TechMed Research Day

On Thursday 15 June 2023, the TechMed Centre organised its second Research Day in the TechMed Centre of the University of Twente. Scientific Director Prof. Dr Maroeska Rovers about this day: “I enjoyed our Research Day. We aim to facilitate interdisciplinary research and education, so it was nice to see so much young talent from all our faculties. This is a unique chance to learn from each other and to foster collaboration within the vibrant TechMed community.”

The Research Day at the TechMed Centre began with a warm welcome from the managing director, Remke Burie. His introduction set a positive atmosphere for the entire day. Subsequently, Remke and Jojanneke Schuiling entertained the audience with an interactive quiz with which they tested the audience’s knowledge about the TechMed Centre and the broader medical technology ecosystem. Prof. Dr Carine Doggen (BMS-PHT) emerged as the winner and received a nice box of chocolates.

‘Be the hero of your own life’

The opening programme was followed by a College Tour-style interview with Maroeska Rovers under the guidance of Dr Christina Bode (BMS-PHT). Maroeska, who emphasizes the importance of collaboration and teamwork in achieving goals, brought two items with personal significance. One was a photo of her family, featuring her two daughters aged 18 and 16. The other was a precious sculpture expressing the concept of collaboration. Maroeska believes that collaboration is crucial in tackling major challenges such as staffing crises and climate change. She holds multiple high-level positions and plays various roles in her daily life. When asked if she carefully planned her career, she responded that everything changes rapidly and there are constant developments throughout life. Her advice on career planning is simply to "follow your heart." Regarding how to lead a good life, Maroeska's answer reflects her motto: "Be the hero of your own life."

Poster gallery, poster guided tours, presentations, sandpit session

Throughout the day, participants could attend six parallel sessions with presentations by TechMed researchers as well as six moderated poster tours, all prepared by PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers and master students doing their theses. One of the poster tours also contained a contribution of the TwentUs student team. Four assistant professors presented their research (plans) in a sandpit session where they received feedback on various aspects of building their future research lines.

TechMed Workshops

Workshops on ‘Find your funding’, ‘Basics of collaborating with companies’, ‘WMO/MDR regulation’ or ‘TechMed Maturity Assessment’ gave the participants a thorough understanding of how the institute can support their research journey and their professional career. Programme manager of the Stimulate Health Technology implementation Sharon Bijen – Groenberg on their workshop: “It was good to see that our workshop did not only offer researchers insight in the path of technology implementation, but also gave them understanding of the large variety of services and expertise the TechMed Centre has to offer”.

Awards during the TechMed Research Day

Researchers who prepared a poster (49) or oral presentation (30) had the opportunity to win an award. The winners of the best three poster presentations and the best three oral presentations received a TechMed Centre Sweater and a voucher for the TechMed Event where they will be allowed to present their research. The three winners of the poster presentations were: Max Rietberg (BMPI), Irina De Alba Alvarez (M3i), and Dieuwertje Alblas (MIA). The three winners of the oral presentations were: Francisca Gomes (DBE&MNF), Camiel Smees (BDDP), and Marijn Mulder (CRPH).

Nick Willemstein (BRT) was the winner of the special award ‘Valorisation potential, creating impact with the new business', offered by NovelT, the KTO of the UT. He won a cheque of €100,- to spend at his leisure, and we are looking forward to support Nick in discovering the route to the market together.  

Keynote Rolf Schrama

The TechMed Research Day concluded with a captivating and humorous keynote lecture by Rolf Schrama, who is a Paralympic sailor. Standing at 1.25m. height, he gave an overview of his life story emphasizing how he overcame the challenges of his disability. He explained never feeling like a “little person” and detailed the five lessons that he used to attain his larger-than-life goals: working hard for small results, the power of small steps, believing in yourself, doing things differently and lastly, enjoying the small things in life. The audience listened breathlessly to his adventurous story.  Rolf’s take-home message for the researchers at the TechMed Centre: “I hope you remember and apply my five lessons to your work because I, and many people like me, need your innovations to support my body so I can keep living my life”.

Closing Research Day

Dr Jouke Tamsma, the medical director of the TechMed Centre, thanked everyone for their presence and contribution on this day. He wished the audience a lot of energy and encouraged them to continue the same path. The day ended with sing a song writer Maarten van Veen, from De Reisgenoot, who summarised the afternoon in a song about this special TechMed Research Day.

The TechMed Research Day was a highly successful event, providing participants with valuable insight into the latest developments in medical technology and offering them opportunities for interaction and networking, and learning them how TechMed can benefit their research. With more than 250 participants, the day was well attended by students, PhD candidates, researchers, and support staff. We look forward to the next edition of this event! And of course, we hope to see you at our yearly TechMed Event 2023, which will take place on 1 November 2023 during the MedTech Twente Week. The theme of the TechMed Event 2023 is ‘Shaping a healthy future’ and two confirmed keynote speakers are Maarten van Aalst and Diederik Gommers.