What is currently going on in the TReND Doctoral Network?

🥳Congratulations to our Fellow Louise on presenting her exciting research at the Society for the Neural Control of Movement Conference in Japan 🇯🇵.
We’re proud to see her contributing valuable insights into bimanual motor control and cerebral palsy research on such an international stage!

📰 Read more on LinkedIn

The Marseille-TReND team Rita Sleimen-Malkoun, Julia Jakubowska, Victoria Trifonova, and Jean-Jacques Temprado recently welcomed Dr. Marie-Léa Rousseau  and Pierre-Jérome Adjedj  to the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the PHC/PPP program. 
This visit was a great opportunity to reflect on past achievements and future perspectives in collaborative research! 

📰 More information here

As part of the Girls’ Day event at the Institute of Sports and Exercise Science in Münster, two of our TReND PhDs, Dilşah Gençaslan and Sofía Avila Pérez, opened the doors of the Neuromotor Behavior and Exercise Lab to a group of 16 schoolgirls (aged 13 – 16), giving them a hands‑on glimpse of scientific research in sports science. The Girls’ Day is a nationwide initiative in Germany that introduces young women to careers and study fields where women still represent less than 40 % of the workforce, such as IT, natural sciences and engineering.

📰 More information here

Catch Prof. Dr. Claudia Voelcker-Rehage on a recent episode of "Quarks", a German TV series that brings science to the general public. The show explores the crucial role that hands play in our ability to interact with the world, from grasping and manipulating objects to communicating with others. During the first section about fine motor control, Prof. Voelcker-Rehage shares her expertise on hand function, cognition, and aging. 
This topic is also relevant for the TReND doctoral candidates at the University of Münster. DC01 Dilsah is currently conducting a study where participants are asked to finely manipulate their pincher grip force and DC02 Sofia is also conducting a study in which participants walk on a treadmill while holding a virtual cup of water - a scenario even featured in the TV show. 

👀 Watch the full episode here

We're excited to share an update from our fellow Sofía Avila Pérez, who is currently working on a systematic review to examine how dual-tasking influences gait variability in younger and older adults.  
 
We're looking forward to the completion of the systematic review and its contributions to advance the understanding of variability in motor control and learning. We will provide updates on her results and key findings, so stay tuned for more information on this exciting project. 

In March, three of our fellows had the opportunity to collaborate at King's College London (KCL). Aleksandra, from Tel Aviv University, and Louise, from KU Leuven and UHasselt, completed their secondment at Marco Davare’s lab at KCL, where Ilaria is currently completing her PhD. 

📰 A full report can be read here.
 

Our seventh fellow, Julia Jakubowska, has recently completed her secondment at Radboud University, where she was co-hosted by the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and the Behavioural Science Institute.

📰 A full report can be read here.

The third TReND newsletter is available now, providing updates on research, events, and achievements from TReND.

To stay informed about upcoming issues and receive the latest news from TReND, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter here.

Looking forward to keeping you updated on everything around TReND!

Last week, the Department of Movement and Exercise Science at the University of Bern held its annual Winter Academy. During this week, the research group and guest researchers met in the Swiss Alps to discuss ongoing projects, gain new perspectives, and apply theoretical knowledge in practice while skiing. ⛷️
This year, the interpersonal coordination project of our fellow Constanze was in the spotlight. Discussions focused on measuring synchrony, interpreting coordination patterns, and transferring the paradigm to rehabilitation. As always, we had a fantastic week with exciting conversations and valuable inputs.

Our sixth fellow, Constanze Dammeyer, has recently completed her secondment at the Department of Neuromotor Behavior and Exercise at the University of Münster. There she had the opportunity to enhance her skills in motion capture and study design and to further deepen her knowledge in data analysis.
📰 A full report can be read here.

🎙️ Speaker: Prof. Dr. Stephan Swinnen, Emeritus Professor of Motor Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Belgium
📌 Topic: Aging and the Brain: Processes of Neural Dedifferentiation and Compensation (Abstract)
📅 Date: Thursday, 5 February 2026, 12:00–14:00 CET
🎤 Moderators: Julia Jakubowska & Victoria Trifonova (Aix-Marseille University)
🖥️ Link to join: Zoom

Our fifth fellow, Victoria Trifonova, has completed her secondment at the Stade Marseillais Université Club (S.M.U.C.), in Marseille, France. There she had the opportunity to work with the coordinator, Isabelle Petit and the adapted physical activity coach, Martin Nottin.

📰 A full report can be read here.