CIM Events

As the official legend goes, the so-called F***Up Nights were invented by startuppers and Silicon Valley creatures who were tired of the monotonous and superficial “successful success stories”. Having started out as the anti-TED, as the format grew in popularity, F***Up Nights inevitably became as glossy and showbiz-y as TED, but that shouldn't bother us. We'll take the essence of the format: the presenter/special guest will have to answer two main questions, What went wrong in my research? and what have I learnt from it? We could run these sessions among ourselves, and we could also invite colleagues from friendly departments. Most importantly, the speakers will not only - and not so much - be students, but professors. In this way, it can be a very useful and, in a sense, very humbling practice. As Tolstoy wrote, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'. In other words, personal stories of mistakes, failures and overcoming them can teach us what success stories cannot.