Thanks to VEBIK’s generous support, I was able to fund a two-week research period at the Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), from 20 October to 4 November 2025.
I am a PhD student at the University of Bologna. From January to July 2025, I conducted research in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Services Research at the Institute (IMBEI) as a guest researcher.
During my time at IMBEI, I started the analysis for a project. It is titled “Geostatistical Methodologies for Cluster Identification Applied to Georeferenced Data of Incident Cases of Childhood Leukaemia in Germany between 1990 and 2019”. I developed an innovative approach to identifying synthetic controls for use in subsequent cluster analyses and other IMBEI projects, and performed a comprehensive literature review on methodologies for analysing spatial patterns in childhood malignancies.
Unfortunately, I was unable to complete all of the planned analyses by the end of my semester at the Institute. Thanks to VEBIK’s support, I was able to cover part of my expenses and finish my research programme.
Thank you very much for this opportunity!
Rossana Di Staso
Verein zur Förderung der Epidemiologie, Biometrie, Informatik, Dokumentation und der Krebsregister e.V. 