11 November 2026

Congratulations to our diploma graduates

Last week we celebrated ten successful graduates of the "Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS) Clinical Trial Practice and Management" study programme!

The aim of this part-time program is to prepare students for a wide range of management and leadership tasks in various areas of clinical research. The skills acquired can be used equally well in academic research, in the pharmaceutical, medical technology or biotechnology industry or in regulatory authorities.

The degree program has a modular structure and passes two consecutive CAS degree programs as well as a diploma thesis. In the final oral examination, the doploma thesis is defended and the knowledge acquired is put to the test using various case studies.

Direct benefits for practice: the diploma theses

The subjects of the diploma theses usually come from the students' personal working environment in the field of clinical research. Preference is given to practical projects with direct benefits for the working group. This year, several projects addressed a range of questions, including how regulatory and quality requirements associated with sponsor responsibilities can be incorporated into the ORCA quality management system. Another project focused on developing a practical, evidence-based model for endpoint selection in oncological diagnostic studies that is clinically relevant, measurable and suitable for economic evaluation.

Further projects included the development of an evidence-based guide to patient and public involvement (PPI) throughout the entire life cycle of clinical research in ophthalmology. Work also focused on introducing a quality assurance framework for managing protocol deviations (PDs). This framework aims to enable systematic classification and root cause analysis, helping to minimise the occurrence of further protocol deviations in the long term.

Our graduates

We congratulate the following people on successfully completing the DAS:

Kelly da Silva, Vanessa de Barros, Alíz Petra Kőváriné Tichy-Rács, Rachelle Mader, Celeste Manfredonia, Magalie Muller, Alessandro Pedrioli, Rebekka Plattner, Petra Rossouw, Larissa Trefzer

With the knowledge and practical skills they have acquired, our graduates are ideally equipped to take on positions of responsibility in the management of clinical studies.