UNIWERSYTET MEDYCZNY W BIALYMSTOKU

Their core work

The Medical University of Bialystok is a Polish medical school with growing capabilities in biomedical research training, epidemiology, and clinical trial infrastructure. They run an international PhD program combining biostatistics, bioinformatics, and omics sciences, building research capacity at the intersection of data science and medicine. More recently, they have contributed to European COVID-19 vaccine trial networks and citizen science approaches to public health cohort research.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 journey started in 2018 with a strong focus on building internal research capacity — training PhD students in biostatistics, bioinformatics, and omics through the ImPRESS program they coordinated. By 2021, their focus shifted outward toward applied public health: pandemic response infrastructure (VACCELERATE) and citizen engagement in epidemiological research (JoinUs4Health). This evolution suggests a university moving from foundational research training toward active participation in large-scale European health platforms.

They are transitioning from internal capacity building toward contributing to pan-European health infrastructure, particularly in clinical trials and citizen-engaged epidemiology.

How they like to work

With only 3 projects, they have a limited but broad network — 53 unique partners across 24 countries, driven mainly by their participation in two large European consortia (VACCELERATE and JoinUs4Health). They coordinated one project (ImPRESS), showing willingness to lead, but their more typical role is as a contributing partner in large multi-country health networks. Their wide geographic spread relative to few projects indicates they join big consortia rather than building a tight recurring partner circle.

Despite only 3 projects, they have worked with 53 partners across 24 countries — a remarkably wide reach driven by participation in large health consortia. No obvious geographic concentration; the network is pan-European.

What sets them apart

As a medical university in northeastern Poland, they bring Central-Eastern European clinical and research capacity to consortia that often need geographic diversity. Their combination of biostatistics/bioinformatics training with clinical trial site capability makes them a useful partner for health projects that need both data science skills and patient access. Their ImPRESS PhD program also signals an institution actively investing in next-generation research talent.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ImPRESS
  Their only coordinated project and largest grant (EUR 1.57M) — an MSCA-COFUND PhD program combining biomedical research with biostatistics and omics, signaling institutional commitment to research capacity building.
• VACCELERATE
  Part of the European COVID-19 vaccine trial accelerator platform, demonstrating their readiness to contribute clinical trial infrastructure during a public health emergency.