News

joint ULB-UNIL PhD summer course in cancer biology, Sept 12-16, Brussels

Organizers:

Dr. Jean Yannis Perentes, UNIL
Prof. Etienne Meylan, ULB

Where and when?

This course takes place in two consecutive years and participants are expected to attend both years.

In 2022, the course will be at ULB in the new Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels from Monday Sept 12th until
Friday Sept 16th. The participants coming from Lausanne will travel by train on Sept 11th and Sept 17th.
In 2023, the course will be at UNIL; the precise location and dates will be communicated later.
Goals of the 2022-2023 joint ULB-UNIL Summer courses in Cancer Biology:

1) To learn about the latest developments in specific areas of cancer science spanning fundamental
through to clinical research. We trust our program and the active participation of the PhD students will
enlighten them about the research and clinical activities on cancer that takes place in both Institutions, and
about research career paths and choices. With this course, some PhD students might even become
interested to continue their career in the other partner Institution, which could be eased by already knowing
some laboratories and research activities presented during the course.

2) To create a scientific relationship between PhD students from two partner Institutions, UNIL and ULB.
Summer courses already exist in universities, but they rarely occur cross-Institutionally. Thus, students
from the partner Institutions will meet because of this unique program. They will interact scientifically during
these two weeks, and hopefully also beyond this course, potentially catalyzing new research collaborations
between ULB and UNIL laboratories.

3) To discuss, share scientific knowledge and exchange ideas with the different lecturers, and with local
cancer scientists present during the participants’ poster presentation.
Participants of the 2022-2023 joint ULB-UNIL Summer courses in Cancer Biology

This course is open to 20 PhD or MD/PhD students: 10 from UNIL and 10 from ULB. To benefit most from
the structure and goals of this course, the students should commit to participate on both consecutive years.
Students are expected to prepare and present a poster each year, sharing their results in the first year and
the project advances the following year. Thus, priority will be given to students in the second or third year
of their studies, rather than first or fourth.

Application
Students will apply with a CV, a motivation letter and a MAX 1-page explanation of their research, which
they will present as a poster during the summer course. The deadline for the application is 15.04.2022.
The application, containing in a single PDF file the motivation letter, the research explanation and the CV
should be sent by email to both organizers (Jean.Perentes@chuv.ch, etienne.meylan@ulb.be), with
subject: “ULB-UNIL PhD summer course application”. Applicants will receive news a few weeks later.

Costs and logistics
A privileged partnership grant from ULB and UNIL has been obtained for the creation of this course. Thus,
the travel Lausanne-Brussels, which will be done by train, will be covered by the program, as well as the
accommodation (unless it overpasses the total allocated amount, in which case a small fee might be
asked). The participants will only have to pay for their meals, transport in the city by metro and any extra