Frequently asked questions

What criteria are used to select the (best) students that can attend the event? What is the ranking system? Who selects the candidates?

The selection criteria are: professional achievements and experience – particularly project and work experience; grade point average and speed of completion of studies; letter of recommendation (advisable); and extracurricular activities. Fluency in English is required.

The candidates are selected by a team of top Sandoz professionals and managers, in cooperation with Human Resources.

What will the event be like? What’s the program like? Where and when can I see it?

Regional BioCamp 2017 will be taking place from the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, 2017 to the evening of Tuesday, May 23, 2017. The first day will include Ljubljana sightseeing and a welcome dinner in the Ljubljana city centre. On Monday there will be a welcome address by the President of the Lek Board of Management Vojmir Urlep, followed by several keynote presentations by leading scientists from academia, Lek, Sandoz and Novartis. The afternoon will be reserved for case study introductions and work in break-out sessions. Tuesday’s focus will be on case study finalization and team presentations, followed by a visit to Sandoz development facilities and a keynote presentation by the Global Talent Management in Sandoz. Finally, the participants will gather for an awards ceremony at Ljubljana Castle.

The preliminary program is available here.

The final program will be sent via email to the selected candidates before the event.

Where will BioCamp take place? At one or more locations?

Regional BioCamp 2017 will be taking place in the capital of Slovenia – Ljubljana. The Sunday welcome dinner will be taking place in the Ljubljana city center. Tuesday’s awards ceremony will be held at a special location in a more festive atmosphere. The keynote presentations and case study team work will take place at Sandoz offices at Verovškova 57 in Ljubljana.
The selected students will be informed about detailed locations before the event.

I’m not from Ljubljana. Are the organizers taking care of accommodations, food, transport to the venues (if required) etc. or do I have to take care of it myself?

Travel costs (to Ljubljana and back) should be covered by the students themselves. If required, Lek can offer assistance with travel arrangements.

Accommodations in a select Ljubljana hotel have been reserved for 35 students from May 21 to 23, 2017. All travel arrangements from the hotel to Sandoz facilities and other locations (venues) will be arranged. Sandoz will cover the costs of accommodations and travel between venues from May 21 to May 23, 2017.

The selected candidates will be informed about the logistics details before the event.

Will the organizers be taking care of transport to Slovenia (for foreign students) or do the participants have to take care of it themselves?

The organizers will provide assistance for selected foreign students with regard to travel to Slovenia. For further information, please contact us at: biocamp.lek@sandoz.com.

Is the event designed as a competition? The winners of the Regional BioCamp are supposed to participate at the Novartis International BioCamp 2017 in Switzerland. Do the points on the applications for the regional event count towards the international event?

The event offers students an insight into the pharmaceutical industry and entrepreneurship in the form of presentations and tours; it also offers them an opportunity to work together and test themselves in teamwork while working on case studies. The selection of the best team and best individuals is the highlight of the program and will be made on the basis of your participation in a business-oriented team exercise, and not on the basis of any points in the application itself. The applications are simply the ticket to participation in the event.

What is the ratio of undergraduate and postgraduate students that can attend the event? Are there set quotas?

Our intention is for the regional event to include diversity among the participants. This diversity refers to the countries from which we are inviting the participants, their scientific disciplines and also to their level of education received to date. With regard to level of education we would like to have equal proportions of students who are nearing the completion of their undergraduate studies, master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral students.

How many years is the regional event taking place (in its current form)?

On the basis of the reputation and recognition of the Novartis International BioCamp in Basel, Switzerland, and the exceptional responses of the Slovenian participants, including one of the winners, we have decided to hold a Regional BioCamp in 2011 in Ljubljana for the first time. This year we are going to continue with the tradition by holding the seventh Regional BioCamp. We hope that this will give the best and most promising science students from Slovenia and the region the opportunity to meet distinguished experts and top managers. The forum is a great opportunity for talented young students to obtain a direct insight into the world of research and the international business environment within the pharmaceutical industry.

First introduced in Taiwan in 2004, BioCamp has developed into an international forum for science and business students from around the world to learn, exchange ideas and work together in a highly competitive business environment. Over the past nine years, Novartis has introduced more than 600 top graduate students to the biotech industry and entrepreneurship.

Previously BioCamp was hosted in some other countries, including USA, India, Egypt, Italy etc. For the past few years Novartis International BioCamp has been held at the state-of-the-art Novartis global headquarters in its campus in Basel, Switzerland.

Click here to read more about International BioCamp.

Who were the last year’s / previous regional winners?

At the first Regional BioCamp Alpe-Adria, which was held by Lek, a Sandoz company, in 2011 in Ljubljana with 35 of the most promising young science students from the Alpe-Adria region, the individual winners of the competition section of the three-day forum are Véronique Bos from Netherlands, who is studying at the Management Center Innsbruck in Austria, and Klemen Španinger from Slovenia, who is a phd student of biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Ljubljana. The winning team are: Ana Ogrinc (Slovenia), Biljana Govedarica (Slovenia), Matej Žnidarič (Slovenia), Matjaž Ravnikar (Slovenia), Samra Hasanbašić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Véronique Bos (Netherlands) and Vita Majce (Slovenia).

As a part of the Regional BioCamp 2012, held from May 20 to 22, 2012, Daliborka Dušanič from Biotechnical Faculty, Ljubljana and Miha Kosmač, a post-doctorial biomedicine researcher at the University of Ljubljana, developed the best case study. Selected was also the winning team with members Meti Gašparič Buh, Stefan Petrovski, Nejc Rački, Teja Rajar, Sara Seršen, Marko Viskić and Christine Winkler.

At the conclusion of the third Regional BioCamp, held from May 12 to 14, 2013 the winners of the competition part were announced. Patricia Wildberger from the Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at Graz University and Gašper Pustovrh from Biotechnical Faculty at University of Ljubljana developed the best case study and the selected best team included members Božidar Aničić, Katarina Maher, Nejc Rojko, Nadica Sibinovska, Marija Vukomanović, Tina Zupančič and Uroš Zupančič.

According to the panel’s opinion, when designing the case study, the winners of the Regional BioCamp 2014 Boris Brus and Janko Ignjatović proved themselves to be the best among all participants when combining a scientific and business way of thinking both of which are of the utmost importance for success in the pharmaceutical pharmacy. Boris Brus, Alja Oblak, Julija Rohrer, Karolina Rudnicka, Lara Saftić, Predrag Stojaković and Marko Trampuž proved themselves as the best performing team.

Žiga Perko and Julian Kellner showed the best individual performance in preparing a case study and transferring the acquired knowledge into practical work at the Regional BioCamp 2015. Laura Avogaro, Andonela Janeva, Zlatko Joncev, Julian Kellner, Daniela Milosheska, Janja Mirtič in Omar Naneh proved themselves as the best performing team.

Among the 35 most promising science students from the region at the Regional BioCamp 2016, Nika Anžiček, Filip Cvetko and Ognen Jakasanovski demonstrated the best performance in transferring the acquired knowledge into practice. The winners participated at the global Novartis BioCamp 2016 in Basel, Switzerland. Nicola Cornella, Klavdija Glavač, Ognen Jakasanovski, Urška Jelerčič, Anja Mejač, Nicolas Spreitzer and Luka Šrot were selected the best performing team.

The members of the winning team receive a special acknowledgment for their work, while the individual winners participate in the Novartis global BioCamp in Basel, Switzerland.

Also in years before the Regional BioCamp has been organized, some of our students attended the Novartis BioCamp: Ljerka Lah was one of the two winners at the Novartis European BioCamp in 2008, Nina Kočevar, Saša Jereb and Marina Grgič.

What is a motivational letter?

The purpose of a motivational letter is to express your personal interest and your motivation when applying to the event.

Your motivational letter should supplement your CV with information about the reasons for your interest, your personal motivation, your strengths and your expectations.

It is your chance to express what appeals you about the event and why you should be considered as a suitable candidate.

Should the recommendation letter be only scanned and sent to you by e-mail or should I send it via post mail as well?

The recommendation letter should be scanned and attached to your application – there is no need to send us the copy by post.

I wasn’t selected to participate to this year’s Regional BioCamp. Can you give me some advice and instructions on what to do in order to be chosen next year?

Every year we receive numerous very competitive applications. After careful evaluation we choose 35 students that best fit the selection criteria. Some of the criteria are qualitative, such as the letter of recommendation and letter of motivation, in addition to a high grade point average and nearness to completion of studies (final year students have an advantage), professional experience and extracurricular activities. There is one exclusion criterion – not being fluent in English. As we receive so many excellent applications, we additionally want to give an opportunity to a diverse group of students regarding nationality, universities, study programs and gender. The final group of students is chosen by professionals and senior management at Lek d.d. We encourage you to apply for the next year’s Regional BioCamp, since having applied for previous BioCamps is an advantage that will be taken into consideration. Moreover, we are highly interested in cooperating with talented young people, and we assure you there will be more opportunities in the future for the most motivated and talented.