Lecturer and researcher at Faculty of Medicine VU awarded for innovative project

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12 March 2024

Lecturer Elza van Deel and researcher Bianca Brundel, from the Department of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine VU, have received an educational subsidy of 10,000 euros from the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning.

This so-called Scholarship of Teaching and Learning provides teachers with the opportunity to conduct innovative research in education. In addition to a grant, the project teams receive training in relevant research methods and support in disseminating the experiences and insights they gain along the way.

The project focuses on student participation in citizen science. They aim to involve citizens in research on solutions for atrial fibrillation. Van Deel: "Medical and Biomedical Sciences students have little knowledge of research outside the academic world, although it is important for their future careers. Our initiative aims to address this problem by involving students in the growing field of citizen science in the Cardiovascular Research minor in the third year of the bachelor's degree."

Citizen Science
Citizen science generates new knowledge through collaboration with citizens and (student) scientists. This non-traditional source of knowledge can provide solutions to societal challenges, such as common diseases like cardiac arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation (AF).

Brundel: "In this initiative, we are developing interactive, multidisciplinary education with societal impact, by having students utilize data from people who themselves are dealing with atrial fibrillation. In the Netherlands alone, over 380,000 people suffer from this cardiac arrhythmia. Unfortunately, the current diagnostics and treatment strategies for this disease are not yet well developed."