EAU Research Foundation scholarships

The acronym BlaZIB stands for the Dutch phrase “Blaaskanker zorg in beeld” which means insight in bladder cancer (BCa) care. Researchers Mrs. Dorian Ripping and Ms. Lisa van Hoogstraten of the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL), et al., leads the study and has published the paper “Insight into bladder cancer care: Study protocol of a large nationwide prospective cohort study (BlaZIB)”.

BlaZIB is an ongoing nationwide prospective cohort study which aims to provide further understanding, identify barriers and modulators in BCa care in the Netherlands. The clinical data is collected from all eligible BCa patients who are diagnosed between 1 November 2017 and 31 October 2019.

According to the research, there is a large variation in clinical practice in applied diagnostics and treatments for BCa in Europe. This variation may affect patients’ outcomes including complications, disease recurrence, progression, survival, and health-related quality of life (HRQL). Lack of detailed clinical data and HRQL data hampers a comprehensive evaluation of BCa care.

The results of the BlaZIB study will guide modifications of clinical practice and/or adaptation of guidelines, and may set the agenda for new specific research questions in BCa management.

Dr. Anke Richters of the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL) leads the Prospective Bladder Cancer Infrastructure (ProBCI) study which involves the collection of real-world prospective clinical data and provision of a continuous bladder cancer (BCa) cohort for clinical trials.

ProBCI entails an open cohort of BCa patients in which the trials within cohorts (TwiCs) design can be embedded. Physicians in participating hospitals recruit invasive (≥T1) patients with BCa on primary diagnosis. Extensive clinical data are collected and updated every 4 months, along with patient-reported outcomes and biomaterials.

With the research opportunities that the ProBCI provides, the ongoing study aims to increase and accelerate the availability of robust evidence to clinical practice, ultimately leading to improved outcomes of BCa patients.

For more information, please read the paper published by Dr. Richters, et al., “Prospective bladder cancer infrastructure for experimental and observational research on bladder cancer: study protocol for the 'trials within cohorts' study ProBCI”.

The acronym ProZIB stands for the Dutch phrase “ProstaatkankerZorg in Beeld” which means insight in prostate cancer (PCa). The ProZIB study aimed to provide insight into the variation in PCa care in the Netherlands, and identify the factors underlying that variation.

Led by Dr. Katja Aben of the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL), the ProZIB study collected extensive clinical data from 6,000 patients diagnosed with PCa in the period of October 2015 to March 2016 to gain insight concerning their quality of life (QoL) and whether QoL changes over time (e.g. as a result of treatment). The mean age at diagnosis of these patients was approximately 69 years and majority of patients (over 60%) had a localised form of PCa.

Under the guidance of experts, you will also know more about the data presented and perform analyses performed using SAS or R software.

For more information about these projects, please send an email to eusp@uroweb.org.

You are eligible to apply if you are:

• an EAU member
• a urologist or a urologist-in-training aged 40 years or younger
• an author of 3 or more peer-reviewed international PubMed publications, wherein you are the first author of at least one of the publications

When you apply online, please include the following documents:

• Curriculum Vitae
• Copy of your passport
• List of your PubMed publications with the PubMed ID numbers
• Motivation letter about the project (please specify the project of interest)
• Recommendation letter by at least 1 senior urologist from an institution in your country on the institution's letterhead paper

A detailed project description with the timeframe (please download the Project Proposal Proforma template here).