Annual Conferences
The annual conferences are the primary forum for promoting interaction among members with their common field of interest.
Conferences are the opportunity to discuss best practices, to support members with less experience within the area, and to develop best practices for PhD training.
Conferences are also an opportunity to meet with major stakeholders and to influence the political development of PhD training in Europe and worldwide.
Members have reduced registration. PhD students are welcome, also as contributors.

Thank You!
On behalf of the organising committee of ORPHEUS 2023, Putting the i’s and o’s in Doctoral Training; International, Intersectoral, Interdisciplinary, and Open Science, in Leuven, I want to extend a sincere thank you for your participation. Your presence and contribution made this event a huge success and it would not have been the same without you.
We hope that you found the conference informative and that it provided you with new insights into the latest advancements in biomedical doctoral education and supervision. Our goal was to bring together researchers, industry professionals, and students from diverse backgrounds to promote collaborations and discussions on the most pressing issues in the field. It was heartening to see so many enthusiastic participants engaging in meaningful conversations throughout the event.
If you look at the programme tab below, we have added the presentations which took place during the conference and I invite you to save and review them as needed.
Prof John Creemers
ORPHEUS President
Doctoral training prepares doctoral candidates for their future careers in a constantly changing
society. At this year’s ORPHEUS conference, keynote speakers and presenters selected from
submitted abstracts, will address how we can really put the I’s and O’s in doctoral training.
Open science creates an opportunity for high-quality research, because it makes the entire research process more transparent and freely available to other scholars and society. European universities and doctoral networks encourage Internationalization, making it more accessible for researchers all over the world, while the need for Interdisciplinary research and Intersectoral mobility continues to grow.
At our annual meeting, this year in Leuven, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges
associated with these contemporary elements of doctoral training and research activities. We
warmly invite you to actively participate in the workshops, panel discussions, presentations and poster sessions, meeting new colleagues as you do and expanding you network.
ORPHEUS 2023 was proudly sponsored by:




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Important Deadlines
15 February 2023: Extended Deadline Submission for Travel Grant
ORPHEUS fosters the engagement and active involvement of doctoral candidates in its activities. The ORPHEUS2023 conference is therefore offering 2 travel grants (up to 1500€ for travel, lodging, and registration) for doctoral candidates from any ORPHEUS member institution who is presenting a poster on PhD education at the ORPHEUS conference.
Applications must include a motivation letter (maximum 250 words) and a description of the proposed poster (maximum 250 word). Applications should be sent before 15 February 2023 to orpheus2023@kuleuven.be with the subject heading “DOCTORAL CANDIDATE APPLICATION”.
28 February 2023: Abstract Submission Deadline
28 February 2023: Early Bird Registration Deadline
Program
Putting the i’s and o’s in doctoral training; International, Intersectoral, Interdisciplinary, and Open Science
Thursday morning:
Premeeting: Both workshops will be given twice in parallel
Chaired by: Annedorte Vad (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) & Patrick Calders (Ghent University, Belgium)
9.00-10.30h
How to make a graphical abstract – Luk Cox & Idoya Lahortiga (Somersault1824, Belgium)
How to make your research instafamous – Kristof D’hanens (I Like Media, Belgium)
10.30-11.00h coffee break
11.00-12.30h
How to make your research instafamous – Kristof D’hanens (I Like Media, Belgium)
How to make a graphical abstract – Luk Cox & Idoya Lahortiga (Somersault1824, Belgium)
12.30-13.30h lunch
Thursday afternoon:
Opening:
13.30-13.45h Welcome by John Creemers (President ORPHEUS)
13.45-14.00h Opening by rector Luc Sels (KU Leuven)
Session 1: Open Science part 1
Chair: Janet Carton (University College Dublin, Ireland)
14.30-15.00h The future of research assessment in the Open Science era. Robert Harris (Karolinska Institute, Sweden)
15.15-15.45h Coffee
Session 2: Open Science part 2
Chair: Rudolf Schubert (University of Augsburg, Germany)
16.15-16.45h Dealing with aggression as a high-profile scientist in the news; the experience of a virologist during covid. Marc van Ranst (KU Leuven, Belgium)
17.15-17.30h Getting the most out of a scientific congress is a transferable skill: The Congress Academic Mentorship Program. Ferhand Sagin (Ege University Medical School, Turkey)
Welcome reception with drinks and bites at KU Leuven University Hall
Friday Morning:
Session 3: Discussion panel: International Collaborations; Opportunities & Solutions
Chair: John Creemers (KU Leuven, Belgium)
9.00-10.30h
10.30-11.00h Coffee
Session 4: International Mobility; Challenges & Threats
Chaired by: Joana Palha (University of Minho, Portugal)
11.30-12.00h Brain drain, brain gain, brain circulation. Lidia Nunez (Idea Consult, Belgium)
12.00-12.30h 5 Teaser talks from PhD researchers;
- Bengü Kahraman (Ege University, Turkey)
- Gamze Alçi (Kocaeli University, Turkey)
- Pedro Medeiros (Universities of Oslo, Norway & Innsbruck, Austria)
- Rui Pinto-Cardoso (University of Porto, Portugal)
- Dijon Musliu (University of Prishtina, Kosovo)
12.30-13.30h Lunch & poster viewing
Friday Afternoon:
Session 5: Interdisciplinarity in Research
Chair: Leo van Grunsven (VUB, Belgium)
14.00-14.30h The joys of interdisciplinary/cross-sectoral supervision. Cormac Taylor (UCD Dublin, Ireland)
15.00-15.30h ORPHEUS General Assembly – What can ORPHEUS do for you in your doctoral program? (Joana Palha [EC member], Ana Borovečki [treasurer], Janet Carton [vice-president], John Creemers [president])
15.30-16.30h Coffee & poster viewing
Session 6: Ethics, Integrity, and Open Science
Chair: Kamille Smidt Rasmussen (Aarhus University, Denmark)
16.30-17.00h Research Integrity in context Kris Dierickx (KU Leuven, Belgium)
17.00-17.30h Research ethics and integrity when starting a PhD – Mind the Gap Klara Swalus (VUB, Belgium)
17.30-17.45h Integration of Open Science in the PhD training programme of Utrecht University Graduate School of Life Sciences Anke Hammerschlag (Utrecht University, Netherlands)
17.45-18.00h Transdisciplinary training as part of the PhD training process Diego Acevedo (University of Aruba & KU Leuven)
Gala dinner at the Faculty Club
Saturday morning:
Session 7: Intersectoral and interuniversity collaboration
Chair: Damir Sapunar (University of Split, Croatia)
9.30-10.00h Biotechnology in Flanders; a success story? –Willem Dhooge (FlandersBio, Belgium)
10.00-10.15h A hands-on course on Regulatory Medical Writing; a win-win for Industry and Academia – Leen Mathys (Janssen Pharmaceutica, Belgium)
10.15-10.30h A hub of high-quality PhD education throughout Switzerland: SSPH+ Inter-university Graduate Campus Ann Walser (University Fribourg, Switzerland)
10.30-11.00h Coffee
Session 8: Intersectoral collaboration & International support
Chair: Hakan Orer (Koç University, Turkey)
11.00-11.30h CIFRE Industrial Doctorates in France. Clarisse Angelier (ANRT, France)
12.00-12.15h International PhD candidates and the way towards support equity Jordi Cabanas-Danes (Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands)
12.15-12.30h International Joint-Supervision to Improve the quality of Education and Research of the Doctoral Program in Biomedical Science Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia Rahimi Syaidah (FMUI, Indonesia)
12.30-13.00h Introduction to ORPHEUS2024 & Closing ceremony
13.00-14.00h Lunch
Saturday afternoon:
Social program
Practical Information
1.1 Orpheus 2023 conference – Quadrivium building
The Orpheus 2023 will take place from Thursday 13 April until Saturday 15 April 2023.
We will meet in the Quadrivium building for all scientific sessions, coffee breaks and lunches.
Click here to find this venue on Google Maps
1.2 Welcome reception – University Hall
Address: Naamsestraat 22, Leuven, Belgium
The welcome reception Thursday 13 April 2023 will all take place in the KU Leuven University Hall.
More information about this building and its accessibility can be found in the KU Leuven access guide.
Click here to find this venue on Google Maps
1.3 Conference Dinner – Faculty Club
Address: Groot Begijnhof, Leuven, Belgium
This year’s conference dinner will take place in the University’s Faculty Club. Please note this dinner is only available for those participants that registered for it in advance in our registration tool. It is not possible to still register for this dinner on-site.
You can take a virtual 360° tour in the building here.
Click here to find this venue on Google Maps
2. About Leuven
Leuven is a pleasant, safe and bustling student town, where centuries-rich history meets cutting-edge science. The city of Leuven is located in the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, approximately 25 kilometers east of Brussels. Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium and has nearly 100.000 inhabitants.
There are several good reasons for visiting this vibrant city. More information about the city and must see places when you visit, can be found on the official Tourism Leuven site. You will soon realize that this city has a way of getting under your skin.
3. Accommodation
3.1 Hotels
The conference venue (Quadrivium) is located 1.5-2km from hotels in the city center and can easily be reached by bus. There are plenty of options for your accommodation in Leuven: hotels, bed & breakfasts and youth hostels will all warmly welcome you. Please find an overview of the options below.
Room allocations at special rates for participants of the Orpheus 2023 conference have been taken in several hotels in Leuven. To see more information about these hotels and to make your reservation, please click on this link.
Payment for your accommodation is usually at the hotel. If you wish to have your room prepaid by your organisation please use the ‘Prepayment request’ option in the booking form. A credit card will be required to guarantee your room. The card will not be charged unless you cancel after the cancellation policy.
3.2 Youth hostels
For budget travellers, there are 2 youth hostels in Leuven. Booking a room is possible by contacting them directly.
3.3 B&B’s
If you prefer to stay at a smaller B&B, please find a list here.
4. Traveling to and within Leuven
4.1 By plane
Belgium is the heart of Europe. Belgium’s capital, Brussels, is accessible through many flight and direct train connections into Leuven every hour. Big European cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam or Berlin are close by. Scheduled flights to Brussels airport come from over 200 European and international destinations in 66 countries, allowing 500 million European inhabitants to reach us in less than 3 hours. The two airport closest to Leuven are in Brussels:
1. Brussels National Airport (Zaventem) This is Belgian’s main airport. The airport has its own train station (“Brussels National Airport”), with a direct trains to Leuven every hour. The station is underneath the airport and is accessed via lifts and escalators in the arrivals hall. Leuven is approximately a 20-minute train ride from the Belgian National Airport of Zaventem. Several car hire companies also operate from Brussels Airport. For more information, visit these websites:
brusselsairport.be and www.belgianrail.be
2. Brussels South Airport (Charleroi) Leuven is a 1.5-hour train ride from Brussels South Charleroi Airport. There are buses from the airport to the Charleroi railway station and trains from Charleroi railway station to Brussels and then onto Leuven. Several car hire companies also operate from Charleroi Airport. For more information, visit this website.
4.2 By Train
From Leuven, it takes half an hour to reach Brussels South (Bruxelles Midi, Brussel Zuid) railway station. From there, you can catch high-speed rail connections to Paris, London, Amsterdam, and many other European destinations. The Leuven railway station is directly connected to the city centre via the Bondgenotenlaan (Allies Avenue), one of Leuven’s main streets. The walk from the Leuven train station to the city centre is approximately 10 minutes.
More information on the Belgian railways.
For more information on the European train connections.
4.3 By Car
Leuven can be reached via the Brussels Ring and the E40 and E314 motorways. The historical centre of Leuven is traffic-free. The rest of the city centre is subdivided into 5 districts. In each district a loop directs traffic from the ring road to a city centre parking garage and back to the ring road. We advise you to park your car in one of the more advantageous ring road car parks.
More information about car parks in Leuven can be found here.
4.4 By Bus
To go to the conference venue:
- Bus #2 (stops at Leuven Station & Leuven city center) to Heverlee Campus
- Bus #616 (stops only at Leuven Station, not the city center!) to Heverlee Wetenschapspark
To go to the city center:
- Bus #2 (stops at Leuven Station & city center) to Kessel-Lo
Extra information:
- An extensive bus network provides extra mobility within the city boundaries of Leuven.
- More information can be found on the official bus company website.
4.5 By Bike
No doubt the fastest mode of transport inside the center of Leuven are bikes. You can rent bikes at a cheap rate (€1.50 for the first 24h, €7 for 72h) from Blue Bike, at two places near the station. Select number 3 on the linked map for quick access.
4.6 On Foot
Leuven is a small-sized city, all locations are within walking distance. One of the most sustainable and healthy cities in Europe with traffic-free zones and outstanding cycling infrastructure.
Get your free city map here or at Visit Leuven, Naamsestraat 3, Leuven.
Registration Information
1.1 General Registration Information
-
- All registration fees are VAT exempt based on article 44 § 2, 4° of the Belgian VAT directive.
- Registration fees are to be paid in Euros (€) by bank transfer, credit card or invoice.
- Please note the respective registration fees shall only be valid if registration is submitted and full payment is received by us by the respective deadline. If payment of the registration fee is received later than the early deadline registration, the respective next higher fee shall be due.
- Your registration is effective upon the receipt of full payment of the registration fee by us, i.e. only those participants having fully paid their registration fees will be entitled to participate in the conference.
- The conference registration fee includes: (1) access to all conference lectures; (2) conference programme and materials; (3) lunches and coffee breaks; and (4) welcome reception on Thursday 13 April, 2023. The conference dinner on Friday 15 April, 2023 is not included. To attend the dinner, there is a separate registration fee.
- Please find below an overview of the registration fees:
-
- Early bird registration (until February 28, 2023)
- Member*: € 250
- Non-member: € 300
- Student**: € 125
- Regular registration (from March 1, 2023)
- Member*: € 300
- Non-member: € 350
- Student: € 150
- Social activities
- Registered attendees:
- Welcome reception: € 0
- Conference dinner: € 60
- Social programs: € 45 or € 20
- Accompanying persons:
- Welcome reception: € 32
- Conference dinner: € 75
- Social programs: € 45 or € 20
- Registered attendees:
- Early bird registration (until February 28, 2023)
-
*Participants are allowed to register at the Orpheus membership rate if they have confirmed Orpheus membership. Please note we will request a proof of your membership, if you register as member.
**You are eligible for the student fee if you are a student (Bachelor, Master or PhD) within the academic year 2022-2023. A certificate of enrollment or a letter signed by your supervisor needs to be provided by e-mail (orpheus2023@kuleuven.be) to confirm your registration.
1.2 Registration Process
-
- To register, please complete our registration form.
- The registration form consists of 7 steps:
- Step 1 – General information: please include your personal information on this page
- Step 2 – Promo code: this step is only relevant for keynote speakers, organizers and sponsors. If you did not receive any code from the organisation, you may click on ‘Next’.
- Step 3 – Select the fee that is applicable to your situation (regular / member / resident / student).
- Step 4 – Please select the social activities that you wish to attend.
- Step 5 & 6 – Accompanying persons: these steps are only relevant if you wish to bring your accompanying person along to the social activities. If not, please click on “Skip this step’.
- Step 7: Payment information: in this final step, you can indicate your preferred method of payment (credit card, bank transfer or invoice). If you require an invoice, please select ‘bank transfer’ in the final step of your online registration and contact orpheus2023@kuleuven.be. The invoice will be sent to you by email, including corresponding payment instructions. Please do not pay before receiving the invoice.
- You will receive a first emailwith an automatic confirmation that the registration has been received. This e-mail will also contain all payment details. All payments should be made in advance in Euro (EUR, €) within 14 days after your registration.
- After payment, you will receive a second emailconfirming that we have received your payment.
- If you did not receive these emails, the emails may have gotten stuck in your spam filter, or either your registration or payment was unsuccessful. Should this happen, please contact orpheus2023@kuleuven.be.
1.3 Important Invoicing Information
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- If you require an invoice, please select ‘bank transfer’ in the final step of your online registration and contact us at orpheus2023@kuleuven.be. The invoice will be sent to you by email, including corresponding payment instructions. Please do not pay before receiving the invoice.
- If you have already paid your registration by credit card or bank transfer, you will still be able to receive a proof of payment, indicating the amount, however, it will no longer be possible to receive an official invoice. Therefore if you require an invoice, please contact us first and wait with your payment until you receive our invoice!
1.4 Cancellation policy
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- Unpaid reservations will be cancelled by the KU Leuven Conference Office 4 weeks after they have been made. The conference office must be notified in writing of cancellation of registration.
- Until February 12, 2023: the registration fee will be refundable.
- From February 13, 2023 until March 12, 2023: the registration fee will be 50% refundable.
- From March 13, 2023 onwards: no refunds will be made.
- No refunds will be granted to non-attendees.
Instructions for Presenters
Oral presentation
- In the programme, each oral presentation selected from abstracts is allocated a certain time slot. Please consult the final programme and respect this timing.
- We kindly ask you not to bring your own laptop, but to bring your presentation on a USB-key, as a laptop will be provided in all rooms. Changing laptops takes valuable time and might cause technical difficulties. Please note that there are no Macintosh computers available.
- Supported presentation formats are PowerPoint (format 16:9) or PDF.
- Presentations can be uploaded in advance of the start of the session. We kindly ask every presenter to add the presentation to the laptop provided in the room before the session starts: in the morning for sessions that are running before the lunch break, during lunchtime for sessions that are running in the afternoon.
- We kindly ask you to be in the room 15 minutes before the start of your session. Please use this time also to locate and present yourself to the technical support and/or chair of your session so they know you are present.
- Please doublecheck the timeslot of your presentation, since minor changes are still possible. The program is available on the conference website.
- Please note that presentations should be given in English only.
Poster presentation
- All posters will be visible in the entrance hall of the Quadrivium building.
- All posters will be on display for all days of the conference. As poster presenter, we kindly ask you to be present during the poster viewing (lunch + coffee break in the afternoon of Friday 14 April. This will give you the opportunity to meet and discuss your work with the other conference delegates.
- On one of the poster panels, we will provide the list with poster numbers. Please look up your poster number, and attach your poster to the panel with the corresponding number. Attachment materials will be provided by us.
- Posters should be brought to the conference and not mailed. We do not have any facilities to print your poster onsite.
- Presenters are responsible for posting and removing their own materials. All posters should be attached to the correct panel. All posters should be removed at the end of the last conference day (12:00 on Saturday 15 April). Posters that have not been removed will not be stored by the organization.
- Please take our general guidelines into account:
- Poster size = A0
- Poster orientation = portrait (Please note that a poster in landscape format will NOT fit on the panels). The panel size is 1m in width and 2m in height.
- Attachment materials will be provided by us.
- We advise you not to laminate your poster, as this will complicate the attachment.
Past Conferences
Below are a list of conferences which have taken place since 2005.
Past Conferences
Below are a list of conferences which have taken place since 2005.