2nd DECENTRALIZED & HYBRID CLINICAL TRIALS WORLD CONGRESS 2026 EUROPE
Redefining Clinical Research Through Decentralization, Technology, and Collaboration
Day 1 - Wednesday 25th February 2026
Amelia Hursey, Strategic Director, parkinsonseurope.org
Regulation, Collaboration, and Patient Engagement
- Key updates on the CTR and its practical implications for DCT operations
- Coordinating approvals via the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS)
- Managing ethics submissions and multi-country compliance challenges
- Building trust and transparency through harmonized EU oversight
Moderator:
Alexandra Charge, Chief Executive Officer, ISPEP
Panelist:
Khadija Rantell, Senior Statistical Assessor, MHRA
Elizabeth Theogaraj, Regulatory Senior Group Director, Roche
- MHRA patient involvement strategy
- Current landscape and regulatory considerations
Khadija Rantell, Senior Statistical Assessor, MHRA
- Decentralised elements in Clinical trials
- Industry’s perspectives in adopting DCT elements in Clinical Trials
- How European regulators are enabling DCT adoption
- EFPIA Recommendation Paper on Advancing the Use of Decentralised Elements in Clinical Trials
Elizabeth Theogaraj, Regulatory Senior Group Director, Roche
- Reducing barriers to participation for rural and aging populations
- Strategies for multi-language patient interfaces and digital inclusion
- Leveraging telehealth to improve representation in rare disease studies
- Building national digital literacy programs for broader engagement
Prof Gary Middleton, Clinical Network Lead, ECMC
- Advances in validated wearables, eConsent, and ePRO platforms
- Interoperability with hospital EHR systems
- Ensuring MDR/IVDR compliance for medical device-linked technologies
- Real-world deployment case studies from multicountry trials
- Governance, regulatory and clinical frameworks
- Ethical perspectives
- Operational feasibility
Emma Kinloch, CEO, Salivary Gland Cancer UK
- Bullet points to follow
Lewis Millen, Head of Clinical Innovation & Digital Solutions, UCB
- A five letter code: what a diagnosis unlocks
- Building momentum: patients, science, collaboration
- From repurposing to personalised medicine: progress, promise, and barriers in ultra-rare treatment development
- Why speed matters: the cost of waiting
Melanie Dixon, Trustee, Cure DHDDS
- Blending virtual and in-person interactions to enhance experience
- Supporting patients through multilingual, digital, and in-clinic channels
- Ensuring safety, adherence, and satisfaction in hybrid environments
- The path toward a unified, inclusive European patient-centric model
Nadya Isack, Patient and Public Involvement (PPIE) Advocate, Founder, Empower Health Initiative CIC, Person living with Obesity
- This talk will explore how patient insights can guide the design and implementation of decentralized and hybrid clinical trials from early development stages.
- By incorporating the patient perspective, sponsors can adapt endpoints, visit schedules, and participation burden to better reflect real-world needs, improving recruitment, retention, and overall patient satisfaction.
- Practical examples will be shared demonstrating how decentralized approaches — including digital tools, telemonitoring, ePROs, and wearable devices — can be leveraged to enhance efficiency, accessibility, and engagement.
Laura Risueño Ayerbe, Global Patient Affairs, Patient Engagement R&D, Servier
- Fostering pan-European ecosystems for DCT service delivery
- Integrating SMEs and digital health star tups into large-scale trials
- Coordinating cross-border logistics, training, and support networks
- Establishing standardized performance and quality metrics
Moderator:
Dr Sondra Butterworth, Community Psychologist, CEO, RareQoL
Panelist:
Fiona Adshead, Chair, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition
Dimitris Christodoulou, Digital Health Business Lead, Roche
Amelia Hursey, Strategic Director, parkinsonseurope.org
Co-located with the Patient Centricity & Collaboration World Congress 2026 Europe.
Joint Networking & Exhibit Area.
