As part of our ongoing National Society Spotlight series, we hear from the Serbian Association for Cancer Research (Serbian: Srpsko društvo istraživača raka, SDIR) about the past year’s achievements.
The SDIR was founded in 2010 and is proudly celebrating its sixteenth anniversary this year. Thanks to the dedication and efforts of the founding scientists and previous leadership teams, SDIR was built on a strong foundation that now allows us to grow and advance without obstacles. The society’s mission has been to unite cancer researchers from Serbia into a functional collaborative network, while also increasing the visibility of our scientific achievements within the regional and global communities. Reflecting on our accomplishments over the past year, we are confident that we have remained true to our founding goals and that we continue to strive for scientific integrity in the right direction.
In 2025, the first regional Congress was organised through the collaboration of three national cancer research societies from Serbia, Croatia and Turkey, all members of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR). The 1st SDIR-HDIR-MOKAD Congress was held in October in Belgrade, coupled to our biannual 7th SDIR Congress, and brought together more than 300 participants from 16 countries.
The Congress provided an outstanding platform for the exchange of cutting-edge scientific knowledge, professional networking, and the strengthening of regional collaboration. Its remarkable success, together with the enthusiasm and engagement of its participants from all three organising countries, inspired the organisers to establish it as a continuing regional initiative. Building on this success, the 2nd HDIR-MOKAD-SDIR Congress will be held on November 4-5, 2026, in Zagreb, Croatia, with the aim of further strengthening scientific collaboration across the region.
We look forward to welcoming an even larger international community of cancer researchers this year as we continue to actively support our Croatian colleagues in every aspect of the Congress organisation.
At the end of 2025, SDIR members elected a new Executive Committee. Four new members joined the Committee, while several former members transitioned to the Oversight Committee. Following the election, the Executive Committee re-elected Dr. Milena Čavić as President, and she will continue to represent SDIR throughout the new mandate until end of 2029. We are confident that the new Executive Committee will continue to successfully lead and further develop SDIR. One of the most encouraging signs of SDIR’s growth is its steadily increasing membership. We entered 2025 with 245 members, and by June 2026, that number had grown to 303 engaging researchers from more Serbian cancer centers and multidisciplinary institutes, reflecting the Association’s expanding community and growing impact on cancer research in the region.
In 2026, the annual SDIR Awards for the Best Publication in Cancer Research were presented for the fourth consecutive year. The award recipients were selected by a dedicated Evaluation Committee composed of different distinguished experts and SDIR members. This year, the committee recognised three young researchers for their exceptional scientific contributions. The awards were presented to Dr. Milica Kosić and Dr. Mihajlo Bošnjak from the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Medicine, for their publication “Targeting Glycolysis with 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose and Lysosomal Integrity with L-Leucyl-L-Leucine Methyl Ester as an Antimelanoma Strategy”, and to PhD student Dunja Pavlović from the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, for her publication “Transcript PHF19-207 May Be a Long Non-Coding RNA with a Tumor-Promoting Role in Colon Cancer”.
Through these awards, SDIR aims to recognise scientific excellence and encourage early-career researchers to pursue innovative research, while reinforcing the importance of acknowledging outstanding achievements within the Serbian scientific community. Furthermore, SDIR continues to support its members by awarding travel grants to attend EACR Congress and financing their participation at the SDIR-HDIR-MOKAD regional congresses.
In addition to its longstanding collaborations with numerous scientific societies and institutions across Serbia, SDIR established a new partnership in 2025 with the Serbian Society of Medical Oncology (Serbian: Udruženje medikalnih onkologa Srbije; UMOS). As a part of this collaboration, the UMOS-SDIR Working Group on Liquid Biopsy was formed to promote interdisciplinary cooperation and advance the implementation of liquid biopsy in oncology.
During the SHM1RC congress, the Working Group organised a dedicated session on the application of liquid biopsy in both research and clinical practice. The meeting brought together experts from different disciplines to exchange knowledge and discuss future directions for integrating this innovative approach into routine oncology practice in Serbia. Through the Working Group’s collaboration with the European Liquid Biopsy Society (ELBS), an award was established to recognize the best abstract presentation in the field of liquid biopsy at SDIR congresses. The inaugural award was presented in 2025 to Dr. Bojana Cikota Aleksić for her abstract, “The Association of Baseline Concentrations of Circulating Tumor DNA with the Clinical Course of Advanced Melanoma”.
In line with the scientific collaboration agreement between the Serbian Society for Extracellular Vesicles (Serbian: Srpsko društvo za ekstracelularne vezikule; SrbEVs) and SDIR, a joint seminar entitled “Extracellular Vesicles in Cancer” was held on December 16, 2025. The seminar brought together members of the two societies to facilitate knowledge exchange and strengthen collaboration in the rapidly evolving field of extracellular vesicles, an area of growing importance in cancer research and oncology.
We are particularly proud that, in 2025, the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia recognized the significance of the SDIR journal Oncology Insights (ISSN 3009-3848, ISSNe 3009-383X) and granted it the category of a newly launched scientific journal. This recognition confirmed that the previously published journal volumes (2023-2025) had met the required bibliometric and editorial standards in the fields of medicine and biology.
The challenges identified within our scientific community in the previous period include the need for stronger networking among researchers in Serbia and improved collaboration between academic research and clinical practice. Furthermore, we believe that continued efforts are needed to support the decentralisation of the scientific research in Serbia. SDIR has been actively promoting this goal for several years through its Scientific Days initiative, during which members visit colleagues at research centers outside Belgrade to exchange knowledge, experiences, and scientific results. An important priority for the future development of oncology research in Serbia is the improvement of research management, including the establishment of specialised support offices that would assist researchers in preparing, applying for, and implementing projects in accordance with current European Union regulations and requirements.
Since 2024, SDIR has actively worked to increase its participation in national and international collaborative initiatives as a non-governmental organisation, contributing through its communication network, scientific events, and the journal Oncology Insights as a publishing platform. For EU grants and COST Actions, please feel free to reach out to us for project partnerships – SDIR is officially registered as:
Srpsko društvo istraživača raka
PIC: 878860935
Email: info@sdir.ac.rs
We consider the organisation of the Regional Congress, supported by the EACR, as one of SDIR’s most important achievements in the last year. This congress has significantly contributed to strengthening scientific collaboration and networking among cancer researchers in the region.
We greatly appreciate initiatives, such as the EACR National Societies Spotlight, which provide an important opportunity for national societies to increase their visibility and present their scientific communities, activities, and achievements to the broader European research community.
As a concluding message from our leadership to the EACR community, we can relay our thank you for the partnership and possibility to be an active and equal partner in future EACR congresses and joint cancer research initiatives. We would be delighted to delegate congress speakers and experts from the region for the scientific program and committees, as well as offer our beautiful city of Belgrade for the organisation of future EACR events. It would be our honour to host you all in Serbia!
About National Societies affiliated with the EACR
The SDIR is one of the 14 National Societies that have chosen to affiliate with the European Association for Cancer Research and give their members EACR membership at no extra cost to each member. Click here to find out more about these affiliated National Societies.
