Since its launch in 2017, the YERUN Research Mobility Awards (YRMA) have supported early-career researchers—and, in the most recent edition, mid-career researchers as well—in developing collaborative, interdisciplinary, and impactful projects across Europe. As part of our Voices of Mobility series, we’re sharing the stories of awardees to explore how the programme supports international cooperation and strengthens research capacity across disciplines and institutions.
In this second edition, we feature two of the 2024/2025 YERUN Research Mobility Award recipients: Dr Hannah Ihme, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bremen working on childhood attachment and trauma, and Dr Dorina T. Papanastasiou, a junior researcher at NOVA University Lisbon specialising in flexible and sustainable electronics.
Both are preparing for their international research stays and shared their motivations, goals, and hopes for their upcoming collaborations.
What motivated you to apply for the YERUN Research Mobility Award?
Dr Hannah Ihme: “In my current postdoctoral position at the University of Bremen, I am working as part of Prof. Lars White’s team to establish neuroimaging methods for assessing children’s attachment to their parents. One particularly exciting and promising technique is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which enables the simultaneous measurement of brain activity in two interacting individuals. This opens up fascinating possibilities for studying neural synchronization in both parent-child and peer relationships. The YERUN Research Mobility Award provides an excellent opportunity to connect with the Prof. Pascal Vrticka and the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachmen (SoNeAt) Lab at the University of Essex, which has extensive expertise in fNIRS and parent-child neural synchrony. I am genuinely excited to learn this method hands-on and to benefit from the SoNeAt Lab’s deep knowledge—especially as I have followed their work with great interest since my doctoral studies. I consider the YERUN mobility award a unique opportunity, particularly as I will be paired with like-minded young researchers from the team, my co-awardees Laura Mtewele and Ricky Chmitorz. I hope this stay will lay the foundation for fruitful exchange and long-term collaboration.”
Dr Dorina T. Papanastasiou “All the aspects of the YERUN Research Mobility Award were really motivating for me. It specifically supports early-career researchers like me, who are in the process of building their independence in securing funding and leading collaborative work. What also stood out is the Award’s encouragement of interdisciplinary and cross-institutional projects – exactly the kind of context I’ve been seeking. To give some background: in my work as a junior researcher at CENIMAT in the field of printed electronics, one of my main responsibilities involves developing scalable printed heaters, particularly in collaboration with industry through national projects. As both a person and a scientist, I am committed to ensuring that our innovations serve a positive environmental purpose – not just adding another disposable device with a hidden ecological cost. Our lab has a strong background in materials science and flexible, sustainable electronics. But we lacked in-house expertise on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which I consider essential to evaluate and improve the sustainability of our printed heaters. I began looking for collaboration opportunities and came across the YERUN Award. I was immediately excited – it offered exactly the kind of support I needed. I identified Dr Muhammad Shafique at Brunel University London as a potential partner; his background in sustainability and LCA aligned perfectly with my vision. He replied to my message with enthusiasm, already interested in exploring applications related to printed electronics. We swiftly co-wrote the proposal for our joint project, Sustainable Printed Heaters Evaluation and Development (SPhED).”
What are you most looking forward to in your upcoming collaboration and mobility experience?
Dr Hannah Ihme “I am particularly looking forward to attending the annual fNIRS Hyperscanning Workshop hosted by the SoNeAt Lab, which will provide invaluable insights into the method. I am excited to refresh my knowledge of interpersonal synchrony and to gain hands-on experience with data analysis techniques used in fNIRS hyperscanning. As we are currently designing our own fNIRS paradigms in Bremen, I am equally eager to exchange ideas with other young researchers at the workshop. I feel confident that the setup of our own fNIRS lab in Bremen will benefit greatly from this collaboration. The partnership between the SoNeAt Lab and the Department of clinical psychology and psychotherapy for childhood and adolesence in Bremen will be further strengthened through the mobility phase of Ricky and Laura, who will join me in August in Germany and serve as key contacts for the fNIRS system.”
Dr Dorina T. Papanastasiou: “I am especially looking forward to deepening my understanding of LCA through this collaboration with Dr Shafique. From my initial literature review, it was already evident that, while several LCA studies exist on printed electronics in general, there is very little focused on printed heaters specifically – leaving a lot of room for exploration and meaningful contribution. I’m genuinely curious to see even preliminary results from our assessment and to discover which steps in the production process of printed heaters could be improved for greater sustainability. Beyond the scientific dimension, I’m very much looking forward to visiting Brunel University in May – it will be my first time there – and engaging with researchers from the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. Later this summer, we will welcome Dr Shafique to CENIMAT in Lisbon. These visits will give us the chance to exchange ideas and methodologies in person, beyond what online meetings can provide.”
Are there specific goals you hope to achieve during your research stay?
Dr Hannah Ihme: “The ultimate goal of my research stay is to gain the necessary skills to set up the fNIRS system in Bremen and to establish a strong, lasting connection with the SoNeAt Lab. This collaboration will be crucial in ensuring the successful and high-quality collection of fNIRS hyperscanning data in our lab. My aims include both the technical enablement to operate the system independently and the development of a sustainable network for ongoing methodological support and exchange.”
Dr Dorina T. Papanastasiou: “Thanks to the YERUN Award, we now have the means to organise on-site visits, seminars, and workshops that go beyond our regular virtual meetings. Our goal is to introduce our respective research to each other’s institutes and foster interdisciplinary discussions among peers. These face-to-face meetings will give us space for spontaneous brainstorming and the emergence of new ideas. On a personal level, I would like to share the field of printed electronics with a wider academic community and open new paths for future collaborations. On a practical level, the results from our LCA study will help us introduce sustainability assessment tools into our lab’s workflow – not just for printed heaters but for other materials and devices as well. All this can be possible thanks to the support of the YERUN, and I’m deeply grateful that our project, SPhED, was selected.”
Thank you, Hannah and Dorina!
The upcoming research stays of Dr Ihme and Dr Papanastasiou reflect the potential of the YERUN Research Mobility Awards to open new directions, skills, and partnerships. As their projects unfold, we will continue to follow their stories — and those of all the other awardees.
This article is part of a continuing series — more awardee interviews will be published over the coming weeks, so stay tuned to discover the many ways the YERUN network is helping shape Europe’s research future.
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Short Bios:
Dr. Hannah Ihme is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bremen, where she investigates childhood maltreatment and resilience in early development. Alongside a six-month research collaboration with the University of Bielefeld, she began a five-year psychotherapist training at the Psychoanalytic Institute Bremen in 2024. In 2025, she was awarded the YERUN Research Mobility Award to train at the SoNeAt Lab, University of Essex, specialising in fNIRS. She holds a PhD in neuroscience from Marseille and has received multiple awards for her work on trauma, attachment, and mental health.
Dr Dorina T. Papanastasiou is a Junior Researcher in Flexible and Sustainable Electronics at CENIMAT|i3N – FCT NOVA University of Lisbon (Portugal). She develops printed heaters for national industry-linked projects and high-resolution microscale electrodes for IoT applications. With a background in physics and nanophysics, she completed her PhD and Postdoc at LMGP (Grenoble INP – Université Grenoble Alpes, France), focusing on transparent and flexible electrodes based on silver nanowire networks. She was also a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow in the Someya Group and LIMMS (The University of Tokyo, Japan), working on skin-conformable electronics for smart textiles. Passionate about outreach and climate action, she also turns electron microscopy images into expressive science-inspired paintings.
