31st December 2024
As 2024 is drawing to a close, at BSiH lab we are relfecting on an incredible first year! Nothing would have been achieved without the dedication, devotion and determination of the lab members (researchers and students) and without the wonderful collaborations with CUT colleagues and other organisations from Cyprus and beyond.
Here’s a look back at some of our biggest successes of the year!
BSiH Lab Website Launched
On May 2024 we launched our lab website in collaboration with R Digital and initiated the establishment of the lab using funding from Dr Angelos Kassianos‘ CUT Start Up Grant and nested within the University’s Department of Nursing!
You can keep in touch with our work using our News Blog.
Tackling vaccination promotion individual and structural barriers
The EU4Health-funded co-Operator project which is coordinated by the BSiH Lab, has reached an important milestone in 2024 having completed its first year.
To read more about the project click here.
During this year, there have been significant successes. The second transnational meeting took place in Athens between the 08th and 09th of July hosted by Computer Solutions.
Two researchers started working on the project in 2024, with Dr Maria Kyprianidou managing the project, and Dr Laura Panagi, leading the development and validation of the questionnaires.
In addition, the project was disseminated at the 09th International ETNA Conference in London and the 6th Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Conference by the team members Dr Elena Roussou and Dr Maria Dimitriadou respectively.
The project has attracted policymaking interest as well with the Lab Director and project’s Principal Investigator Dr Angelos Kassianos invited at two important EU events organised by the Active Citizenship Network:
- An EU event in Brussels that was conducted a few days prior to the 2024 European elections ‘Strengthening vaccination policies towards the 2024 European elections: from recommendations to concrete experiences’
- An EU workshop entitled “Towards country-
observatories for vaccination promotion: the role of civic and patient organisations”
To read more about the workshop click here.
The co-Operator project was also presented by Dr Laura Panagi and Dr Maria Kyprianidou at the 2024 CUT Department of Nursing Seminar that took place in Limassol on the 25th of November.
The project PI was also interviewed on a podcast hosted by the Coalition for Life Course Immunisation, exploring the vital role of healthcare workers in enhancing vaccine coverage and acceptance across Europe. The podcast was hosted by Gary Finnegan, editor of Vaccines Today.
The podcast can be viewed here.
In addition, as part of the 2024 Immunization Week in April, the project PI also participated in a podcast hosted by the Center for Social Innovation on COVID-19 and Fake News.
The podcast can be viewed here.
Launching the Greentouch Erasmus + initiative
The “GreenTouch: EcoMind Development for Higher Education Future” received funding from Erasmus + and is led by Riga Stradins University, with CUT and BSiH Lab participating as partners. The project aims to develop educational resources to help promote nature connectedness in higher education.
The kickoff meeting took place in Riga (June 04th) and BSiH Lab was represented by Mrs Marianna Koutsantoni. The second transnational meeting took place during October 2024 in Maribor hosted by University of Maribor with CUT and the BSiH Lab represented by Dr Angelos Kassianos, Mrs Marianna Koutsantoni and Dr Koralia Michail. Highlights of the event included a hands‐on wilderness hackathon, featuring activities in nature designed to inspire both the technical and content development of the GreenTouch digital tool.
To read more about the project click here.
Launching our second EU4Health-funded project, DESIPOC
The Lab received funding from the EU4Health scheme to develop and pilot DESIPOC: a knowledge hub, virtual observatory and training system in participating countries as proof-of-concept that will collect, organize, and disseminate knowledge, best practices, and resources related to stakeholders’ strategies and needs towards psychosocial oncology care provision with an emphasis on advancing screening efficacy for mental health challenges, communication, knowledge, skills whilst recognizing and tackling systemic barriers and facilitators for providing care to patients, carers, families and healthcare professionals.
Dr Pinelopi Konstantinou started working on DESIPOC as a project manager with Mrs Marianna Koutsantoni working on the project’s systematic reviews and PhD student Ms Stephanie Tsounta also prividing assistance on different parts of the project.
To read more about the project click here.
The project kickoff meeting took place in Limassol between 16th and 17th of October.
During the kickoff meeting, we also organised an open awareness event for local stakeholders on psychosocial oncology care provision. There were presentations by local and European experts followed by a roundtable with local stakeholders on the provision of psychological care to cancer patients and their families and the importance of integrating it in the system using governmental support.
You can read more about the awareness event here.
The Lab received the CUT post-doc funding METADIDAKTOR for 2024
We are proud that our postdoctoral researcher Dr Athina Manoli is the School of Health Sciences’ recipient of the CUT METADIDAKTOR postdoc funding for 2024. Dr Manoli is currently working on the Un-Bias project employing an eye-tracking methodology to examine the mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards health-threatening information in individuals with elevated illness anxiety symptoms.
You can read more about the project here.
In the context of her award, Dr Manoli has also organised an eye-tracking methodology training for the School’s PhD students and staff and also presented at the 2024 CUT Department of Nursing Seminar.
Investigating underage access to alcohol in Cyprus
During 2024, the BSiH Lab has collaborated with the National Addictions Authority of Cyprus (NAAC) to conduct a Mystery Shopping study to investigate the level of compliance of vendors towards selling alcohol to individuals under the age of 18.
The study was managed by Dr Athina Manoli with the participation of four undergraduate students of the Department as mystery shoppers: Fotini Afentikou, Stavros Ioannides, Maria Louka and Marianna Agathokleous who conducted 200 mystery visits in Nicosia and Limassol. The results of the project were presented in a press conference on the 05th of December with local stakeholders invited who expressed their interest in tackling the issue of access to alcohol by minors.
You can read more about the results and the press conference here.
Wider dissemination activities
The Lab projects were further disseminated in invited presentations including:
- Lab projects on cancer quality of life and digital health to the professional Health Psychology trainees of the University of Caglari in Italy, in the context of Dr Angelos Kassianos’ invited lectures during May 2024.
- Lab projects on digital health including Momentous in an invited presentation at the ‘Conference on Empowering Cancer Survivors: Innovations and Insights through digital solutions’ that took place in Gdansk, Poland on the 28th of August.
- At the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) Annual Conference that took place in Cascais, Portugal between 02-06 September 2024, where we presented the work we conduct on network characterization of complex vaccination behaviours in the context of the ACTION project.
- An invited speech during the ESMO/EONS Congress in Barcelona on the 14th of September for the workshop NURTURE – Time to Invest in Cancer Nurses
- An invited speech at the 2024 Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society Conference on “Making Progress in Cancer Care with Research, Compassion and Multidisciplinary Collaboration” and which took place on 18th and 19th of October 2024 in Limassol.
- Two invited presentations for Dr Athina Manoli and Dr Angelos Kassianos to present the Un-Bias and DESIPOC projects respectively at the University of Cyprus’ 5th Interdisciplinary Forum in Nicosia, Cyprus.
- An invited presentation at the scientific seminar ‘The Role of Technology in Cancer Care in Cyprus’ organized by the CYENS Centre of Excellence and Europa Donna Cyprus on the 10th April 2024 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
- An invited presentation on the psychological impact of rare diseases during the Rare Diseases Seminar that took place at CUT in Limassol during February 2024.
- An invited presentation on students’ health behaviours at the 01st Scientific Seminar of Psychiatric Nursing of Children and Adolescents, organised at CUT during February 2024.
BSiH Lab hosted researchers from RSU on an Erasmus visit
One of the wonderful opportunities we had to exchange ideas and network with collaborators from abroad, was an Erasmus visit we hosted during April 2024. Collaborators from Riga Stradins University visited the CUT, the Lab and the Departments of Nursing and Rehabilitation Sciences interacting with staff, researchers and students.
You can read more about the visit here.
