On 30th September 2022, Champalimaud Foundation held the first-ever European Researchers Night onsite, reaching over 1200 people who, over nine hours, were able to visit six different areas of the Champalimaud Foundation. With a programme made up of 60 free activities: from dance, to workshops, music to practical science stations, visits to laboratories to stand-up comedy and speed dating on board a catamaran, there was no shortage of moments of exploration and wonder. We also had tuk tuks, round table discussions, podcasts, football and much, much more, effectively bridging the gap between science aand society. Seeing diversity and inclusion reflected not only in the programme but also in the public was something really special.
Both the night and the two linked Researchers At Schools programmes are supported by the MSCA and Citizens 2022 Coordination and Support Action RAISE, which brings together three Portuguese entities with similar goals: Native Scientist, Champalimaud Foundation and Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes for a wider national-level impact. Securing this grant would not have been possible without the Ciência di Noz Manera pilot conducted through QuantOCancer project, which forms the backbone of the integrated regional Researchers at Schools programme. All members of the ERA Chair’s research team also contributed actively, running practical activities for the public throughout the night.
Register now for the upcoming online event “Deciding How to Fund Research”!
👉👀 Event Programme and Registration
As competition for research funding increases, agencies are looking for novel ways to allocate their funds in a bid to remove potential biases and increase the transparency of how funding decisions are made.
This half-day event from QuantOCancer will highlight examples from international funding entities that are either already piloting or considering implementing different models to allocate research funds with a particular emphasis on the partial randomisation process, and bring the perspective of researchers on this topic.
Speakers will include Marco Bieri from the SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation, Lene B. Oddershede, Professor from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Axel Philipps from the Leibniz Universität Hannover, and Adrian Mota from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research | Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada, with a researcher roundtable session moderated by Adriana Sánchez-Danés from the Champalimaud Foundation.
The AstraZeneca Foundation and the Portuguese Oncology Society have distinguished a study by three Champalimaud Foundation researchers - Adriana Sánchez-Danés, Patrícia Borges and Raquel Soares - with a grant worth 35 thousand euros.
The BALANCE project, from the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Lab at Champalimaud Research, will focus on medulloblastoma, one of the most common malignant brain tumours in children, and aims to “discover to what extent the developing brain is plastic and capable of compensating for the disturbances caused by the formation of a tumour, while maintaining its normal development and function”, as those responsible for the study say. The project in question will thus “provide the first insights into the compensatory mechanisms used by the growing brain to ensure correct development, mechanisms that can lead to tumour shrinkage, opening promising avenues for the development of new treatments for paediatric patients”.
The winners of the 2022 edition of the “Faz Ciência” Award were announced on 23rd June, at a ceremony presided over by Maria do Céu Machado, new President of the AstraZeneca Foundation, which took place at the British Ambassador’s residence in Lisbon.
The 26 candidates for the 2022 edition were evaluated by a jury composed of five specialists in the field of Oncology: Ana Raimundo, former president of the Portuguese Society of Oncology and president of the jury; Bruno Silva-Santos, deputy director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) of the University of Lisbon and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon; Cláudia Vieira, member of the Portuguese Society of Oncology and researcher at the IPO Research Centre in Porto; José Carlos Machado, vice-president of the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology at the University of Porto (Ipatimup) and Nuno Bonito, member of the Portuguese Society of Oncology and coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Digestive Cancer Team at the Coimbra IPO.
https://www.fchampalimaud.org/news/champalimaud-foundation-team-distinguished-faz-ciencia-2022-prize
