FBCNS was proud to award journal-sponsored travel bursaries during Hydrocephalus 2018: annual meeting of the International Society for Hydrocephalus and CSF Disorders, Bologna, Italy, October 19-22, 2018.                                                                                                                               

• Simon Agerskov, for his talk: The iNPH scale, DESH score, MMSE and MRS: efforts at associations and predictions.
• Anne Benninghaus, for her talk: Impact of the cranial and spinal compliance on CSF hydrodynamics regarding normal pressure hydrocephalus.
• Claudia L Craven, for her talk: CSF drainage increases brain parenchymal oxygen tension after subarachnoid haemorrhage.          

About the winners

Simon Agerskov, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

I am a resident in radiology at the Sahlgrenska University hospital, and a PhD-student working in Dr Mats Tullberg’s group at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg. My PhD-thesis project is centred on the use of MRI for prediction of postoperative outcome in patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH), using morphological markers as well as perfusion- and diffusion analyses.  

I greatly enjoyed my time at ”Hydrocephalus 2018” in Bologna, and found it to be a great opportunity to learn more about the latest advances in the field as well as to partake in many interesting scientific discussions with colleagues from all over the world. I am very honoured to receive the Fluids and Barriers of the CNS Travel Bursary Award! The recognition it brings to our work in the field acts as great motivation for my continued work with the thesis as well as other future projects. I would like to thank the organizing committee for a great conference and the members of my research group in Gothenburg for their outstanding work and support that made this project.

Anne Benninghaus, Department of Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

My goal is to develop in-vitro and in-silico models of the CSF system to get a profound understanding of its fluid dynamics and to conduct sensitivity analyses regarding Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. To be able to share my results and discuss them in front of an expert audience at the Hydrocephalus Meeting 2018 was exciting and very helpful. The conference venue in Bologna was unique and beautiful. Meeting other researchers of the field and exchanging ideas and hypotheses of the CSF dynamics inspired and motivated me to pursue my work. I am very honored to receive the young investigators award especially as an engineer.

Claudia L Craven, Department of Neurosurgery, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.

I am a neurosurgery registrar currently working at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), London. I got to visit the beautiful city of Bologna for the first time at this year’s 2018 Hydrocephalus conference, where I had the best tortellini and ragu of my life. 

I presented our research on The Effect of CSF diversion on Brain Tissue Oxygen Monitoring, work done as part of the Queen Square hydrocephalus research group. Although preliminary results, we find that the interaction between CSF diversion and brain tissue oxygenation is more complex than previously thought. We hypothesise that the exchange between interstitial fluid, blood and CSF at the Virchow Robinson spaces may have a role to play.

Seventeen oral presentations were from members of the Queen’s Square Hydrocephalus research group, reflecting the high levels of commitment, support and dedication within this unique research team and I am very lucky to be part of it. It is a real honour to have our research recognised with a young Investigator award. I am extremely grateful to the Fluids and Barriers of the CNS for sponsoring this prize which will enable me to attend next year’s conference in Vancouver.