Mentoring Programme

The European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR) has launched the 6th round of its Early Career Investigator Mentoring Programme (ECIMP). Tailored towards early-career investigators conducting child health research, the ECIMP provides the opportunity to receive career development support from renowned international experts in the field of Paediatrics and work together on a research project over the course of two years.

Mentor & Mentee Meeting @EAPS 2022 in Barcelona

• Objectives of the ECIMP: collaborate, research, publish
  • to establish a network for mentoring and collaboration in Paediatric research.
  • to facilitate direct face-to-face interaction of mentors and mentees at the ESPR congresses and beyond.
  • to provide early career investigators conducting child health research with the opportunity to receive structured, external guidance from leading experts.
• Way of working & benefits
  • the mentor and mentee will agree on a topic for a joint research project.
  • the mentor and mentee will attend contact sessions every 4-6 weeks, with the mentor providing the mentee with regular feedback for evaluation.
  • the mentee is encouraged to become a member of the ESPR Early Career Investigator Section.
  • at the end of the two-year cycle, the mentor and mentee will publish a joint project in Pediatric Research if the manuscript is accepted and submit an abstract to one of the ESPR annual meetings - the jENS or EAPS congresses. They will also have the opportunity to co-chair a scientific session together.
  • the mentor and mentee will receive an allowance for reimbursement of up to EUR 1,000 each for registration and travel to an upcoming ESPR conference.
  • the pairing may receive additional funding to support the research project (e.g. for face-to-face meetings, hardware or the mutual publication) after request to the ESPR office.
  • At the end of the two-year period, each pair will submit a 1-page project report. You can download the template here.
• Eligibility requirements mentors & mentees

  For mentors & mentees:

  • the applicant is an active ESPR member.
  • the applicant conducts child or adolescent health research.
  • the applicant will attend the next European Academy of Paediatric Societies Congress (EAPS 2024) in Vienna or the joint European Neonatal Societies Congress (jENS 2025).

  For mentees only:

  • the applicant is:
    a) an early career researcher pursing an academic career, pre-faculty appointment; PhD, MD, Master programme or equivalent started; or
    b) in the first three years of a faculty-appointment (assistant professor or equivalent).
  • Applications are welcome from medical and allied health professionals.
• Applications closed for 2024

  New opportunities to join the Mentoring Programme will be made available in 2025.

Are you interested to participate as a mentee? Then we would like to encourage you to apply by submitting:

• a one-page letter of motivation.
• a one-page curriculum vitae including:
  - personal details;
  - location of training in Paediatrics and dates;
  - years of clinical experience;
  - involvement in clinical/research projects;
  - list of publications.
• a Letter of Support (LoS) from the Division Head or Department Chair explaining what the applicant lacks in his/her environment and how the external mentoring provided by this programme would be beneficial.
• the filled-in mentees' application form (download here).

Are you interested to participate as a mentor? Then we would like to encourage you to apply by submitting:

• a curriculum vitae including:
  - personal details;
  - location of training in Paediatrics and dates;
  - years of clinical experience;
  - involvement in clinical/research projects;
  - list of publications.
• the filled-in mentors' application form (download here).

Project report:
At the end of the two-year period, each pair is required to submit a 1-page project report. You can download the template here.

• Example of a mentor-mentee collaboration

  Karel Allegaert and Elif Keles have been successfully working together in the ECIMP for years. As a result of their collaboration they have published the following three papers on creatinine in neonates undergoing whole body hypothermia:

  - Serum Creatinine Patterns in Neonates Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Encephalopathy (Link);
  - Rescaling Creatinine Centiles in Neonates Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Encephalopathy (Link);
  - A Population Model of Time-Dependent Changes in Serum Creatinine in (Near)term Neonates with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy During and After Therapeutic Hypothermia (Link);

  Watch this short video of Elif talking about their publications and her experiences as a mentee. This is a perfect example of the great achievements which can be realised when mentors and mentees work together in the ECIMP.

  
• Meet the ESPR Mentoring Committee
   

  Heike Rabe, MD, PhD Brighton & Sussex Medical School United Kingdom

  Ebru Ergenekon, MD, PhD Gazi University  Turkey

  Gabriela Zaharie, MD, PhD Iuliu Haţieganu Univ. of Medicine & Pharmacy Romania

   
• Resources for ESPR mentors and mentees

  ...are available in the Members' Room on the ESPR website. Please contact 'office@espr.eu' should you not have your login credentials.
• Requirements for acknowledging the ESPR in society-supported publications

  Research or review papers: For regular research or review papers resulting at least in part from ESPR research support, either through a society funding scheme (e.g. the Young Investigator Start-Up Grants, Nursing Grants, Post-Doc Research Grants, the Mentoring Programme) or through dedicated ESPR support (e.g. the ESPR section activities), please state in the section 'Funding' or 'Acknowledgements' according to the journal's requirements the following:
  
  

  • This work was supported by a research grant from the European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR) provided to [full name or initials of the recipient(s) or the name of the ESPR section]. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, preparation of the manuscript or decision to publish.

  
  ESPR guidelines or opinion papers: For guidelines or opinion papers reflecting the view of the society or one or more ESPR sections, the European Board of Neonatology (EBN) or other, ESPR-integrated initiatives such as Neonatologist Performed Echocardiography (NPE), please proceed as follows:
  
  

  • Give in the title of the manuscript, whenever the character count allows, the full name and abbreviation of the society: European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR).
  • State in the section 'Funding' or 'Acknowledgements' according to the journal´s requirements the following: This work was supported by a research grant from the European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR) provided to [full name or initials of the recipient(s) or the name of the ESPR section or project]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, preparation of the manuscript, or decision to publish.