Eczema and Psoriasis Research Incubator: Cross-Disciplinary Innovation Forum

Grantee: Professor Peter van de Kerkhof, Chief Medical Officer, on behalf of the International Psoriasis Council

Amount: DKK 393,617

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: Germany

The Eczema and Psoriasis Research Incubator will be held on September 16, 2026, adjacent to the ESDR annual meeting in Heidelberg, Germany. This workshop is designed to accelerate progress in the understanding and treatment of psoriasis and eczema by fostering cross-disease and cross-disciplinary collaboration with patients, doctors, and researchers. Through interactive small-group challenge labs, participants will co-develop innovative research ideas with the potential to inform future multicenter studies, biomarker discovery, and precision medicine approaches. Dedicated opportunities for early-career researchers to showcase their work and facilitate their involvement in collaborations will ensure equitable participation and strengthen the global research pipeline. Open to international attendees, this incubator is intended as a launchpad for collaborative science, generating new ideas, networks, and frameworks to advance patient-centered skin research.

VDRC Young Investigator Symposium

Grantee: Associate professor Olushola Akinshemoyin Vaughn, Medical College of Wisconsin, on behalf of the Vulvar Dermatoses Research Consortium (VDRC, Inc.)

Amount: DKK 65,100

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: USA

The Vulvar Dermatology Research Consortium (VDRC) will host a special two-hour Young Investigators Symposium as part of its Annual Meeting on Thursday, March 26th, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. This event is designed for medical students, residents, dermatologists, and other physicians, patients, industry partners, and scientists interested in vulvar skin problems. Participants will share research, gain insights from vulvar skin experts, and connect with others in the field. Ultimately, this event will facilitate collaboration on vulvar skin health research, to promote improved outcomes for people living with vulvar skin conditions.

2026 Gordon Research Conference and Seminar on Epithelial Stem Cells and their Niches

Grantee: Assistant Professor Kara McKinley, Harvard University, USA, on behalf of the Gordon Research Conferences

Amount: DKK 374,927

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: USA

The 2026 Epithelial Stem Cells and Niches Gordon Research Conference and Seminar will be held August 22–28, 2026, in Spain. It will bring skin researchers together with leading stem cell biologists working on other organ systems to cross-pollinate ideas and technologies. Interactions and collaborations that emerge from this conference will accelerate discovery in the skin and support the development of new cures for skin diseases. The meeting includes a dedicated session for trainees and will support early-career researchers through travel grants, mentoring, and short talk opportunities.

SKINTEGRITY 2027: Merging Science, Technology and Medicine for Skin Health

Grantee: Professor Sabine Werner, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, on behalf of SKINTEGRITY.CH

Amount: DKK 446,098

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: Switzerland

The SKINTEGRITY 2027 conference will take place from January 28-30, 2027, in Davos, Switzerland, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the collaborative research consortium SKINTEGRITY.CH. It brings together basic scientists, clinicians and engineers from academia or industry, whose work helps to understand, diagnose and treat poorly healing wounds, inflammatory skin diseases and skin cancer. It will feature presentations from world leaders in these fields as well as shorter presentations, which will mainly be given by early career researchers. Additional research highlights will be presented in the form of a poster. This international and interdisciplinary conference will promote collaborations across disciplines, educate the next generation of skin researchers and clinical dermatologists, rheumatologists and surgeons, and will help to turn new scientific discoveries into better diagnostic approaches and treatments for patients.

Lifting the lid on Body Focused Repetitive Behaviours (BFRBs)

Grantee: Professor Clare Mackay, University of Oxford, UK, on behalf of the event team

Amount: DKK 384,036

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: United Kingdom

Body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), such as hair-pulling, skin-picking and nail-biting are common. Around 5% of people experience repeated urges that can cause serious physical and emotional distress. Despite this, BFRBs are poorly understood, often dismissed, and rarely recognised in healthcare, leaving many without support. New research shows that BFRBs may be driven by interactions between the skin, brain and immune system, linking them to conditions like chronic itch. To address this gap, we will hold an international conference in 2026, bringing together scientists, clinicians and people with lived experience. The event will explore why these behaviours develop, how they are best managed, and how policy and practice can be improved. Alongside the scientific programme, a community day run by BFRB UK & Ireland will provide education and safe spaces for sharing experiences. The conference will raise awareness, spark collaborations and strengthen support for those affected.

From Large-Scale Genetics to Cellular Mechanisms of Skin Disease

Grantee: Professor Michael Simpson, King's College London, London on behalf of the event team

Amount: DKK 499,770

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: United Kingdom

The skin is our largest organ, and it is susceptible to a wide range of diseases. While we know that our genes play a crucial role in determining our risk for these diseases, we still have much to learn about which specific genes are involved and how they contribute to disease development. In recent years, there have been groundbreaking developments in skin research that have expanded the possibilities to investigate skin cells and changes in genes and proteins. This event will bring together the world’s leading experts in skin genetics with scientists who are experts in understanding how genes work in the skin by pioneering new technologies.

The goal of this meeting, to be held in conjunction with the ESDR 2026 conference, is to spark new collaborations and share knowledge of datasets and methodologies, which will help us translate genetic discoveries into a better understanding of skin diseases and, ultimately, into new and more effective treatments.

JSID Young Investigator Event 2025

Grantee: Tatsuyoshi Kawamura, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Dermatology, University of Yamanashi

Amount: EUR 25,000

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: Japan

In connection with the 50th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID) a symposium, presentations and social gatherings for young scientists are being organized.

Increased scientific collaboration and networking on skin immunology and allergies in skin of color

Grantee: Charlotte Bonefeld, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, SIC

Amount: DKK 394,170

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: Denmark

Contact Dermatitis (CD) are common skin diseases caused by exposure of the skin to chemicals. While widely studied in Europe, CD is often overlooked in Sub-Saharan African countries. To improve prevention and treatment globally, we need better understanding of how CD appears in different skin types and regions. The European Society of Contact Dermatitis (ESCD) will host its 2026 congress in Copenhagen from June 24–27. A pre-symposium titled “Novel Understanding of Skin Allergies” will highlight recent advances in skin immunology and increase the focus on the immune responses that leads to CD worldwide. Moreover, the main program at the ESCD congress will include the workshop ‘Patch Tests on Skin of Color’ and a focus session on ’Eczema in Sub-Saharan Africa’. The Research Networking Grant will cover expenses to the pre-symposium and 10 travel grants to researchers from Sub-Saharan African countries. For more details, visit the event website.

Epidermolytic Ichthyosis Global Symposium

Grantee: Helen Lill, CH, Head of Research on behalf of the Symposium

Amount: DKK 158,000

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: Switzerland

The EI Cure Project and EI Cure Project Research Alliance will host a 2-day symposium dedicated entirely to rare genetic skin disease Epidermolytic Ichthyosis. The symposium will be held at the Zurich Careum, Switzerland from March 19th to 20th. The full-day presentations, for interested individuals and coming researchers, include the following themes:

  • Patient and Parent Perspectives
  • Clinical Classifications and Current Care
  • Proteomics and Drug-Repurposing
  • Gene-Editing Research Updates

The 18th International Workshop on Langerhans Cells #LC2025

Grantee: Eynav Klechevsky, Associate Professor, Washington University in St. Louis on behalf of the Workshop

Amount: DKK 499,812

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2025

Geography: USA

The 18th International Workshop of Langerhans Cells and Related Myeloid Cells in the Skin will take place on September 3–5, 2025, at Washington University in St. Louis. This global scientific meeting brings together researchers to explore the biology and interaction of immune cells in the skin – how they protect us, how they contribute to diseases like eczema, psoriasis, and skin cancer, and how they can be targeted for new treatments. The workshop fosters discovery, collaboration, and innovation in skin science, with talks by leading scientists, and early-career researchers, males and females from around the world. Read more information here.