The Isala project is currently expanding worldwide, resulting in an international sisterhood of Isala-inspired citizen-science projects. The upcoming adventure will start in a North-African country, Morocco. As one of the project coordinators, I am delighted to write about this brand-new Isala sister! We chose to name it the Fatima project, inspired by Fatima Al-Fihriya. She was the first female founder of a university in Morocco. The Fatima project intends to provide the Moroccan society with evidence-based information on vaginal health and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, more specifically tailored towards women living in rural areas. Get to know more in this blog!
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Isala and her sisters: Two British midwives in Peru
When two British midwives travelled to Peru earlier this year, they found Paddington Bear near the beach in the Miraflores district of Lima, but they also found what they were looking for: citizen science!

Nerdland Festival: all nerds reunited!
On the last Saturday of May, during the Pentecost weekend, our lab, including the Isala team, was represented at the Nerdland Festival. Nerdland is an awesome science festival at ‘Domein Puyenbroeck’ in Wachtebeke (East-Flanders). Of course, we were more than happy to be there. 😊 In fact, it is the largest outdoor science festival in Belgium, spread over three days! More than 20,000 visitors, large and small(er), were welcomed to get a taste of the nicest and coolest things science has to offer (and yes, that’s a lot!). Over 200 shows, talks and demos were organized, thereby completely transforming ‘Domein Puyenbroeck’ into a real science paradise with a lot of experiments and topics such as space travel, hacking, robots, dinosaurs, insects, virtual reality and so much more!

Scoop: Isala receives the very first grand EU citizen science prize
Woohoo, Isala won a big prize! What an honor! Today the Isala team officially receives the ‘European Union Prize for Citizen Science’. No worries if you have never heard about it before. It is a brand-new prize awarded by the European Commission for the first time this year. The fact that Isala is the first to receive it makes it even more unique! Read on to discover why Isala was awarded this prize and what it entails. 😊
Continue reading “Scoop: Isala receives the very first grand EU citizen science prize “Give endometriosis a face
You might have come across this statement in March. Endometriosis is a disease that affects 1 in 10 people, however it remains relatively unknown up to date. This is exactly what we, Vera Esmeralda Frederickx and Valerie Clinkemalie, are trying to change through our non-profit organisation Behind Endo (Stories)! Both of us are endometriosis patients who were diagnosed four years ago. Since we experienced first-hand how little knowledge exists about endometriosis, we decided to officially establish our organisation in 2021, which provides us with greater involvement in engaging with policymakers.
Continue reading “Give endometriosis a face”Cancer care and sexual health: different for who is different?
As final part of my studies ‘Applied Psychology’, I (Mina) chose to zoom in on cancer care and sexual health. During my internship at ‘Kom op tegen Kanker’, my interest in this topic was sparked. I collaborated with a Brussels support group for (ex-)cancer patients with a migration background, named ‘Inak‘. I quickly noticed a lack of data on cancer care and sexual health among minorities. According to me, it was high time to make the voices of female (ex-)cancer patients with Moroccan and Turkish roots heard as well. I decided to conduct in-depth interviews with these women to map their care needs. The target group included women between 45 and 54 years old. For me, it was obvious to take into account the ‘layers’ of their identity. The fact that I am a Muslima and have Moroccan roots myself seemed to lower the threshold. As a native researcher, I tried to find out whether gender, culture, ethnicity and religion play a role for these women in discussing sexual health with healthcare providers. Follow me on a walk through some interesting findings of my research. 😊
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