News from IQ-BRAIN Doctoral Candidates

Four months after the first DC meeting, eight of our candidates, affiliated with institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands, had the opportunity to participate in the local ISMRM Benelux Chapter meeting. The aim of the ISMRM Benelux Chapter is to provide a platform for MRI scientists in the region to discuss their research and to stimulate the application of MRI across the Benelux.  

Ahead of the conference, the sharing of abstracts and posters by the ISMRM organizing committee allowed the DCs to arrive well prepared. They were able to carefully select the talks to attend, choose between parallel sessions, and identify the posters most relevant to their own research interests. 

As a result, the conference proved highly productive: through both poster and oral presentations, the DCs gained valuable insight into the current state of research within universities in their respective countries, in areas that are central to their doctoral projects. This is particularly meaningful during the early phase of the PhD; a period focused primarily on learning and exploration. Moreover, the relatively small scale of the event made it easier to gain an overview of research lines in nearby universities, as well as to identify promising collaborations that could be initiated and further developed throughout the PhD journey. 

In addition, one of the featured activities for this year’s meeting included a set of interactive “Challenges”, such as a Meme Challenge, Graphical Abstract Challenge, and Clinical Unmet Needs Challenge, designed to stimulate creativity and problem-solving within the MRI community, of which our DCs are now a part. 

The day concluded with a networking aperitif followed by a dinner, which further encouraged discussions and exchanges. This social setting enabled the DCs to connect colleagues from different laboratories and crowned the already enriching day. 

For Daniel Yzuel (DC2), the conference marked an important milestone: he presented his first poster, entitled “Assessing Simple Neural Architectures for Total Field Estimation in Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping”. Daniel took part in engaging scientific discussions, and the dissemination of his first research results was met with great interest. 

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On Sunday December 14th, in an atmosphere reminiscent of Christmas, quite a few trains, planes, and buses travelling across European countries, lead the 15 Doctoral Candidates from their main institutions to Munich for the first IQ-BRAIN Winter School. 

This time, the Technische Universität München has hosted the team for his training. The first three days were covered by Essential Data Science Training, with a carousel of lessons regarding the basic Probability theory, Machine Learning and Deep Learning concepts and performance evaluation of these models. 

On Thursday and Friday, the program became even more engaging, featuring numerous presentations by different project-affiliated PIs on the latest research advances in Deep Learning and Generative AI for MR image reconstruction, analysis, and registration. On the final day, participants also had the opportunity to hear perspectives from a neuroradiologist on the role of AI and deep learning in clinical practice. 

The social side of the week was just as intense, including a visit to Munich’s Christmas markets, a lively evening at an Irish pub, and a warm exchange of gifts through a Secret Santa activity. 

Connections among the DCs are growing stronger. The WS sessions represented extremely valuable opportunities for them to discuss the similar day-to-day challenges, that each of them has started to deal with over the first months of their PhDs journey.  As it occurred during the Summer School three months earlier, this new meeting proved effective in delivering new knowledge and strengthening a collaborative environment. 

After the Christmas holidays, the IQ-BRAIN Doctoral Candidates will step into 2026 ready to turn collaboration into progress. 

The IQ-BRAIN MSCA Doctoral Network officially launched with a two-day kick-off meeting on 16th and 17th September 2025 at the University of Antwerp, followed by the first network’s summer school. For the fifteen Doctoral Candidates (DCs), it was the first opportunity to connect faces to names and gain a clearer view of the research taking place across the consortium. 

During the kick-off, partners from academia, hospitals, and industry outlined their roles, and the DCs presented their individual projects. The group’s diverse backgrounds in engineering, physics, computer science, and biomedical sciences immediately activated sharing of scientific knowledge. Sessions on research integrity, doctoral training standards, and the MSCA Supervision and Green Charter laid the groundwork for future collaborations. 

The summer school (18th–25th September) introduced DCs to open science practices and essential concepts in quantitative MRI. Lectures and hands-on sessions covered data management, MRI principles, optimisation methods, and model-based reconstruction, providing a common foundation for the project’s research activities. 

Beyond the scientific programme, the week - and especially the weekend - featured a varied social schedule, including a guided city tour, a visit to the Chocolate Nation museum, a hike outside Antwerp, an escape-room-style city exploration, and several shared evening meals. These informal moments strengthened connections within the group and encouraged intercultural exchange alongside the scientific one. 

With the conclusion of the first meetings, IQ-BRAIN now enters its active research phase. The DCs begin to work at their host institutions, supported by a growing network of peers and partners which has established during this productive first meeting. 

We are also delighted to announce that our official LinkedIn and Instagram pages are now live. Alongside the News section of our website, these channels will keep you up to date with network highlights, upcoming events, and research insights from across IQ-BRAIN:

🔗 LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJzFPA8q📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iqbrain.msca/

The IQ-BRAIN MSCA Doctoral Network has officially taken off with the signing of its consortium agreement — an important milestone marking the formal start of our collaborative research and training activities across Europe. We thank all partner institutions for their commitment and teamwork in bringing the network to life. With the agreement in place, we are now ready to welcome our PhD candidates and launch the next phase of IQ-BRAIN.

As part of our training programme, IQ-BRAIN is preparing its first Summer School on Quantitative MRI (qMRI), which will take place 22–25 September 2025 in Antwerp, Belgium. The event will combine lectures from international experts with a hands-on workshop on Unishell, Git, and Python. A limited number of places will be available for external early-career researchers, offering a unique opportunity to learn, connect, and experience the environment of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network.

The project IQ-BRAIN (Improving QMRI By Realizing trustworthy integration of AI in Neuro-imaging) has received 4 M euro of funding under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the Horizon Europe programme. Starting in December 2024, IQ-BRAIN aims to enhance quantitative MRI by integrating cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) in a trustworthy way to develop faster, improved and reliable neuro-imaging tools. With this European funding, IQ-BRAIN will attract 16 doctoral candidates for an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral research & training programme in leading European academic institutes, hospitals and companies.

About IQ-BRAIN

IQ-BRAIN focusses on the need for accelerated and trustworthy AI-supported quantitative MRI (qMRI) technology for neuroimaging applications. qMRI is a relatively recent MRI tool that cannot only visualize, but also precisely measure brain features, including tissue properties. However, key barriers that limit its implementation in clinical practice remain, such as long acquisition times and a lack of trust in new AI tools for qMRI. The IQ-BRAIN project will develop faster qMRI methodology with integrated, trustworthy AI-solutions for neuro-imaging applications, significantly advancing brain research and medical imaging. Through a dedicated doctoral training programme, IQ-BRAIN will prepare the next generation of qMRI specialists trained in the different aspects of the qMRI-neuroimaging pipeline, that can bridge the gap between qMRI method development and clinical need.

About the IQ-BRAIN consortium

IQ-BRAIN will be implemented by a leading consortium of carefully selected international partners with complementary expertise and skills in both qMRI and AI research as well as in training of researchers. The project will be coordinated by Prof. Jan Sijbers of the University of Antwerp and relies on intensive collaboration between twelve beneficiaries and seven associated partners, from academia to hospitals and industry, spanning a total of six countries.

The IQ-BRAIN consortium will consist of twelve beneficiaries: University of Antwerp, Ghent University, Erasmus MC, Amsterdam UMC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Forschungszentrum Julich, Technische Universität München, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Oslo University Hospital, Siemens Healthineers, Icometrix and Bruker Biospin. In addition, seven associated partners will join the consortium: King’s College London, GE Healthcare, NordicImagingLab, University Hospital Antwerp, RWTH Aachen University, University of Amsterdam and University of Oslo.