Tag: vve

WEON 2014

~ BS

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The WEON is the annual meeting of the VVE, the Dutch Epidemiological Society. The whole conference is held in English though, given that each more and more non Dutch also attend. These might be working here in the Netherlands, but we also have visitors from abroad. Last year, the WEON was organised in Utrecht with a couple of organisation from Utrecht and surroundings. The conference was a great succes with great preconferecence workshops and great plenary speakers, as I wrote before on the causality blog.

But now onto next year, when the WEON will be held in Leiden! Before you start with anything, you need to start with a motto and logo. Since the focusgroup “causality” is also based in Leiden the motto and the logo are off course linked to causal inference! Currently, we are working hard on the basic program. And specifically, I’m working on a special preconference workshop that is targeted at young epidemiologist. I got some ideas, but if you have any suggestions, please join the conversation via @WEON2014!

 

News from AllTrials.net

~ BS

So I got an email from the folks from alltrials.net on their progress. I explained the initiative in an earlier post in which I also told that I  as well as the Dutch Epidemiological Society (VVE) signed the petition. So did it help? Just read the following section from their email.

You, and 40,000 other people around the world, have signed the AllTrials petition. We are on the threshold of significant change, but we now urgently need help from all of you to make this a reality.

Your support has already persuaded hundreds of organisations to commit to the aim of getting all clinical trials registered and their results reported. These include regulators and faculties. GSK, one of the biggest drug companies in the world, has signed up and others are considering it. Some of these groups are now starting discussions about the practical ways to stop trial results being withheld.

So far we’ve created a ripple, and got some important commitments. We have empowered individuals in large organisations to speak up, and it has changed the mainstream opposition on this issue. In doing so, we have also challenged those who try to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist, or who falsely claim that it has already been fixed.

But this is only the start if you ask the alltrials.net folks: they want to push on with three goals:

  • One million signatures on the petition. 
  • More international organisations signed up.
  • £40,000 so we can keep going.

I can only agree: consider signing (if you haven’t done so already)!

VVE supports AllTrials.net

~ BS

The Dutch Epidemiological Society decided to support the AllTrials petition to get “all trials registered | all results public”. Why this is important? A look at their website tells us:

Thousands of clinical trials have not reported their results; some have not even been registered. Information on what was done and what was found in these trials could be lost forever to doctors and researchers, leading to bad treatment decisions, missed opportunities for good medicine, and trials being repeated.

All trials past and present should be registered, and the full methods and the results reported. We call on governments, regulators and research bodies to implement measures to achieve this.

I also signed the petition. have you? Visit www.alltrials.net and sign!

A small column in the Epistel: ‘Fraude en integriteit in de wetenschap’

~ BS

The following column was written for publication in Epistel, the monthly publication of the VVE. It roughly summarises the findings of KNAW-committee Schuyt on how to handle scientific data and ensure the integrity of the data, scientist and science. It also provides a little personal view on the issue and a call for action in line with the findings of report: each epidemiologist should read the full report and discuss it with colleagues.

The text can be downloaded here (pdf), or ‘continue reading’ below.

Continue reading “A small column in the Epistel: ‘Fraude en integriteit in de wetenschap’” →