SYS-LIFE 2025 Summer School Report by Oluwafemi Ojo
Shared learning and a taste of Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University
25 Aug (Turku): Ethics first. The week opened in Lecture Hall Dent2 with a deep dive into research integrity: Prof. Veikko Launis unpacked “therapeutic misconception,” followed by Sanni Helander on the University of Turku’s Citizen Research Panel. After lunch, Prof. Sanna Salanterä outlined UTU’s health-science ethics review, Sunna Rannikko introduced the regional Ethics Committee and a hands-on workshop touching on Finland’s Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data (led by Prof. Teemu Niiranen). Fellows revisited the ethics self-assessment, and the day ended with a short orientation that set the stage for the days ahead.
26 Aug (Turku to Stockholm): The SYS-LIFE cohort met at the Viking Line terminal and turned the Viking Glory crossing from Turku to Stockholm into a floating seminar that featured rapid 10-minute practice talks, EU reporting, data management planning in Tuuli, career-development plans, and dissemination via Webropol punctuated by a buffet lunch and some free time before docking in Stockholm and checking in at the Elite Palace Hotel.
27 Aug (Stockholm to Linköping): Karolinska Institutet & University of Turku joint Cardiometabolic symposium. At Karolinska Institutet’s BioClinicum, the SYS-LIFE and KIRCNET networks joined for a lively session with presentations by Assoc. Prof. Zhichao Zhou from KI who presented on ‘Overview of cardiovascular research and KIRCNET network at Karolinska’ and Prof. Carolina Hagberg who presented on ‘metabolic and diabetes research and the SRP Diabetes strategic research program at Karolinska’ before the director of SYS-LIFE Prof. Markus Juonala presented on ‘cardiometabolic research at University of Turku with focus on long-term follow-up studies’, and Vice Director Docent Georges Kazan gave a wonderful presentation on the ‘SYS-LIFE postdoc program’. The technical sessions included presentations by KI colleagues and SYS-LIFErs Oluwafemi Ojo, Suman Vimal, Yaxing Meng, Mika Ogawa (remote), Li-Fang Yeo and Nitin Bayal. The participants exchanged ideas and methods that cut across fields and sectors. After the presentations, there was a light refreshment and informal interactions. The agenda echoed the programme’s wider view before going on a tour of KI, where we all visited sites where Nobel lectures are delivered and then bused to Linköping for the night at Quality Hotel Ekoxen.
28 Aug (Linköping Day): Introduction to the Swedish Cardiopulmonary Bioimage Study (SCAPIS). At Linköping, Carl Johan Östgren gave an overview of SCAPIS, Joel Hedlund introduced AIDA, and SYS-LIFE Director Prof. Markus Juonala gave a wonderful presentation on UTU’s long-term cardiometabolic cohort research. The vice-director of SYS-LIFE Docent Georges Kazan presented the SYS-LIFE postdoc programme, and an afternoon joint session featured talks from SYS-LIFErs Jarkko Johansson, David Molnar, Dattatray Mongad and Jiawei Yang alongside SCAPIS/AIDA colleagues. After a campus walk and onsite lunch, the group headed back to the terminal for the night crossing to Turku.
29 Aug (Turku): Tying it together. Docking at 07:35, fellows closed with a breakfast seminar where we discussed the summer-school highlights, “Nick’s Food Design” reflections, photo sharing, and next programmes, including PO visit orientation, were discussed.
Oluwafemi Ojo is SYS-LIFE Researcher. His work has been co-funded by the European Union´s Horizon Europe Framework programme for research and innovation 2021-2027 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101126611. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Images used in this article courtesy of:
Karolinska Institutet (first image)
Markus Juonala (second and third image)
Oluwafemi Ojo (forth image)
