Intensive Course in Dermato-Cosmetic Sciences

38th EDITION • 5 ECTS • SEPTEMBER 2024 • ONLINE COURSE

more information

Programme of the Online Intensive Course

DOWNLOAD 2024 PROGRAMME

Practical information

During the past 37 years, the intensive course in dermato-cosmetic sciences has been organised yearly with a lot of enthusiasm at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. After lots of positive feedback and to offer you, as usual, an equilibrated training course given by our European top speakers coming from universities and cosmetic companies we will run the Intensive Course 2024 online again.

The online course will contain 6 sessions dedicated to legislative aspects, efficacy and safety, skin barrier function, skin care, sun exposure and ageing, efficacy testing.

Date and location

After lots of positive feedback and to offer you, as usual, an equilibrated training course given by our European top speakers coming from universities and cosmetic companies we will run the Intensive Course 2024 online again.

The online course will contain 6 sessions dedicated to legislative aspects, efficacy and safety, skin barrier function, skin care, sun exposure and ageing, efficacy testing.

Download the programme of the Online version of the Intensive Course 2024 here.

Course Fee

The rates for the online version of the Intensive Course in Dermato-Cosmetic Sciences will be
• normal fee (from July 16, 2024): 1.850 euro
• students: 550 euro. Only valid for full-time, not-working students who have not finished their studies yet before the Intensive Course starts. A valid/current student ID copy or letter from an advisor is required. Please upload the document during the online registration.

Course material will be available from September 1 on.
Access to the videos of the lectures (not webinars) will be granted until September 30, 2024.
The hand-outs and the texts will be downloadable.

The course fee, payable by credit card covers all lessons and course notes. 
A PAID invoice to follow automatically after online registration and online payment.

Cancellation policy 

Regrettably, no refunds will be made once the course has been payed and downloaded.

Our Lecturers

nothing but the international experts in their field of expertise

Dr. Susanna Brink 

Procter & Gamble (DE)

After graduating Susanna worked for 3,5 years as Research Accociate (Post Docorate) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology under Direction of Prof. Dr. Jean Marie Lehn (Nobel prize winner) on the topic of Supramolecular chemistry and Nanorobotics. She then received a job offer from Procter & Gamble in Schawalbach, Germany and started 2006 as Material Developer for poly films and super absporbers. In 2010 she took over the position as Clinical Scientist and since then leads the clinical operations and skin lab in Schwalbach for BabyCare and Femcare. She has established herself as international expert on infant and baby skin and has published 6 papers on the topic. In her company she is seen as a leader in clinical method development and digitalization of clinical methods. She is also Clinical Evaluator according to the Medical Device Regulation for Medical Devices in the paper sector of Procter & Gamble.

Dr. ir. Chris Callewaert 

Ghent University (BE)

Dr. Chris Callewaert holds two masters and a PhD from Ghent University, Belgium. He was teaching assistant and did his PhD at the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology at Ghent University, Belgium. He then became postdoctoral researcher at the Rob Knight lab at University of California, San Diego, USA. Now he is a Senior Postdoctoral Research fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at Ghent University, Belgium. He studies the skin microbiome and metabolome and is specialized in body odor in relation to the bacteria in the armpits, clothes and washing machines. He is the first one to solve body odor by replacing bacteria of smelly people with those of non-smelly people. He has conducted several clinical trials in this area and has developed a bacterial spray that solves underarm malodor. He is guiding 2 PhD students, 1 post-doctoral researcher and 4 master students. During the corona pandemic, he has also trained sniffer dogs to detect COVID19 infection from people’s sweat, with >95% accuracy. His research led to >30 peer-reviewed publications and was presented at countless international conferences. In 2016 he was nominated for the election of the most talented young researcher in Flanders and the Netherlands, organized by "New Scientist". He was awarded by the King Baudouin Foundation and the Belgian American Educational Foundation. His research has been featured many times in the media, among which CNN, BBC, FOX, NPR, Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Times, etc. For his efforts in science communication, he was awarded the 'Academy prize for science outreach' by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in 2015. He presented a TEDx talk and results of his research can be found on www.DrArmpit.com.

Prof. Kristien De Paepe

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)

Kristien De Paepe (16/11/1970) graduated as PharmD, PhD and became full professor in 2018. Her research focuses on the skin barrier and the development and efficacy evaluation of new dermato-cosmetic application forms. As a senior academic staff member, she teaches various lectures including Pharmaceutical dosage forms and Technology and Topics in pharmacy practice training and medical devices. For 25 years, she also worked part time as a community pharmacist. She is a teacher on training days for pharmacists, general practitioners and hospital specialists in training. She is a member of the Pharmacy Education Board and the Board of Directors of IPSA (Institute for Permanent Study for Pharmacists) and an executive committee (ExCo) member of EAFP (European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy) since May 2014. She is a substitute member of the Belgian National Council of Pharmacists and of the Scientific Commission for Medicines for Human Use. Between 2014 and 2016, K. De Paepe coordinated two Erasmus+ LLP (Livelong Learning Programme) projects: PHAR-QA (Quality Assurance in European Pharmacy Education and Training) and PHAR-IN (Competences for industrial pharmacy practice in biotechnology), funded by EACEA (European Education and Culture Executive Agency).

Mrs. Elsa Dietrich 

Puig (ES)

Elsa Dietrich owns a Master of Political Sciences of the Sorbonne University. After several years working for the United Nations at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and for the cosmetic company Elizabeth Arden, as International Regulatory Affairs Manager, she joined Cosmetics Europe in 2015 as International Relations Manager and worked with local authorities across the world to help develop local industries, support growth and in-market access and improve regulatory convergence in the world. Since 2020, she is the Regulatory Affairs Director of the Cosmetic company Puig and as such responsible of the regulatory compliance of all Puig product developments and placing on the market in the 150 countries where the products are distributed.

Dr. Martine Grosber

Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (BE)

Martine Grosber is head of the dermatology and allergology outpatient units of the University Hospital Brussels (UZ Brussel) since 2013. She studied medicine in Innsbruck (AT) and specialized in Dermatology in major university hospitals in Freiburg (D), Paris (F) and Munich (D). Her special interests are inflammatory skin diseases and allergies. She is member of the EAACI Drug Allergy Interest Group and the Belgian Contact and Environmental Dermatitis Group (BCEDG). She is a clinical tutor for dermatology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and full time supervisor for dermatology residents in the academic teaching hospital UZ Brussels. She organizes symposia on inflammatory skin diseases and allergies for general practitioners and dermatologists on a regular basis.

Dr. David Gunn

Unilever (UK)

After gaining a PhD in genetics, Dr Gunn carried out postdoctoral research at Newcastle University before joining Unilever Research and Development in the UK. Focusing initially on genomic investigations into the mechanisms of skin health and ageing, this has evolved over the years to leading small to large collaborative research projects with various Universities investigating skin, hair, and facial ageing, health and longevity. Dr Gunn is now the leader of the KCL Unilever Biosciences Innovation Hub at King’s College London covering Unilever R&D projects and KCL collaborations. As well as filing patents and author to over 50 scientific journal articles, Dr Gunn’s research has been of particular interest to the layperson leading to coverage by TV and radio news channels, digital media and at international conferences. Working at the interface between basic scientific research and translational science, Dr Gunn’s work focuses on how biological insights can be translated into benefits for the general public and for the Unilever business alike.

Prof. Dr. Jan Gutermuth 

Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (BE)

Prof. Dr. med. Jan Gutermuth is Chairman of the Dermatology Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)/Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel) and head of the “SKIN-lab” of the Faculty of Medicine, VUB. His research focus lies in clinical and translational research in inflammatory skin diseases, especially atopic dermatitis. Moreover, with the newly founded EVIDENT research group for Evidence Based Healthcare Management he addresses the impact of information technology (IT) and improvement of processes in health care delivery on the quality of care and patient/ coworker satisfaction. He serves/(d) on editorial boards of dermatology and allergology journals (IAAI, JEADV, Clinics in Dermatology and is a president-elect of the Royal Belgian Society for Dermatology. He serves as Belgian board member for the European Academy for Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) and previously on the “Animal research advisory committee (ARAC)” of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Prof. Gutermuth trained in Dermatology and Allergology the Departments of Dermatology and Allergology at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Humboldt University) and the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technische Universität München (TUM). Until 2013 he was as consultant and scientific group leader “Experimental Allergology” at the Department of Dermatology and Allergy (TUM), the Center for Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) of the TUM and the Institute for Allergy Research of the Helmholtz Center Munich.

Dr. Paul Matts

Procter & Gamble  

I joined Procter & Gamble in 1988 as a PhD Microbial Biochemist and have spent the majority of my career since leading various aspects of Skin Research, working across most of the Company's Operating Units (as I maintain that all of them touch human skin in some way!). I am Visiting Professor to the London College of Fashion (where I have taught and helped develop their Cosmetic Science Degree and Post-Graduate courses since 1993) and past Visiting Professor to the UCL School of Pharmacy. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of the Arts. I have published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers, over 200 poster / platform papers and book chapters, and hold over 20 patents. I am past-Chair of the Cosmetics Europe Trade Association (CE) Sun Protection Methods Task Force, current Chair of the CE Sun Protection Scientific Advisory Group and also represent the UK in the current International Standards (ISO) standardisation of SPF and UVA methods. I am married for 33 years to Ali, have 3 grown-up children (John, David and Emily) and love the outdoors (running, mountains, scuba-diving). In 2013, we bought an old, run-down property on the Isle of Mull, which is a small piece of Heaven. In my spare time, I re-apply my skin biology expertise to resource-poor settings and, in 2012, co-founded an NGO in Ethiopia to help the 1.6 million sufferers of Podoconiosis (non-filarial, lower-leg lymphoedema).

Dr. Karsten R. Mewes

Henkel AG & CO. KGaA (DE)

Dr. Karsten R. Mewes studied Biology at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz, where he received his PhD in 1998. After his PhD he worked as a research scientist and lecturer at the Institute of Zoology in Mainz until 2001. In 2001 Dr. Mewes joined the Phenion GmbH & Co. KG, a private- public joint venture founded by the University of Frankfurt and the Henkel AG & Co. KGaA as a manager and scientist, working on the development of innovative three-dimensional tissue models of the skin. SInce the integration of the Phenion GmbH & Co. KG into the Henkel company in 2006 Dr. Mewes continued his work as laboratory head and expert in tissue engineering on 3D tissue models. In his current position as senior manager for tissue engineering and alternative methods at Henkel Dr. Mewes is also an active member of Cosmetics Europe, the Euopean Cosmetics Association dedicated to the development, regulatory acceptance, and dissemination of animal-free alternative methods. Since 2017 Dr. Mewes also works as a business developer for the skin model business.

Prof. Bernard Querleux 

L'Oreal (FR)

Bernard Querleux obtained his doctorate in electronic engineering and signal processing from the University of Grenoble, France, in 1987 and his habilitation in biophysics from Paris-Sud University, France, in 1995. In 2010, he was awarded Honorary Professor from Franche-Comté University, France. Between 2005 and 2014, Dr. Querleux has served as Scientific Chairman of the International Society for Biophysics and Imaging of the Skin (ISBS). In 2016, he has been elected President of the ISBS. In 2014, Dr. Querleux edited a book entitled “Computational Biophysics of the Skin” (Pan Stanford Publishing) which presents for the first time the contributions that focus on scientific computing and numerical modeling to offer a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in skin physiology. As a Senior Expert at the Worldwide Advanced Research center of L’Oreal Research & Innovation, France, his main research interests concern the development of non-invasive methods, including numerical modeling for skin and hair characterization. He is also an expert in functional brain imaging for the objective assessment of sensory perception.

Dr. Gerald Renner

Cosmetics Europe (BE)

Dr Gerald Renner was born in Graz (Austria) in 1967. His basic scientific training is in engineering chemistry at the Technische Universität Graz, where he graduated in 1993. After that he specialised in biochemical engineering and worked for his PhD at the Technische Universität Graz, and the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal. He finished his doctoral studies on the bacterial production of biodegradable plastics in 1996. After additional courses in animal cell culture techniques and immunology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, he joined the Colipa (now Cosmetics Europe) Scientific department at the end of 1996. Since 2001 he is Cosmetic Europe’s Director of Technical Regulatory Affairs which includes since 2010 also the association s activities on international regulatory convergence.

Prof. Vera Rogiers

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)

After many years of leading the department of In Vitro Toxicology and Dermato-Cosmetology at the VUB in a successful way, Emeritus professor in Toxicology Vera Rogiers is actually still teaching dermato-cosmetics at the VUB and the University of Ghent. She also gives a limited number of lessons to the University of Namur and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She yearly organizes international courses on Cosmetics and Risk Assessment. She is the Director of the Innovation Centre-3Rs (IC-3Rs) at the VUB and of the scientific Chair Mireille Aerens, both with focus on replacing experimental animals by novel technologies. At the EU level, she is co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) and member of the Mirror group of the European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA). Her main research activity was many years situated in the development of in vitro models as an alternative to the use of experimental animals. Actual focus is on the differentiation of human skin-derived stem cells to functional hepatic cells and their application for drug discovery and the detection of drug-induced liver injury. She has been promoter of 33 doctoral theses, is author or co-author of >380 publications in international peer reviewed scientific journals and is editor of several scientific books. She is an often-invited speaker (>350) and participated in the organization of more than 60 international congresses. She has coordinated 2 EU research projects and was partner in several FP6, FP7 EU and Horizon 2020 research projects concerned with in vitro methodology development. Of the obtained scientific results, several patents have been filed. Throughout her carrier she received several international scientific awards for her pioneering role in in vitro Experimental Toxicology.

Prof. Dr. Nanna Schürer

Universität Osnabrück (DE)

Prof. Dr. Nanna Schürer was trained at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany; Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa and Medical University of South Carolina, USA. 1986 to 1989 she was a research fellow at the Department of Dermatology, UCSF, San Francisco, USA and 1989 to 1997 she was first a resident than a senior consultant in Dermatology and Venerology at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, board certified as a specialist for dermatology and venereology in 1993, for allergology in 1995 and for environmental medicine in 1996. 2000 she accepted a lecturing position at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. Prof. Schürer published more than 200 scientific manuscripts and is the author of 8 books. Her main research fields were epidermal barrier function in dermatocosmetology and chemical peels. She is a member of numerous scientific associations.

Dr. ir. Marion Van Deurzen

Unilever

Marion has over twenty years of experience in Home & Personal Care. During this period, she fulfilled various roles including product developer, technical project leader and consumer technical insight & claims manager. Since 2017, she has been European Regulatory Affairs Manager Beauty & Personal Care at Unilever. In this role she is involved in the European regulatory changes affecting the Cosmetics sector. She is currently chairing the Claims & Advertising break-out group at Cosmetics Europe, the European trade association representing the Cosmetics sector.

* According to the Cosmetic Regulation EC N° 1223/2009 cosmetics circulating in Europe must demonstrate the evidence of their conformity with the stipulated requirements in the form of a Product Information File (PIF). A PIF is the mandatory compilation of technical documentation with regard to the description, the manufacturing methods, claims substantiation and a Cosmetic Product Safety Report.