Board member opportunities and naming competition for DESorientering in English

We will at our next general assembly (at the next DES Spring Meeting, scheduled for the spring/early summer) have the unique opportunity to welcome two new Board members, as Stine and Katrine will be stepping down after several years of dedicated service. Since most current Board members are based in the Copenhagen area, we strongly encourage colleagues from Northern, Western and Southern Denmark to consider joining. We aim for a Board that represents Danish epidemiologists across geography, institutions, gender, and age. Please consider contributing to the epidemiological community in Denmark.

A tribute to Jørn Olsen, 20 May 1946 – 5 January 2026

The Danish Epidemiological Society is deeply saddened by the passing of our honorary member and former Chair Professor Jørn Olsen, one of Denmark’s most influential epidemiologists. Jørn Olsen passed away on 5 January after several years of illness.

Jørn Olsen was born in Odense and graduated in medicine from Aarhus University in 1973 where he also earned his PhD in 1980. After early academic positions at the University of Southern Denmark, he became Professor of Social Medicine at Aarhus University in 1984.

His primary academic passion was perinatal epidemiology, and he initiated the large national “Danish National Birth Cohort”, a highly visionary initiative that remains an invaluable data source for Danish epidemiological research. Jørn Olsen was widely regarded internationally, publishing more than 1,000 scientific papers and contributing to numerous textbooks and editorial boards. He was ambitious and always insisted on the highest research quality, thus contributing to strengthen the status and scientific standing of epidemiology in Denmark and abroad.

From 2005 to 2008, he served as President of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) and he taught for many years at the European Summer School in Epidemiology in Florence, which he co‑founded. After serving as Professor and Department Chair at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 2005 to 2011, he returned to Denmark to continue as Professor at the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University and concluded his career at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University.

Jørn Olsen was an active board member of the Danish Epidemiological Society and he was our chairperson in the years 2014 and 2015. We remember him as an enthusiastic, inspiring, generous, and warm colleague and mentor. Many in our society have benefited greatly from his support and mentorship, and we remain deeply grateful to him. Jørn made a profound and lasting impact on the field of epidemiology, and he will be remembered with sincere appreciation by colleagues, students, and collaborators alike.

A tribute to Jørn Olsen has been published (in Danish) in The Journal of the Danish Medical Association (Ugeskrift for Læger). https://ugeskriftet.dk/kolleganyt/joern-olsen

European Congress of Epidemiology 2026 and Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health (SSMPH)

On behalf of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA), its our pleasure to inform you that abstract submissions are now open for the European Congress of Epidemiology 2026 and Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health (SSMPH)

The meeting, which will take place in London on 9-11 September 2026, is organized by the SSMPH in collaboration with the IEA and hosted by the Queen Mary University of London.

Abstracts are welcome on all topics in the field of epidemiology. If you would like to share and discuss your work with colleagues from across Europe and beyond, do not forget to submit your abstract until 2nd March 2026. More details on abstracts can be found here: https://hg3.co.uk/ssm/ or at the conference website.

Funding and application opportunities

New positions at the University of Oslo!

 We are thrilled to announce the first two positions in our new interdisciplinary research initiative entitled UIO Real-World Evidence (RWE) at the University of Oslo:

 🔬 PhD Fellowship in Pharmacovigilance (4 years)
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https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/294210/phd-research-fellowship-in-pharmacovigilance

 📊 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pharmacoepidemiology (3 years)
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https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/294191/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-pharmacoepidemiology

These positions offer an exciting opportunity to join a growing team working at the intersection of health data science, medication safety, and real-world evidence—in the new LifeScience building at UiO.

Read more about the project here: Capitalizing on Norwegian Health Data for Rapid Generation of Real-World Evidence on Effectiveness and Safety of Pharmaceuticals (UiO:RWE ) - UiO:Life Science

Contact: Professor Hedvig Nordeng, h.m.e.nordeng@farmasi.uio.no

🗓️ Application deadline: 26 February

Please feel free to share within your networks — and we would love to see motivated candidates apply! 😊