Nasjonal forskerskole i medisinsk avbildning

Since it was founded, Medim - Norwegian Research School in Medical Imaging, has recruited 377 PhD candidates from various universities in Norway, and totally involved 534 PhD students, supervisors, post-doctoral researchers and course coordinators. About 95% of the PhD candidate members are affiliated to one of Medim partner universities - Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Bergen (UiB), University of Tromsø (UiT) and University of Oslo (UiO). A majority of candidates have their affiliation with a medical faculty, but only half of them have a background in medicine. Our members come from different areas of expertise, like psychology, chemistry, physics, marine biology, statistics, mathematics or medicine. This composition shows that the project has achieved results in relation to projects that aim to work very interdisciplinary. The proportion of women among all registered candidates reached 42% in 2016. This is a marked improvement from previous years, when the proportion of women remained stable at 33% from 2009 to 2012 (it increased to 40% in 2015). Medim has worked systematically to reach female candidates, particularly in male-dominated research areas. MedIm resources have been used to increase the quality of doctoral education in the medical imaging field, creating a research network between experts in medical imaging. Throughout the funding period, MedIm supported and organized a broad variety of ECTS credited PhD courses, and workshops, seminars and other activities for PhD students and post docs. MedIm has also supported master students on their way to a doctorate in medical imaging. In 2016, through the so-called "Bridging Grants", MedIm awarded two scholarships to students who had started working on his doctoral thesis at the end of the master's degree. In total, MedIm has awarded 20 "Bridging Grants" with a value between 200,000 and 225,000 NOK for each student. MedIm has also supported the mobility of its members both within Norway and abroad. We have marketed 17 nationally available PhD-courses in 2016 and awarded 24 travel grants for travel and stays domestically. This makes a total of 106 "Travel Grants" for the entire funding period. This year, we also awarded six "International Travel Grants", with a value of 50,000 NOK each, to support outstanding young PhD candidates to travel abroad and cooperate with international research groups of high level. In total, MedIm has awarded 83 international travel grants. MedIm has also offered travel grants for some selected national and international meetings and seminars to further promote the candidates' professional development and networking. A total of 19% of our fellow members have used the funds to travel abroad, thus, stimulating internationalization. To strengthen the national PhD courses availability, MedIm also engaged in efforts to get the faculties involved in order to coordinate the PhD courses at a national level. MedIm was a key agent when the medical deans signed a list of initiatives to improve the coordination of PhD programs in 2010. In addition to efforts to promote high quality PhD courses and higher internationalization, MedIm has arranged an annual meeting from 2009 to 2016, in collaboration with leading imaging Institutions linked to our partner institutions. This has been an important meeting place for professionals in the field and has helped to build a strong national partnership network in medical imaging. These annual meetings have been very successful both academically and socially, and, for the past three years, we had around 120-145 participants, and more than half of them have been PhD candidates participating with oral presentations and posters. These conferences have also strengthened the cooperation with leading research institutions in medical imaging in Norway. The annual meetings have been arranged in collaboration with Medical Technology at NTNU (2009), MedViz - Research & Development cluster in Bergen (2010 and 2014), the Intervention Centre at Oslo University (2011 and 2015) Medical Imaging Laboratory, Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI), in Trondheim (2012), medical imaging research group at the University of Tromsø (2013), and CIUS- Centre for Innovative Ultrasound Solutions in Trondheim (2016). A popular tool geared towards internationalization has been providing all MedIm course supervisors with funding to invite international guest lecturers. Besides creating new contacts both for PhD students and supervisors, this has also helped to increase the quality of our PhD courses. MedIm has also invited renowned international speakers to every annual meeting. Many of the key people in MedIm are also active in Nor-Bioimaging, which is the national organization for Norwegian participation in ESFRI infrastructure Euro-Bioimaging. Professor Olav Haraldseth was leader of MedIm since its foundation, and is now leader of Nor-BioImaging.

Forskerskolen vil favne de fleste gode miljøene innen medisinsk bildedannelse i Norge og noen tilgrensende forskningsområder, og omfatte Ultralyd, MR, PET, bildestyrt kirurgi, biomedisinsk optikk og bionanoteknologi. Forskerskolen vil være tverrfaglig og gi felles tilbud til PhD studenter med et bredt spekter av forskjellig masterbakgrunn. God tverrfaglighet er en forutsetning for å lykkes internasjonalt med forskning i medisinsk bildedannelse. Forskerskolen vil inneholde et bredt spekter av kurstilbud sl ik at den enkelte PhD student kan sette sammen en opplæringsdel som er tilpasset den enkeltes prosjekt og kompetanse. Det vil omfatte spesialiserte kurs innen det enkelte fagområde, spesialiserte kurs som favner vidt, og kurs av mer tverrfaglig karakter. Forskerskolen vil også fungere som en nasjonal pool av veiledere med et bredt spekter av spesialisert fagkompetanse. Alle kurs vil tilbys alle relevante PhD studenter i Norge og vil være åpen for deltagelse av PhD studenter fra andre land. Forskerskolen v il også etablere andre type møteplasser for PhD studentene og deres veiledere i form av faglige seminarer og nasjonale stipendiatsamlinger. Nettverket omfatter forskningsgrupper og kurstilbud fra flere universitet og fakulteter (NTNU, UiO, UiB, UiT og UMB ), fra flere universitetssykehus (St. Olavs Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Ullevaal Universitetssykehus, Haukeland Universitetssykehus og Universitetssykehuset i Nord-Norge), og Sintef og Høyskolen i Sør-Trøndelag. Internasjonalisering vil ivaretas gjennom mob ilitet av PhD studenter, gjennom å invitere dyktige internasjonale foredragsholdere til PhD kurs og seminar og gjennom å etablere institusjonelt samarbeid med utvalgte gode universitet i utlandet. Søker er NTNUs tematiske satsningsområde i medisinsk tekno logi i samarbeid med SFIen MI Lab. Faglig ledelse vil ivaretas av et styre med representanter for veiledere og fagansvarlige fra Trondheim, Oslo, Bergen og Tromsø, og med representanter valgt blant PhD-studentene.