Young investigator awards

Young investigators represent the future of Paediatric research. With our dedicated awards, the ESPR seeks to support and honour the outstanding work of our young professionals. The ESPR offers two types of young investigator awards: a) society awards and b) congress awards. Please find an overview of current and future opportunities below:

ESPR Young Investigator Awards at the joint European Neonatal Societies Congress (jENS 2021)

We warmly invite applications to this year's ESPR Young Investigator Awards at jENS 2021.

• Requirements
  • applicants must be ESPR members or intending to become members;
  • applicants must be under 36 years of age. A copy of your ID indicating the date of birth is to be submitted along with the CV;
  • the content of the abstract must represent original work and cannot be presented and/or published previously;
  • the name of the presenting author MUST match the name of the applicant.

  
  Selected finalists will be informed in advance and have to confirm their attendance of the congress.

• Evaluation criteria
  • scientific content
  • structure of the abstract
  • presentation skills
  • ability to defend their results during a Q&A session

  
  Prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the committee following presentations. The decisions made are final. Winners will be announced during the jENS 2021 closing ceremony and will be presented with a certificate.

• Prizes
  • 1st prize: EUR 1000; complimentary registration and free travel to the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Annual Meeting 2022 in Denver, United States.
  • 2nd prize: EUR 1000; complimentary registration to the 2022 ESPR Annual Meeting: the European Academy of Paediatric Societies Congress (EAPS) in Barcelona, Spain.

  
  Please submit your applications via the abstract submission page on the jENS 2021 website.

Bengt Robertson Award for Research Concerning the Neonatal Lung - Sponsored by Chiesi

We warmly invite applications to this year's Bengt Robertson Award for research concerning the neonatal lung at jENS 2021.

• Requirements
  • Abstracts must be on research concerning the neonatal lung;
  • The content of the abstract must be original work;
  • The applicant must be an ESPR member or intending to become one;
  • Presenting authors must be under 36 years of age. A copy of your ID indicating the date of birth is to be submitted along with the CV;
  • The name of the presenting author MUST match the name of the applicant.

  
  The awardee will be informed in advance and has to confirm his/her attendance of the congress.

• Evaluation criteria
  • Scientific content;
  • Structure of the abstract. 
• Prize
  • EUR 3,000; complimentary registration to the 2022 ESPR Annual Meeting: the European Academy of Paediatric Societies Congress (EAPS) in Barcelona, Spain.
  • The winner will present their abstract during the designated Bengt Robertson Award session, and will receive a certificate confirming his/her prize.

Roland R. Wauer Award

The Roland R. Wauer Award is dedicated to Professor Dr med Roland R. Wauer - Neonatologist, university lecturer, scientist, neonatal advocate, and above all, a passionate Paediatrician. In memory of Prof Dr med Roland R. Wauer, the ESPR and the Deutsche Stiftung Kranke Neugeborene (DSKN) endow the 'Roland R. Wauer Award'.

Please note that the 2021 application deadline has passed.

• Roland R. Wauer Award 2021

  With the Roland R. Wauer Award, the ESPR seeks to ensure cutting-edge medical care for premature and sick newborns in the future by fostering the clinical and scientific exchange of medical students and junior trainees in the field of Neonatology.

  Roland R. Wauer Award: In the spirit of his teacher Ingeborg Rapoport, the first professor of Neonatology in Germany, Professor Wauer passed on his knowledge and experiences to his students over the years. He conveyed that respect, curiosity and responsibility for the utilisation of new clinical findings are a high value. A special concern of Prof Dr med Roland Wauer has always been the promotion of young scientists.

  For this reason, the ESPR together with the Deutsche Stiftung Kranke Neugeborene (DSKN) have established the 'Roland R. Wauer Award'.

   

   

  Idea: Through the 'Roland R. Wauer Award', the ESPR and DSKN annually enable two medical students to spend one month in a neonatal clinic in Europe that excels in clinical care and strong research.

  When: The stay at the clinical institution should take place in the period July-August 2021. However, the exact dates can be agreed individually.

  Financial support: The ESPR and the DSKN support the two grant recipient's stays abroad with EUR 1500 each, which will be used for travel and accommodation costs.

  Project monitoring: The grant recipients document their stays by keeping a virtual diary or blog. They are responsible for the logistical part of the stay and must organise travel, accommodation and, if necessary, visas independently.

  Stay at the institution: The fellows have the opportunity to observe the clinical routines of a Neonatology ward in a perinatal centre. The learning objectives and activities can be defined together with the local supervisor according to the level of training and previous knowledge. The ESPR and DSKN deliberately do not set a framework, but encourage the grant recipients to implement their individual ideas during the stay.

• Application criteria

  Applicants should be enrolled as medical students at a European university.

  You can apply by sending an email with the following documents as PDF to office@espr.eu:

  - Letter of motivation (1 page)
  - A brief outline of how you would like to share your experience
  - A letter of recommendation from your lecturer/supervisor (if available)
  - Curriculum Vitae

  The application deadline is 30.04.2021.

  Evaluation criteria: Be creative. We want to get to know you and learn why you want to spend a month in a neonatal clinic abroad. Convince us that you are the right person to receive the Roland R. Wauer Award!

  Please contact us at office@espr.eu if you have any questions.

• Commission of the Roland R. Wauer Award
   

  Prof Dr Mario Rüdiger Dresden University Hospital, GER	A/Prof Dr Charles Christoph Roehr University of Oxford und Univ. of Bristol, UK
  Prof Dr Claudia Roll Vestische Child and Youth Clinic Datteln	Dr Brigitte Wauer Paediatrician, Berlin

• About Roland R. Wauer

  Roland Reinhard Wauer was born on 1 January 1942 in Treuenbrietzen, Germany.

  Inspired by Latin lessons at school, Roland Wauer decided to study medicine. He completed his pre-clinical studies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and his clinical studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He began his specialist training in Paediatrics in Zittau, Germany, where he had spent his childhood. His chief physician there, with whom he shared a keen interest in innovation and the development of new equipment, recommended him to Ingeborg Rapoport at the Charité in Berlin, a turning point in Roland Wauer's life.

  In Berlin, he met his wife Brigitte, with whom he had two daughters. His special scientific interest already at this time was the 'perinatal lung', which determined his research focus for many years to come. The Respiratory Function Laboratory for Newborns, which he initiated, was to receive his special attention until the end of his active professional activity as clinic director. The knowledge gained there not only ensured better care for premature and sick newborns, but also flowed into many publications and always stimulated professional exchange. Always open to new ideas and consistent in their implementation, he recognised that joint perinatal care for pregnant women and newborns, with intensive involvement of the parents, was the best way for children to grow up healthy.

  At the end of the 1990s, on his initiative, the first social pedagogue was employed exclusively for parent counselling in neonatal inpatient care in Germany; in 2006, a camera system (Baby-Watch) was successfully installed for the first time at a German neonatal clinic at the Charité - the family should be able to visit the new family member via the internet.

  A key feature of Roland Wauer's personality was his ability to show doctors and scientists the many opportunities for fulfilment in their careers and in research by challenging and encouraging them. As Vice Dean for Young Scientists, he was instrumental in the introduction of junior professorships at the Charité. When his students today look back on their time together with Roland Wauer, the many facets of his professional life have left a deep impression.

  As a teacher, he passed on his knowledge to generations of paediatricians. As a scientist, he taught that curiosity and responsibility for the utilisation of new clinical findings are a valuable asset. As a human being, he always conveyed esteem and respect in dealing with the patients entrusted to him and their parents.

NOTE Commonwealth Scholarship

The MSc Neonatology programme of Neonatal Online Training and Education (NOTE) has been awarded a number of Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships which seek to provide training for skilled and qualified professionals in key development areas.

Please note that the 2021 application deadline has passed.

• Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships for NOTE

  The Neonatal Online Training and Education Programme (NOTE) and its M.Sc. in Neonatology is an established collaboration between the European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR) and the University of Southampton. The programme has been offered since 2015 and has now a growing alumni and students from many countries across the world.

  The aim of the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships is to contribute to the development needs of Commonwealth countries by providing training for skilled and qualified professionals in key development areas.

  The scholarship covers all the programme fees and the expectation is that the programme will be completed within 3 years.

  For more information on the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships, please click here.

• Application Criteria

  The target population for the scholarships are high-quality postgraduate students who wish to access neonatal education not available in their home countries and who have the potential to enhance the development of their home countries with the neonatal knowledge and leadership skills they acquire.

  In order to apply for the scholarship it is necessary to apply for the MSc Neonatology at the University in Southampton in addition to applying for the Distance Learning Scholarship.

  All applications must be submitted by 17:00 (BST) on 26 April 2021 at the latest.

  To submit your application for the scholarships, please click here.

  For any further information please contact the MSc Neonatology Programme Lead at sls1@soton.ac.uk.

2021 Pediatric Research Travel Awards

The Editors-in–Chief of Pediatric Research are inviting nominations for the 2021 Travel Awards for Early Career Investigators.

Please note that the 2021 application deadline has passed.

• 2021 Travel Awards

  Winners of the Travel Award will receive a $2,500 travel stipend for reimbursement to travel either to an upcoming PAS meeting (in Denver, Colorado April 2022) or ESPR meeting (in Barcelona, Spain October 2022).

  Winners would have up to two years to use this grant for one of these meetings.

• Application Criteria

  Nominations should be authors of articles published in the print editions of Pediatric Research during calendar year 2020, who are "Early Career Investigators".

  Travel Awardees must be:

  1. No more than 7 years from first faculty appointment; and
  2. Have done majority of the work on the original research article; and
  3. Be first or senior author of the original research article.

   

  Deadline for nominations: April 15, 2021

  Please submit nominations to laureno@jjeditorial.com and note that the nomination is for the 2021 Travel Awards. Please also include if you are a member of APS, SPR or ESPR.

The ESPR is proud of the achievements of these bright, young minds and we are certain they will provide further, significant contributions in the field of Paediatric reserach to improve the lives of infants, children and adolescends.

The ESPR offers many benefits to its junior members. These include dedicated grants, special membership rates, a mentoring programme and the possibility to come up with own initiatives.

Contact the ESPR secretariat at office@espr.eu if you would like to find out more about opportunities for young investigators within the ESPR.