News
Autumn has arrived, and so has our next newsletter! We have had a busy few weeks – here are some highlights.
Active Projects
On the 1st of September the European Horizon-Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases project “EMPOWER” was officially started. With this kick off, we are happy to announce that Dr Clémence Bafei will be joining Dr Sophie Pilleron and Dr India Pinker in working on the LIH-led work package.
We are happy to announce that two of our studies have received a favourable opinion from the National Ethical Committee, and one has received an exemption! One study will investigate the communication between oncologists and patients when making treatment decisions, and another will investigate the diagnostic reasoning of GPs when faced with non-specific symptoms that could indicate cancer. The latter study also received a favourable opinion from the Ethics Review Panel of the University of Luxembourg. The final study, that received an exemption, is an anonymous global survey asking oncologists what they feel should be the priority in future research on the treatment of colorectal cancer. Watch this space to learn more about the studies as they launch!
Collaboration
Dr Sophie Pilleron attended the COST Action Meeting on Cancer Survivorship in Istanbul from the 1st-3rd of September. This meeting encouraged collaboration and idea sharing to further research and outreach in the domain of cancer survivorship. Building on these discussions, Dr. Pilleron and Dr. Pinker have joined the collaborative efforts to submit a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network grant.
In the same collaborative spirit, ACADI welcomed Dr George Ramsay on the 8th of September. Dr Ramsay, an Aberdeen-based colorectal surgeon working in emergency settings with a dual research role, first connected with Dr Pinker in advance of her invited talk at the University of Aberdeen in April. His visit sparked lively discussions with the team and has already led to several new collaborative research avenues. We look forward to seeing where this work takes us!
Training
Dr Pauline Duquenne spent the first week of September in Copenhagen to attend a training workshop on causal prediction for medical decision-making. The purpose of this workshop was to explore how to develop and evaluate causal prediction models that are truly useful for guiding clinical decision-making, through lectures, practicals, and case studies.
Dr Clémence Bafei received a certificate for completing the course “Peerspective” hosted by the Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the BMJ to train early-career scientists in reviewing prospective papers in journals. This training aimed to provide key skills in recognising quality papers and providing constructive feedback to prospective authors, promoting scientific integrity across the publication process.
CET Success
Gladys Langue, a PhD Student in our team, has successfully passed the second year of her PhD following a very successful presentation of her work to her examination board. We are so proud of you, Gladys!
Grants
Dr Pauline Duquenne has submitted a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship grant application to Horizon Europe for the PRECIOUS project. If successful, this project will use causal prediction methods to predict the risk of chemotherapy-related toxicity under different chemotherapy strategy scenarios in older adults with breast or colorectal cancer.
Sadly, our recent funding application to Fondation Cancer was not successful. The reviewers, however, recommended that we resubmit the proposal to other funding bodies that may be better aligned with the scope of our research, and we plan to take this advice forward.
Recruitment
We are recruiting! From early 2026, ACADI will host three Master’s students. The projects offer something for everyone, spanning both qualitative and quantitative methods, and will be co-supervised by different members of our team, including Dr India Pinker, Dr Clémence Bafei and Gladys Langue.
To read more about the positions and how to apply, read the links below:
- Colorectal Cancer Treatment Research Agenda: https://www.lih.lu/en/job/?value=CB
- Qualitative co-design of research for cancer treatment decision –making with support of ThinkPink Luxembourg: https://www.lih.lu/en/job/?value=IP
- Colive Cancer analysis of factors affecting diagnosis: https://www.lih.lu/en/job/?value=GL
As an example of the impact of working with our team, a former intern, Ornela Siapdje, recently defended her thesis and received very positive feedback from the jury – so don’t miss out on an opportunity to work with us!
For those who are a little further along in their research journeys, we are also recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to join our team. The role focuses on analysing large datasets to study healthcare utilisation among cancer patients in Luxembourg, with opportunities to contribute to other projects as well. Follow this link to learn more and apply: https://www.lih.lu/en/job/?value=JA/PD0925/SP/ACADI
Outreach
We have been busy preparing for several outreach activities, and we are excited to share that many ACADI team members are going to feature on the FNR’s “Spotlight on Young Researchers”. Filming will take place on the 10th of October, and we look forward to sharing the feature with you on LinkedIn as soon as it is released, so watch this space!
A few months ago, we asked our followers on LinkedIn to help us choose the new team mascot to represent ACADI at events and start conversations. We are delighted to finally introduce you to our lovely green friend! After a long journey, he has safely arrived – but he has not managed to tell us his name yet…
Events
We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone about our RESCOM lecture series starting on the 1st of October. Over the next few months, the series will feature a range of fascinating talks on causal inference, open to participants both in Luxembourg and abroad. The series was launched with an engaging lecture by Dr. Peter Tennant and will continue with contributions from other distinguished international researchers in the field. Follow our newsletter or LinkedIn for more updates on this series. Don’t miss out!
Until next time, keep well!
ACADI Team