DANDRITE’s international and national collaborations continued to evolve in 2025.
Below, you can explore a selection of key activities from the year. Together, these examples illustrate our ongoing commitment to building strong scientific connections that foster new perspectives and create opportunities for joint research.
They offer a brief insight into the exchanges that shape our research environment, with more details provided below.
In June, we welcomed a delegation from the Brain Research Institute at Niigata University as part of our ongoing partnership, first formalised in 2019.
The delegation consisted of senior representatives from several BRI departments, including neurology, neuroscience of disease, pathology, and functional neurology.
The programme included a scientific symposium, lab tours, and one-on-one meetings to discuss ongoing joint projects and identify new areas for collaboration. The visit provided a valuable opportunity to strengthen existing ties and explore future research directions. A short excursion to Mols Bjerge also offered an informal setting for continued discussions and introduced our guests to the local landscape.
Since 2019, BRI and DANDRITE have maintained an active partnership through reciprocal visits and collaborative projects. The 2025 visit further strengthened this exchange and helped lay the groundwork for continued joint initiatives in the coming years.
In 2025, we revisited the way communications are organised across The Nordic EMBL Partnership, with the aim of making even better use of our collective strengths, resources and ideas. As part of this process, responsibility for communications is now distributed equally across the four nodes, with the lead role rotating between them.
Alongside the new communications structure, we also launched a completely redesigned website and a new newsletter, NEP Connect – The Partnership Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is straightforward: to provide concise and relevant updates that support research, career development and collaboration across the nodes — without contributing to inbox overload.
In March, DANDRITE took part in the 5th EMBL Partnership Conference in Heidelberg, where discussions focused on how recent advances in AI are shaping research in health and the life sciences. For DANDRITE, the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to stay aligned with developments across the EMBL Partnership, exchange perspectives on emerging technologies, and connect with colleagues working on related scientific and organisational challenges.
Participation in these meetings remains an important part of maintaining strong ties within the EMBL network and ensuring that DANDRITE continues to benefit from - and contribute to - shared knowledge and collaboration across the partnership.
In September 2025, administrators from the four Nordic EMBL Partnership nodes in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark met in Helsinki for the annual Nordic EMBL Partnership Operations & Coordination Meeting.
Over two days, they worked together on shared priorities, including developing the new website, aligning communication strategies, exchanging best practices on alumni engagement, DEI efforts, and scientific event planning, and creating activities for the NORPODs.
These meetings play an important role in strengthening coordination across the Nordic nodes. They provide a space to learn from one another, make use of each other’s strengths, and support a more coherent and collaborative partnership.
In 2025, representatives from DANDRITE visited BRAINCITY – the Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders at the Nencki Institute in Warsaw.
The visit offered an opportunity to learn more about BRAINCITY’s research environment, infrastructure, and strategic priorities, as well as to exchange experiences on running interdisciplinary neuroscience centres. Discussions focused on shared scientific interests, researcher mobility, and potential areas for future collaboration.
“Our visit to BRAINCITY offered valuable insight into how another leading neuroscience centre organises its research and supports its scientists. We had constructive discussions about overlapping research themes and potential avenues for collaboration. It was encouraging to see how much common ground we share, and we plan to explore this in joint funding applications in the very near future.”
- Interim Director Poul Henning
Building on the renewed association program introduced in 2024, DANDRITE continued in 2025 to strengthen collaboration and deepen engagement with our Affiliated Researchers (AFRs). As part of this effort, the DANDRITE support team visited each AFR during lab meetings to present current activities, outline opportunities for involvement, and highlight ways to participate in the wider DANDRITE community.
The AFR network expanded further in 2025 with the appointment of Kyung Min Noh, bringing the total number of affiliated researchers to thirteen. In November, DANDRITE hosted a PI Gathering for group leaders, affiliated PIs, and clinical collaborators.
The event provided space for informal exchange, increased awareness of ongoing research, and helped strengthen links between basic and clinical neuroscience at AU. Together, these initiatives reflect DANDRITE’s ongoing commitment to fostering a cohesive local research community and ensuring that researchers across departments and disciplines can benefit from shared knowledge, networks, and collaboration opportunities.
