Fellow Feature: Peter-Paul Zwetsloot
Every year, the Netherlands eScience Center shares a call for applications for our Fellowship Programme. The Programme is aimed at members of the academic research community who are passionate about acting as ambassadors for the use of research software. It is for individuals who have the ambition to promote or improve the use of research software within their organization or discipline. Our 2024-2025 fellows are currently halfway through their fellowship yeaEvery year, the Netherlands eScience Center shares a call for applications for our Fellowship Programme. The Programme is aimed at members of the academic research community who are passionate about acting as ambassadors for the use of research software. It is for individuals who have the ambition to promote or improve the use of research software within their organization or discipline. Our 2024-2025 fellows are currently halfway through their fellowship year. What better time to showcase their progress over the course of their programme.
We will present you with interviews with each of the Fellows. From creating tutorials to organizing interactive seminars, our Fellows are at the forefront of shaping the landscape of research software practices.
Keep reading to learn more about the progress of the project, ‘Exploring federated learning platforms for the future scientific national cardiology registries ’ led by Peter-Paul Zwetsloot, Cardiologist and Fellow at Erasmus Medical Center.
What is the goal of your project?
The first national registry for patients with heart disease cardiomyopathy is currently being established. This infrastructure will provide researchers with many opportunities for larger analyses, where data from additional research (such as blood tests, scans, or genetic data) can be linked to other clinical data. It is very likely that large datasets and artificial intelligence will be utilized in this process.
This fellowship will be used to explore whether a federated learning infrastructure is feasible for our future national cardiomyopathy register.
What role does research software play in your daily activities?
We hope to use federated databases in the future and are preparing for this in the upcoming years.
What initially inspired you to apply to the Fellowship Programme at the eScience Center?
We were at that point in the process of submitting a large infrastructure grant proposal, and I noticed how little all cardiology and research colleagues knew about what they were submitting.
How is your Fellowship helping you promote the use of research software in your own community?
This has been the primary reason why some colleagues heard about the options and possibilities. I am very much looking forward to the event that we will be organizing in June for our community.
What have you enjoyed, thus far, during your Fellowship at the eScience Center?
Being in touch with absolute experts in the area of federated learning software, who are all very nice and willing to help introduce these techniques to new communities.
What do you hope will change in the use of research software in your community after your Fellowship?
Since the fellowship does not cover ‘time’ it is very difficult as a clinician to find dedicated time to work on this.
Keeping this project in mind, what do you hope to do after your Fellowship?
I hope to keep federated learning within at least parts of my current registry (which I am coordinating in the Netherlands).
What do you hope will change in the use of research software in your community after your Fellowship?
People adopting federated learning.
What would you say to people who are interested in applying for future Fellowship Programmes?
It’s a great opportunity, especially if you are in need of highly specialized tutoring/mentoring from eScience personnel.
Who are we?
The eScience Center is a research organization dedicated to applying research software to answer research questions in any scientific domain through project collaborations. It has the largest concentration of dedicated, high-level research software expertise in the Netherlands. The eScience Center also has a fellowship programme and makes all of its software and training materials openly available online. For more information about what we offer, visit esciencecenter.nl.