Adding value to nutrition research
Belgian Nutrition Society
Fifth annual meeting, April 3rd, 2015
This year’s congress will focus on strategies to add value to nutrition research. Recent
research shows 1 how an unacceptable amount of efforts devoted to medical research
produces too little benefit, in terms of more effective policies, practices, increased
knowledge or commercial returns. Research funders, academics, journal editors and
decision makers that use findings of research need to think critically what can be done
to reduce waste and to increase return of funded research. The meeting will raise
awareness in the Belgian nutrition research community and spark discussions on what
can be done increase effectiveness and quality of the nutrition research in Belgium.
Call for abstracts
Although the central theme of the congress is Adding value to nutrition research, we
welcome topics from all other nutritional areas for oral or poster presentations as well.
All abstracts describing new nutrition research, providing a clear link with the generation
of value will be considered. In addition, we encourage contributions that provide new
ways to assess and increase quality and impact of research, research communication and
research on (cost)effectiveness and evidence-based policies and practices.
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Recommended reading:
Chalmers I et al. Research: increasing value, reducing waste 1: How to increase value and reduce waste when research
priorities are set Lancet 2014; 383:156–65,
Ioannidis J (2005) Why Most Published Research Findings Are False 2:8 e124
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Programme
Welcome Session
8.30 – 9.10: Registration and welcome coffee
9.10 – 9.20: Introduction by BNS - N. Delzenne (UCL- President BNS)
9.20 – 9.30: Presentation of the scientific program – C. Lachat (UGent Leuven – Chair of
the Organizing Committee
Version 1
9:30-9:50
Keynote 1: Addressing waste in nutrition research: what’s next for the
academic community?
(tbc)
The presentation describes the key issues and challenges for those involved in producing
and evaluating nutrition research. In particular, it will elaborate the (mis)use of research
reporting guildeines to improve quality of research papers. The presentation will set the
scene, raise awareness in the Belgian nutrition research community and trigger discussions
on how to address waste and increase quality of nutrition research in the future.
10:00-10:30 Selected oral presentation(s)
10:30 – 10:50 Keynote 2: Nutrition research for sports sciences
Prof. Peter Hespel KULeuven, Belgium (confirmed)
In a challenging environment as sport at the highest levels (Olympics, world
championship), athletes are constantly seeking for opportunities to optimize their
performance. Legal supplements are often used, however the evidence of these
supplements is sometimes lacking. Prof Hespel will elaborate on study design and the
number of studies needed before ‘food supplements hypes’ (e.g. beetroot juice) can be
translated and/or incorporated in recommendations for athletes. Prof. Hespel leads the
Exercise Physiology Research Group at KULeuven and the Bakala Topsport Academy.
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11:00-11:30 Selected oral presentation(s)
11:30- 13:00 Lunch and Poster presentations
13:00-13:30 Keynote 3: Making better use of existing data in nutrition: the
ENPADASI project
Dr. Jildau Bouwman, TNO, Netherlands (confirmed)
ENPADASI “European Nutrition Phenotype Assessment and Data Sharing Initiative” will
establish an open access research infrastructure that will integrate existing databases from
a wide variety of nutritional studies (genotype, phenotype, and epidemiology) in Europe.
The presentation will introduce the project and scope for future research. In addition, it
will open a discussion on how to organize the data infrastructure of nutrition data,
involvement of research groups and training activities for the data infrastructure in
Belgium. Dr. Bouwman coordinates ENPADASI.
13:30-14:00 Selected oral presentation(s)
14:00-14:45 Coffee break
14:45-15:15 Keynote 4: Crafting effective policies from nutrition research
Dr. Dominique Roberfroid, Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE), Belgium
(confirmed)
The presentation will outline the KCE and Health Technology Assessment approach to
guide the development of effective policies from research findings in Belgium. The
presentation will elaborate on how to capitalize better on current nutrition research
efforts and capacity for the formulation and evaluation of nutrition policies in Belgium. Dr.
Roberfroid is a senior scientific staff at KCE with a long-standing expertise in nutrition
research.
15:15-15:45 Selected oral presentation(s)
Closing session
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15.45 – 16.00: Presentation of the BNS prizes for best communication (oral and poster) (Nathalie Delzenne UCL- President BNS)
16.00 – 16.15: Conclusions of the symposium – Patrick Kolsteren (Institute of Tropical
Medicine Belgium – Chair of the Organizing Committee)
Updates and announcements will feature on our website
www.belgiannutritionsociety.be
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PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Venue
Royal library of Belgium (near the central station in Brussels)
Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België - Zaal Lippens / Keizerslaan 2, 1000 Brussel
Plan: http://www.kbr.be/images/informations/divers/plan_nl_gd.jpg
Bibliothèque royale de Belgique - Salle Lippens / boulevard de l'Empereur 2, 1000 Bruxelles
Plan: http://www.kbr.be/images/informations/divers/plan_fr_gr.jpg
How to get there
Detailed information: http://www.kbr.be/informations/informations_nl.html
Catering
Food and drinks will be provided for free for participants during the coffee and lunch breaks.
Language
English. No translations are provided.
!
Registration
All participants need to register electronically before March 15th 2015. The congress is free for
BNS members. There will be an opportunity to register as BNS member on-site (please consult
membership procedures and application form on our website (www.belgiannutritionsociety.be/
go2/Membership/) for more info. Membership fees are 35€ and 15 € for students and PhD
students.
Speakers and posters
The programme of the symposium consists of different sessions. Each session has a keynote
speaker who will give a “state of the art” lecture. Each keynote lecture of all sessions is followed
by ‘local’ speakers. For this part of each session, young Belgian scientists will be selected on the
basis of the submitted abstracts to orally present their research work. These parts of the sessions
aims to provide postgraduate students, PhD students or scientists at all stages of their research,
the opportunity to present their work (via oral or ‘live’ poster presentations), independently of the
topic of the symposium.
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Note: Although the central theme of the congress is adding value to nutrition
research, we welcome topics from all other nutritional areas for oral or poster
presentations as well.
Submission your abstract to info@belgiannutritionsociety.be before March 1st, 2015
Organising Committee
Chairs: Carl Lachat (UGent) and Patrick Kolsteren (UGent/ITM)
Christophe Matthys (KULeuven)
Johan Van Camp (UGent)
Kristin Verbeke (KULeuven)
Nathalie Delzenne (UCLouvain)
Stefaan De Henauw (UGent)
BNS is structurally supported by Fevia and FOD Health, food chain safety and environment and embedded in
the National Food and Health Plan.
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