Postdoctoral researcher and IFA alum Mads Lykke Jensen has been awarded 2.201.636 kr. from the Independent Research Fund through the DFF International Postdoctoral programme for the project “Shining Light on Unknown Issues in Radiotherapy using a Novel Cable-Actuated Robot Dosimetry System (CARDS)”.

Radiotherapy is one of the most important treatments for cancer, where ionizing radiation is used to destroy tumor cells. Modern radiotherapy techniques deliver highly conformal radiation doses that precisely target tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. As treatments become increasingly complex, experimentally verifying that radiation is delivered exactly as planned becomes increasingly challenging.

In the CARDS project, Mads will develop a new experimental dosimetry system capable of measuring dynamic three-dimensional radiation dose distributions. The system combines optical radiation detectors with a lightweight cable-actuated robot operating inside a water phantom, a standard tool used in radiotherapy quality assurance. By rapidly and precisely positioning detectors within the phantom, the system aims to enable realistic verification of modern radiotherapy treatments.

The project is a multi-institutional collaboration, involving the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Aarhus University, the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy (DCPT) at Aarhus University Hospital, and the University Hospital of Quebec (CHU de Québec–Université Laval).

The DFF International Postdoctoral programme supports talented early-career researchers in conducting research abroad and strengthening international collaboration. In this year’s call, 196 applications were submitted and 19 projects were funded, corresponding to a success rate of approximately 10%.

Read more about this year’s DFF International Postdoc recipients here.