Awards

ESPID offers up to three Fellowship Awards annually. The fellowships can take place outside or within applicants’ own institutions and countries subject to criteria (see below).

Completed applications for the ESPID Fellowship Award must be received by 31st March 2021 for the awards to be presented in May of the following year. Fellowships are expected to start as soon as possible after the award date and must begin by 1st March the following year at the very latest.

The goal of the fellowship award is to stimulate basic or clinical research that utilizes advanced techniques and methods to improve the health of children by prevention or management of infectious diseases. 

Applicants must either be resident and working in the European region (as defined by WHO) (click here to access the list of countries in the WHO EURO region) at the time of making their application or must be resident and work there when undertaking the fellowship or both.

• Applicants must be good standing ESPID members  at the time of the deadline (click here to download the ESPID "good standing" member criteria) and membership fees must be paid up in full before the application.
• On the day of the application deadline, you must be within maximum 16 years of your Medical qualification, or, if you are not medically qualified, your PhD or the highest degree you hold. A scanned copy of relevant degree certificate showing the date it was awarded must be submitted with the application. Time tolerance is given for those individuals who have taken a career break for maternity, adoption or any other personal reasons. In such case, the 16 years limit will be extended by the total length of time taken out of work. A written confirmation, signed by the department head, will be requested. Applications will be considered on an individual basis where a supporting letter explaining special circumstances is received and special leave will still be taken into consideration and discussed with the ESPID Board.
• Applications from individuals who have previously received an ESPID fellowship of this kind will not be considered. (Previous recipients of other ESPID awards, including small grant and travel awards and training fellowships are not excluded).
• Candidates must possess a medical qualification (MD or equivalent) and\or PhD - selection preference will be given to physician scientists.
• At the time of application the candidate must be either accepted for a paediatric infectious diseases fellowship programme or should already be working in such a programme or have embarked upon the nearest equivalent training pathway that exists in their country.
• The award will provide support for a minimum of 18 months and a maximum of four years of training, during which time the applicant will be expected to devote a major proportion (at least 50% of time) working on the research project described in the application. It is expected that candidates will spend the agreed period of the fellowship, and absolute minimum of 18 months, working in and living near the host centre.
• Other funding may be required to cover the costs of the research project as a whole and the applicant is expected to present a full funding scheme including potential other resources as part of the project plan
• At least one out of the mentor supervising the fellow at the host institution (if applicable) or the fellow’s supervisor at their home institution must be a member of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases in “good standing” (click here to download the ESPID "good standing" member criteria). The former must directly and personally supervise the fellow during the visit to the host institution. For fellowships being undertaken at the home institution, it is understood that there is only one supervisor who must comply with these regulations.
• The fellowship training can take place anywhere in the world, including own country or institution provided the regulation regarding European region (above) is met.

Applications will first be assessed for eligibility and completeness by the ESPID secretariat. Applications not fulfilling all of these criteria will not be put forward for judging.

All eligible applications will be judged against the following criteria by the ESPID Committee for Scientific Affairs and Awards (weighting as shown):

(CRITERIA WEIGHTING AS SHOWN: 0 = bad and high score = good)

 

Budget appropriate*	Y/N
In / accepted for PID training program / equivalent program*	Y/N
Does the proposal address an area of research directly relevant to paediatric infectious diseases?*	Y/N
*If No, to any of the above then not eligible for the award	Y/N
Criteria	Score
Research career stage during fellowship: from starting PhD through to early postdoctoral researcher level (ie. the fellow would be expected to spend most of their research time personally performing research activities rather than supervising others to do so)?	Yes – 5 No – 0
Evidence of academic and research excellence relative to career stage?	/10
Are the rationale, background and need for the research fully and clearly justified?	/5
Is there a clearly formulated hypothesis to be tested?	/5
Is there a clearly structured and scientifically rigorous plan of investigation using well-justified methodology?	/10
Is the proposal original / novel?	/5
Does the research have the potential to significantly advance knowledge, prevention, or management of paediatric infectious diseases?	/10
Feasibility of the research based on the track-record and skills of the applicant and their plans to acquire new skills?	/5
Feasibility of the research based on the track-record and skills of the hosting group?	/5
Are proposed measures to disseminate the results appropriate?	/5
TOTAL	/65

 

In the event of a close score on scientific grounds and track record, the perceived likelihood of particular individual candidates finding alternative funding for their proposals will be taken into account in the final decision.

The maximum total support offered is 100,000 EUR. Applications for any sum up to this maximum will be considered. This support will be paid in instalments annually in advance over the agreed duration of the award (18 months to 4 years, subject to approval of annual progress reports). The support is intended to help provide personal support for the fellow (salary, tuition fees and other direct personal costs including travel costs for the fellow +/- her/his family between home and the host institution if required). It may not be used to provide resources for a division's research programme through payment for research materials and consumables, other salaries,  nor to pay indirect costs to the host or home institution (see declaration below).

First payments will be made up to 6 weeks before the start of the fellowship upon written notification of that date to the Treasurer via the ESPID secretariat.

Payments will only be made to host institutions or hospitals and not to individuals. ESPID takes no responsibilities for the further administration or use of the funds beyond the point of disbursement but requires progress reports and final reports to be provided as detailed below.

At the time of being offered the award successful candidates will be invited to attend that year's ESPID Annual Meeting with registration, travel and accommodation being offered (if already registered, this will be refunded). Please be aware the travel and accommodation are subject to ESPID Rules and maximum amounts apply. Once your fellowship award is finished you will be expected to present your findings at the annual meeting, funding for this is not offered.

 

 

We recommend you read the guidelines before completing both the application and the cost table.

Application Guidelines

 

 

Progress reports must be prepared by recipients of the fellowship award and submitted by 9 calendar months from the start of each year of the fellowship to the ESPID Secretariat at admin@espid.org in order to receive the subsequent year of funding 12 months after the previous payment. The report should detail results accomplished to that date, problems, if any, encountered, any alterations to the original protocol that may have become necessary, and the prospects for completion of the project in time period agreed in the award. Any publications, pending publications or presentations to scientific meetings should also be submitted although, after less than one year, this is not expected.

The reports will be reviewed by the Committee for Scientific Affairs and Awards. Notification of agreement to provide the funding for the subsequent year of training will be made within 4 weeks of receiving the report. Should major changes to the protocol of the project be proposed during the year the fellow is expected to described them in this yearly progress report (or earlier if necessary) and to provide a revised proposal and/or protocol. This will be reviewed by the Committee for Scientific Affairs and Awards with respect to continuation of the funding, using the same criteria as the original award.

After completion of the funding period the fellow must provide a written summary of the research accomplished, including the analysed and tabulated data, conclusions and possible implications. Publications resulting from the project should also be submitted.

The report should be sent to ESPID Secretariat at admin@espid.org by 12 calendar months after the end of the fellowship. The fellow will normally be expected to make an oral presentation of the results of the research at the annual ESPID annual meeting either one or two years after the end of their fellowship period.

Recipients of the fellowship award must acknowledge ESPID in any abstracts, posters and publications that result from the research enabled by the award. Acknowledgements should be worded as follows: “<Name> was supported by an ESPID Fellowship Award”.

The following information is requested as part of your online application:

1.      Cover Letter

Please indicate answers to the following questions: 

• Is the applicant currently resident and working in the European region – if so where?
• Will the Fellowship take place in the European region – if so where?
• Who will supervise the project?
• How will time be spent (proportions spent doing research, clinical training, teaching or other activities, and how these will be timetabled) and where the fellow will spend time during the fellowship with amounts of time planned in each location if more than one?
• Has the candidate taken any extended periods of leave from employment (parental, compassionate, sickness or for other reasons (to be specified)) since qualifying in medicine or obtaining their doctorate which they wish to be taken into account in assessment of their eligibility to apply, including dates? (If the candidate wishes to specify such periods, if possible a letter or letters confirming the leave and dates should be provided from the relevant employer(s))

2.    Online application form

3    Costs table

4.   A letter of support from the applicant’s mentor (home institution)

When applying for the ESPID Fellowship, and the fellowship is proposed to take place in the same existing institution as the applicant, then this mentor may be the same person as the proposed supervisor.

5.   A letter of support from the applicant’s proposed supervisor (host institution).This letter should include a clear statement that all necessary space, equipment and materials for the research (as detailed in the application proposal) will be provided, including an indication that any necessary funding has been or is being identified and allocated. It should also provide a brief resumé of previous work done by the hosting group in the general area of the proposed research including details of relevant publications. Any institution which has previously hosted ESPID fellows is requested to provide a summary of the research and career outcomes of previous fellows including a list of publications that came from the work done during their fellowship(s).  

 

Please view the Fellowship Award Guidelines which details the information which must be submitted. Click: Application Guidelines