Dear IoNS Members,

We are pleased to announce that registration for passive attendance at the IoNS Young Researchers’ Day is now open. 

The event will take place on April 29, 2025, in the Auditorium Maisin at the Brussels Woluwe campus.

Keynote Speaker :

For those who are still hesitant  we are excited to share that this year’s keynote lecture will be delivered by Nadia Malliou:

Nadia Malliou holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Cognitive and Experimental Psychology. Her Master thesis was on the Quality of Life of Patients living Chronic Diseases and is now a chapter in a book. She is a PhD candidate studying perioperative psychological interventions for chronic post-surgical pain. Her interest in chronic diseases and chronic pain management has been ongoing both in research as well as in her clinical practice. She has been supporting chronic diseases and pain patients in the Pain Unit of the University General Hospital AHEPA in Thessaloniki since 2019. Nadia has 2 perspectives when participating in research. She is a chronic pain patient herself, with a long experience among patients’ communities. Currently the President of Pain Alliance Europe and on the Board of other EU and national organizations she has participated in numerous congresses as a speaker and has been part of several consortia with both perspectives, as a researcher and/or a patient representative. 

During the Young Researchers' Day Nadia Malliou will present a talk titled: "Empowering Research Through Patient Involvement."

In addition, the event will feature oral presentations, poster sessions, and blitz talks by IoNS PhD students.

You'll furthermore gain career insights thanks to a discussion with former PhD students who have followed various carreer paths: 

• Céline Vermeiren (UCB):

Céline Vermeiren did her PhD at UCLouvain under the supervision of Professor Emmanuel Hermans in NFAR lab. She studied the interaction between glutamate transporter and metabotropic receptor in the context of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  She defended her PhD in 2005 and then moved to UCB BioPharma in Braine-l’Alleud where she has been doing research for 20 years now. She works on the identification of new starting points to develop drugs in central nervous system diseases. Today, she is leading the screening team in in vitro pharmacology department. 

• Athanasia Moungou (EU Commission):

Athanasia Moungou holds a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics from the University of Athens. After being increasingly interested in neuroscience, she opted for a Master's in Neuroscience of Language from University College London (UK) and then had the opportunity to complete a PhD in Neuroscience of Touch at Université Catholique de Louvain and the Institute of Neuroscience under the supervision of André Mouraux and Jean-Louis Thonnard. She then conducted postdoctoral research on social touch at Linköping University in Sweden. 

Since 2019, she has worked at the European Commission in various roles, including communication events in Digital, policymaking on gender equality in Research and Innovation, and as a project advisor at the European Research Executive Agency, supporting projects that strengthen the European Research Area and improve researchers' careers.  

• Sylvie Nozaradan (UCLouvain, IoNS):

Sylvie Nozaradan, MD PhD, is currently head of the Rhythm & Brains Lab based in Brussels, and a tenured Professor at the Institute of Neuroscience, UCLouvain, Belgium, since 2018. The same year, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council to develop her research on the brain mechanisms supporting perception and entrainment to the beat in music. She has a dual background in music (Master in piano performance, Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Belgium) and science (medical doctor, UCLouvain). She conducted a joint PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Université de Montréal, Canada, and UCLouvain, Belgium, followed by a postdoctoral stay at Western Sydney University, Australia, to develop her research line on the perception of musical rhythm. Her research focuses on the brain processes enabling humans to perceive and move to musical rhythm. 

• Victor Brossard (Trinoma):

Dr. Victor Brossard is the head of innovation at Trinoma. He conducted a PhD in cognitive psychology at the University of Lille (France), where he developed analysis techniques to unravel the emotional body experience. The goal was to further the understanding of how emotions modulate behaviors, movement and body physiology. This line of research can be applied in a broad range of domains, from the creation of new clinical readaptation programs for injured athletes to building adaptive sensorial environments to increase well-being and emotional awareness of users.  

Do not hesitate to contact us at alexiane.demunter@uclouvain.be if you have any questions. 

Registration : 

You can register for passive attendance (free of charge) until April 12 using the following registration form: https://forms.gle/ZhCYt5VzQ96CgXp78

We highly encourage PIs, Postdocs, PhD students, Master’s students, interns, and visitors within IoNS to attend. If you know of colleagues who may not be on this mailing list, please feel free to forward this email to them.

Looking forward to seeing you at the event!

Best regards,

The Young Researcher's Day Organizing Committee