists in the region. The educational process includes problem-based and learning by doing methods. It is built upon the philosophy of research practicum of Duke University. Young researchers from vari- ous disciplines and cultures are interactively trained for four or fve days. Organized once or several times a year, the event puts 20 people into groups of four or fve where a proj- ect is designed based on a hypothesis. Formerly known as the International Scientifc Summer School, the event con- sists of four workshops (1,3). At the end of each workshop, the groups make a presentation where their arguments are evaluated and discussed by the faculty members and partici- pants. The event is concluded with the fnal presentations and evaluation of the project as a whole. This year’s 17 th IRIS event was held on May 22–27, 2016, in Velky Saris, Slovakia. Twenty-one participants from fve countries (Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, and the Czech Re- public) took part in the event. Young scientists from different disciplines, having biophysics, physics, and medical back- grounds, were randomly organized into four groups. During four training days, the groups developed their scientifc proj- ects under the supervision of the faculty. The selected inter- national faculty members were scientists, senior professors, and editors of scientifc journals in the feld. The training par- ticipants and their project proposals are presented in detail in Table 1. Moreover, Theresa Lillis, from the Open University, UK, gave a lecture about scientifc English and writing skills. Using the Duke University research practicum (1), two main aspects of research were trained during the event: cooperation and critical thinking. This was done starting with group form- ing: the aim is to create a multinational, interdisciplinary team where people have to work together in an organized fashion to achieve the goals set. To make things more interesting and authentic, all the conversations transpire in a non-native lan- guage (English), creating real life situations of misinterpre- tation and misunderstanding, where the transmitting of ideas takes precedence over grammatically fawless English. Fur- thermore, the time is always ticking and you have not only to concentrate on the task given, but schedule your team’s activi- ties effectively, identifying the primary objective and typically neglecting the secondary ones to be able to fnish on time for the next workshop. Taking into consideration that each of the participants has a different academic background and type of personality, these social interactions mimic all the chemistry of a scientifc workgroup (Figure 1–4). The teaching of critical thinking (and research project creation) is done in an untraditional way. The roles of tutor and student are set only vaguely and other participants are encouraged to enter the conversations with their own ideas.