Innovative training programme for prostate cancer scientists

A pan-European team of prostate cancer scientists and academics, including those from the universities of Newcastle, Oxford and York, have won recognition from the European Commission for working together to create an innovative and high-quality multidisciplinary research training programme for young prostate cancer scientists. The ultimate goal was to implement a new, collaborative training programme for young scientists, which included research projects aimed at improving the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention of prostate cancer.

The European scientists are all mentors on the four-year Prostate Research Organisations – Network of Early Stage Training (PRO-NEST) project, now nearing completion. Funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Marie Curie Initial Training Network, PRO-NEST commenced in October 2009, with the final research programmes due to end in October 2013.
 Within the overall Seventh Framework Programme, the main objective for the health initiative has been the translation of basic discoveries into clinical applications.

Training programme
The PRO-NEST project was the brain child of the Erasmus MC Department of Urology in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and led by Dr Guido Jenster, professor of experimental urological oncology. Professor Jenster, also one of the mentors, believes one of the reasons they won funding for the new training programme was that it sought to offer a “broader educational approach alongside establishing a collegiate and personal network”. The EU conducts strict evaluations of the programmes funded and reviewers noted the innovative quality of the PRO-NEST research programme and the research environment, as well as the long-term interpersonal network that was being established.