TrackAF Doctoral Candidates Gather in Maastricht for First Training Week and Consortium Meeting

The TrackAF Doctoral Network recently held its introductory training week and first consortium meeting in Maastricht, bringing together the network's 15 Doctoral Candidates, supervisors, partner organisations, project management team.

The training week marked the first occasion on which all Doctoral Candidates met in person and provided an opportunity to begin building the scientific and professional network that will accompany them throughout the project. Alongside numerous informal exchanges, participants attended the first modules of the TrackAF network-wide training programme, combining scientific excellence with transferable skills development. During the training week, the Doctoral Candidates completed the first modules of the TrackAF training programme. The scientific curriculum opened with the courses Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Digital Twin Modelling, delivered by experts from across the consortium and associated partners. Alongside these scientific modules, participants also attended the first transferable skills course, Ethical Science and Open Science, which focused on research integrity, responsible research conduct and open science principles. Together, these modules provided an important foundation for the interdisciplinary research and professional development activities that will take place throughout the doctoral network.

The week culminated in the first TrackAF consortium meeting. Doctoral Candidates presented their projects through short scientific pitches, while supervisors and consortium partners discussed scientific progress, career development activities, communication and dissemination strategies, mental health support measures and future network activities.

The meeting provided an important opportunity to strengthen collaboration across the consortium and align the network's activities for the coming years. With researchers and partners from across Europe working together to improve the understanding and management of atrial fibrillation throughout the life course, the event marked a successful beginning to the TrackAF journey.