Brought to you from day 1 of the 2012 Vitae Researcher Development International Conference, this podcast executively summarises many of our conference activities, from plenary speakers to workshop leaders through to our special interest sessions and dedicated research strand. Podcast programme Introduction to the podcast - Michael Duignan, Vitae Conference aims and objectives - Ellen Pearce, Director, Vitae 'Comparing international strategies for developing researchers' - day 1 plenary speakers - Dr Bob Sowell, VP of Programs and Operations, Council of Graduate Schools - Prof Shelda Debrowski, Higher Education Researcher, University of Western Australia - Prof Takehiko Kitamori, VP of Human Resource Development and Internationalisation, University of Toyko - Martin Hynes, Chief Executive, European Science Foundation Introduction to day 1 workshops, special interest sessions and research strand - Michael Duignan, Vitae Closing thoughts, key points and messages from day 1 - Ellen Pearce, Director, Vitae