About the Project
What is OncoEd?
OncoEd — Digital Health Literacy and Education Program for Cancer Patients, Promoting Nutritional Wellness — is an Erasmus+ KA220-ADU Cooperation Partnership bringing together universities, hospitals, and a technology company from Türkiye, Albania, Serbia, and Estonia.
Cancer patients today face a critical gap: while they have access to vast amounts of online health information, navigating it reliably and using it to manage their treatment is far from straightforward. OncoEd addresses this directly.
The project develops an AI-supported digital platform, mobile application, and hospital kiosk system — all available in 4 languages — to provide personalised, scientifically validated cancer education at the right moment in each patient’s journey.
Project Aims
Our Goals
A Pan-European Response
OncoEd brings together five organisations from four countries, combining clinical expertise, academic research, patient support and digital technology.
İstinye UniversityCoordinator- Dokuz Eylül University
- MTUHC
- BELhospice
- Technovias OÜ
The Challenge We Address
Why OncoEd Was Born
Most cancer patients turn to the internet after diagnosis — yet much of what they find is unverified, and few have the tools to tell reliable information from misleading claims.
Receiving a cancer diagnosis is not only a medical event — it triggers an overwhelming flow of information that patients and their families must somehow navigate, evaluate, and act on. Today, the vast majority of patients and caregivers turn to the internet almost immediately after diagnosis. This is entirely natural.
However, finding reliable, relevant, and understandable information is far from simple. This is where digital health literacy — the ability to locate, understand, and critically evaluate health information in digital environments — becomes crucial. Correct information is the foundation of correct decisions.
Treatment processes for cancer are complex and multi-layered: chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, nutritional management, and psychosocial support all intersect. Pathology reports and treatment plans require expert knowledge to interpret correctly.
Caregivers and family members are equally affected — they research, evaluate, and liaise with healthcare providers, often experiencing significant information overload and burnout in the process.
OncoEd was created specifically to close this gap. By combining AI-driven personalised learning with multilingual content developed together with healthcare professionals, OncoEd aims to enable cancer patients and their caregivers to become active, informed participants in their own healthcare.
The Problem in Detail
Four interconnected challenges make digital health navigation especially difficult for cancer patients.
Information Pollution & Misinformation
Cancer patients encounter a chaotic mix of trusted medical sources, misleading commercial sites, and unverified social media posts — with no easy way to tell them apart.
Social Media Filter Bubbles
Algorithms keep feeding patients more of what they already clicked on — including misleading and commercially biased posts.
Medical Complexity
Pathology reports and treatment plans are full of specialist terms that are easy to misread without guidance.
Cognitive Load During Treatment
Fatigue, stress and a packed treatment schedule leave little energy to search, filter and remember information.
The OncoEd Solution
A personalised, multilingual digital platform and mobile app that curates and delivers the right cancer education at the right moment — in the patient's own language.
AI Learning Paths
Adapts to cancer type, treatment stage and digital literacy level.
Mobile & Hospital Kiosk
Accessible anywhere — at home or in the hospital waiting room.
Privacy by Design
GDPR-aligned data protection, designed for WCAG 2.1 accessibility.
4 Languages
Turkish, Albanian, Serbian and Estonian — culturally adapted.
10 Video Lessons
Treatment, nutrition and psychosocial support explained clearly.
Telehealth
200 cross-border remote consultations with healthcare professionals.
Sustainable Policy Impact
Evidence-based policy briefs prepared for national health ministries and European digital health initiatives.
The Patient Journey
How OncoEd turns information overload into informed, confident decisions.
Diagnosis
A diagnosis triggers urgent questions about treatment, side effects and daily life.
Searching for answers
Patients and caregivers turn to the internet and face a flood of mixed-quality information.
Learning with OncoEd
Personalised, expert-developed modules in their own language build digital health literacy.
Informed decisions
Patients become active partners in their care and talk with their clinicians confidently.
