The first meeting of the international consortium implementing the TRACE – Translational Research in Action for Cancer in Regional Ecosystems project took place in Porto. The meeting brought together representatives of research institutions, civil society organisations and technology partners involved in developing innovative initiatives in the field of cancer prevention and education.
The team from the Medical University of Gdańsk was represented by Agnieszka Anielska, Ph.D., Science Popularisation Coordinator. The meeting was also attended online by Maciej Bobowicz, M.D., Ph.D. from the 2nd Department of Radiology and Katarzyna Barańska-Szczypior, a doctoral candidate at the First Doctoral School of the MUG.
During the meeting, participants discussed the progress of the individual work packages implemented within the project. The Polish team is responsible for coordinating the development of educational materials as well as the methodological framework of the project, including the creation and operation of Living Labs—collaborative environments that bring together researchers, physicians, civil society organisations and patients to design, test and refine new solutions.
– A Living Lab is a method of co-creating innovation – in our case, health-related solutions – which involves the active participation of multiple stakeholder groups, including end users, throughout the entire process, explains Agnieszka Anielska, Ph.D.
Unlike the traditional model, in which solutions are developed primarily by experts, the Living Lab approach is based on collaboration and the use of diverse sources of knowledge, not only scientific knowledge – contributed by different stakeholder groups. The solutions are subsequently tested in real-life settings. The process consists of several stages: it begins with analysing users’ needs and defining key challenges, followed by the co-design of solutions, the development of prototypes, and their testing in order to identify and disseminate the most effective approaches.
Within the Living Lab framework, educational and preventive initiatives will be designed together with their future beneficiaries, including patients, physicians and civil society organisations. One of the project partners is the OmeaLife Foundation from Gdańsk, which has been supporting oncology patients for over a decade. This collaborative approach significantly increases the likelihood that the proposed solutions will be both effective and sustainable. The outcomes of the project will serve as the basis for developing a model that can be implemented in other European regions.
The TRACE project aims to strengthen and improve cancer prevention and diagnostic solutions in selected European countries – Portugal, Serbia and Poland. The project is coordinated by the National School of Public Health, part of NOVA University Lisbon, while the MUG research team is led by Maciej Bobowicz, M.D., Ph.D. from the 2nd Department of Radiology.
The project is funded under the Horizon Europe programme, with a total budget of nearly EUR 2 million.
