The SCK CEN Day of the PhDs aims at bringing together all our PhD students, their promoters and colleagues at the universities, their mentors and other scientific collaborators at SCK CEN, the SCK CEN management and the members of our Scientific Council, and all other scientists and engineers interested in nuclear research.  
 
During this day our second- and third-year PhD students will discuss their research challenges. A plenary session presenting all research themes will be followed by a poster session during a walking lunch. In the afternoon a plenary Q&A session will give all participants the opportunity to discuss the presented work. 

Below you find poster presentations of the research of our PhD students.

 Feel free to post any questions you have in the YouTube chat during the event. These will be treated during the plenary Q&A session. 

Medical applications
	Dayana Castillo	Dosimetry aspects of recoiling daughter nuclides of 225-Actinium in Targeted Alpha Therapy	SCK CEN mentors:  Marijke De Saint-Hubert & Maarten Ooms Promoter: Michel Koole (KU LEUVEN)
	Lorain Geenen	Study of the radiobiological basis of the therapeutic and cytotoxic responses of targeted radionuclide therapy using Lu177-DOTATATE and Ac225-DOTATATE	SCK CEN mentors: Noami Daems & Sarah Baatout Promoter: Erik Verburg (EURotterdam)
	Nathalie Heynickx	Study of the radiobiological basis of therapeutic and toxic responses of prostate cancer radiation therapy	SCK CEN mentor: Koen Vermeulen Promoter: Sarah Baatout (UGENT)
	Racell Nabha	Assessment of relative biological effectiveness of clinical and secondary irradiation in proton therapy by microdosimetric measurements and simulations	SCK CEN mentors: Olivier Van Hoey & Rafi Benotmane Promoter: Edmond Sterpin (KU LEUVEN)
	Jessica Ribeiro	Radiation effects on human brain development, modeled in human brain organoids	SCK CEN mentors:  Roel Quintens & Mieke Verslegers Promoter: Jay Gopalakrishnan (HHU)
	Magy Sallam	Cardiovascular dysfunction after cancer radiation therapy: search for biomarkers and study of the underlying physiological mechanisms	SCK CEN mentors:  Raghda Ramadan & Rafi Benotmane   Promoter: Pieter-Jan Guns (UANTWERPEN)
	Anthony Waked	Targeted radionuclide therapy as new treatment opportunity against glioblastoma recurrences	SCK CEN mentors:  Rafi Benotmane & Koen Vermeulen Promoter: Bernard Rogister (ULIEGE)
Nuclear materials
	Cholidah Akbar Fitriani	Fracture mechanisms in environmentally assisted cracking of austenitic steels	SCK CEN mentor: Serguei Gavrilov Promoter: Kim Verbeken (UGENT)
	Chih-Cheng Chang	Assessment of mechanical properties of fusion materials by micro-mechanical testing	SCK CEN mentors:  Dmitry Terentyev & Wouter Van Renterghem Promoter: Thomas Pardoen (UCLouvain)
	Gamze Colak	Preparation of Am containing transmutation targets	SCK CEN mentors:  Gregory Leinders & Rémi Delville Promoter: Jozef Vleugels (KU LEUVEN)
	Noelia Fuentes Solis	Effect of liquid metal environment on nucleation and propagation of fatigue cracks	SCK CEN mentors:  Serguei Gavrilov & Pierre Marmy Promoter: Marc Seefeldt (KU LEUVEN)
	Olga Kachko	Development of Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic Steels for fusion applications	SCK CEN mentor:  Dmitry Terentyev Promoter: Roumen Petrov (UGENT)
	Amke Lescur	The influence of heavy liquid metal environment on mechanical and corrosion properties of austenitic stainless steel welds	SCK CEN mentors:  Jun Lim & Erich Stergar Promoter: Roumen Petrov (UGENT)
	Eloa Lopes Maia	Mechanisms of localized corrosion initiation in liquid metal environment	SCK CEN mentors:  Serguei Gavrilov & Valentyn Tsisar Promoter: Herman Terryn (VUB)
	Selim Uygur	Phase stability and oxidation behavior of high Pu content fast reactor MOX fuel	SCK CEN mentors:  Rémi Delville & Gregory Leinders Promoter: Jozef Vleugels (KU LEUVEN)
Radiation protection
	Floris Abrams	Combining Machine Learning and Operations Research methods for Optimizing Remediation Efforts in Response to Large-Scale Nuclear Emergencies Affecting Food and Agriculture	SCK CEN mentors:  Lieve Sweeck & Johan Camps Promoter: Jos Van Orshoven (KU LEUVEN)
	Francesc Xavier Dengra i Grau	Impact of land use change on the migration of historical radionuclide and heavy metal contamination in riparian soils of the Grote Nete Valley	SCK CEN mentors: Liesbeth Van Laer & Lieve Sweeck Promoter: Erik Smolders (KU LEUVEN)
	Inés Llopart	Development of novel assays for ‘difficult-to-measure’ radionuclides in materials produced during nuclear decommissioning activities	SCK CEN mentors:  Mirela Vasile & Andrew Dobney Promoter: Martine Leermakers (VUB)
	Amit Ravindra Patil	Model development for the assessment of the impact of accidental and routine radioactive releases into the Meuse-Scheldt aquatic system	SCK CEN mentor: Fabricio Fiengo Perez Promoter: Eric Deleersnijder (UCLouvain)
	Isabelle Van Dyck	Application of Lemna minor in site remediation strategies	SCK CEN mentors:  Nathalie Vanhoudt  & Jordi Vives i Batlle Promoter: Jaco Vangronsveld (UHASSELT)
	Margot Vanheukelom	Quantifying the effects of soil and plant characteristics on radiocesium uptake: A global perspective	SCK CEN mentors:  Lieve Sweeck & Talal Al Mahaini Promoter: Erik Smolders (KU LEUVEN)
Radiochemistry
	Robin Aerts	Non-aqueous separation process for the purification of the lutetium-177 medical radioisotope	SCK CEN mentors:  Karen Van Hecke & Bart Geboes Promoter: Koen Binnemans (KU LEUVEN)
	Han-Hung Hsu	Sol-gel chemistry to control morphology and porosity of actinide oxide feeds for electroreduction	SCK CEN mentor: Bart Geboes Promoter: Tom Breugelmans (UANTWERPEN)
	Dominic Maertens	Study of reaction kinetics in continuous partitioning processes for actinide separations	SCK CEN mentor: Thomas Cardinaels Promoter: Koen Binnemans (KU LEUVEN)
	Hongshan Zhu	Inorganic sorption materials tailored for 225Ra/225Ac and 225Ac/213Bi radionuclide generators for biomedical applications	SCK CEN mentors:  Stephan Heinitz & Thomas Cardinaels Promoter: Koen Binnemans (KU LEUVEN)
Nuclear technology
	Moad Al-dbissi	A novel approach to partial defect testing of spent nuclear fuel for safeguards applications	SCK CEN mentors:  Alessandro Borella & Riccardo Rossa Promoter: Imre Pazsit (Chalmers)
	Gregori Giacomo	Electrochemical measurement and characterization of corrosion products in lead-bismuth eutectic	SCK CEN mentors:  Jun Lim & Alexander Aerts Promoter: Thomas Doneux (ULB)
	Sophie Hurier	High intensity ISOL ion source for long-term irradiations	SCK CEN mentor: Kim Rijpstra Promoter: Thomas Cocolios (KU LEUVEN)
	Đorđe Petrović	Investigation of a Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident scenario in MYRRHA	SCK CEN mentors:  Guy Scheveneels & Matteo Zanetti Promoter: William D'haeseleer (KU LEUVEN)
	Sadik Serag Essam	Coatings enabling robotic systems in liquid metal for a new generation of nuclear reactors.	SCK CEN mentor: Paul Schuurmans & Ben Caers   Promoter: Stéphane Lucas (UNAMUR)
Waste & disposal
	Shamseldin Abdo	Development of a constitutive law for accurate prediction of time dependent deformation of OPC based cementitious material at elevated temperatures	SCK CEN mentors:  Suresh Seetharam & Tri Phung Quoc Promoter: Roman Wan-Wendner (UGENT)
	Francisco Javier Giménez	Microbial community structure and dynamics during radioactive waste disposal	SCK CEN mentors:  Kristel Mijnendonckx & Miroslav Honty Promoter: Eveline Peeters (VUB)
	Xiang Li	Corrosion study of the BR1 fuel in highly alkaline conditions	SCK CEN mentors:  Sébastien Caes & Bruno Kursten Promoter: Thomas Pardoen (UCLouvain)
	Luong The Thinh Nguyen	Carbonation, decalcification and recalcification of Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate	SCK CEN mentors:  Tri Phung Quoc & Norbert Maes Promoter: Özlem Cizer (KU LEUVEN)
	Thi Nhan Nguyen	Physico-chemical evolution of geopolymers in contact with aggressive environment	SCK CEN mentors:  Tri Phung Quoc & Diederik Jacques Promoter: Yiannis Pontikes (KU LEUVEN)