Gastrointestinal researchers collaborate with Macquarie University in Sydney
Camilla Thuen, PhD candidate at the Gastrointestinal School at Haukeland University Hospital, participated in a three-month research stay at eCentreClinic, School of Psychological Sciences at Macquarie University during the fall of 2025.
The aim of the stay was to strengthen the scientific quality of Camilla Thuen's PhD project on digital treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She also wanted to improve her methodological competence and develop her international network.
eCentreClinic (eCC) has a large and highly committed research community of clinicians and researchers who specialize in digital psychological interventions. Their long experience in developing, evaluating and implementing digital treatment programs provided an ideal basis for the further development of the ongoing doctoral project at the Gastrointestinal School at Haukeland University Hospital.
Valuable interdisciplinary research
During the stay, Thuen developed collaborations with researchers from both eCC and the Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre. At research meetings, she had the opportunity to present her own work, on which she received very useful feedback. The connections strengthened her understanding of intervention development and provided valuable insight into research across a life-course perspective.
Thuen also became familiar with Danish research on the development of CoolMinds, a tool that emphasizes user involvement strategies and methodological frameworks.
— Insight into the strategies used in CoolMinds broadened my perspective on digital intervention design, says doctoral candidate Camilla Thuen.
Further collaborations have been established
Thuen found the academic culture at eCC to be exceptionally open, knowledgeable, and discussion-oriented. Their emphasis on idea sharing and collaborative problem solving made the environment uniquely inspiring and gave her increased motivation to pursue an academic career.
A further collaboration has now been established with Professor Blake Dear at Macquarie University, for work on Thuen's third doctoral article on predictors of treatment response from the RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial) dataset.
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Camilla Thuen.