SHINE 2Europe participated in the MAYA Plenary Meeting, held on 16–17 June 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland, bringing together project partners to review progress achieved during the first year of the project and align priorities for the next phase, as the project moves from initial exploration and co-design towards technical development, clinical preparation, and Living Labs activation.
MAYA (smart Mirrors supporting healthier lives of Adolescents and Young Adults after cancer) is a Horizon Europe project developing innovative digital health solutions to support Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) cancer survivors in managing cardiovascular health and quality of life after cancer treatment. The project combines digital health tools, including the iCARE health hub, a smart mirror, and an AI-powered conversational agent, with co-research and multi-stakeholder engagement to ensure that the solutions developed respond to real needs and can be implemented in real-world care contexts.
During the meeting, SHINE’s representatives Natália Machado and Carlos Iglesias, contributed to several key discussions, particularly in relation to WP2 – Initial exploration of challenges, methodological design, and social innovation. As leader of WP2, SHINE presented updates on the co-development of implementation pathways.
These activities are central to ensuring that MAYA remains grounded in the real needs, expectations and experiences of AYA cancer survivors, healthcare professionals, families and other key stakeholders. Through Living Labs and co-research, SHINE is supporting the consortium and pilot sites in translating lived experience, user needs, and socio-cultural aspects into useful insights for the design, implementation and future uptake of MAYA’s smart mirror and digital health tools.
SHINE also contributed to discussions on ongoing collaboration within the wider “Quality of Life for AYA cancer survivors” project cluster, helping connect MAYA’s work with broader European efforts around survivorship, digital health, policy and innovation.
The Gdańsk plenary was an important opportunity to consolidate the work achieved so far and prepare the next steps of the project. These discussions helped clarify priorities for the coming months and reinforce the need for close collaboration between clinical, technical, ethical, social innovation and engagement activities. SHINE will continue supporting MAYA by strengthening its participatory, ethical and user-centred approach, helping ensure that the solutions developed are inclusive, trustworthy and meaningful for AYA cancer survivors.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under grant agreement No 101213323.