ESCMID: ECDC Observership

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) observership welcomes 20 observers for a 5-day programme at the ECDC headquarters in Solna, Sweden. The ECDC is an ESCMID Collaborative Centre (ECC) and an agency of the European Union that carries the mission to strengthen Europe’s defences against Infectious Diseases (ID) through data collection, analysis, and sharing.

Objectives

Throughout your journey, you will dive into ECDC activities and network with experienced professionals from the team, with the following main objectives:

to understand ECDC’s role and responsibilities in supporting European and global public health in the field of communicable diseases
to understand the interplay between ECDC and competent bodies in EU Member States, WHO and other global public health actors
to acquaint observers with public health microbiology, surveillance, scientific advice and epidemic intelligence at the EU level
to share information on ECDC’s activities and key outputs and the way they are produced (e.g. risk assessments, scientific advice, support to laboratory network activities)
to facilitate networking between ECDC experts and observers.

More information can be found on the ECDC website

Deadlines

ECDC observership calls are held once a year.

Applications will be accepted from	16 April 2024, 12:00 CEST
Deadline for applications	15 May 2024, 12:00 CEST
Date of visit	14–18 October 2024
Applicants will be informed about the result by	beginning of July

Apply for observership

Application procedure

Application process

To apply for the ECDC observership, please follow these steps:

Send an official application

Use your ESCMID member login details to connect
Click the ‘Apply now for observership’ link at the top of the ECC profile page of ECDC
Select funded observership
Complete and submit your request through the online application form with your proof of current position and CV as attachments

Receive a final approval:

The ESCMID Professional Affairs Subcommittee will evaluate your application and make a decision
Our Executive Office will notify you of the evaluation results around 8 weeks after the deadline for applications has closed

Eligibility criteria

Before you begin your journey to the special funded ECDC observership, we invite you to review our application criteria:

must be an ESCMID Young Scientist Member or LMIC member fulfilling the criteria of Young Scientist Membership
must hold a relevant degree in infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, public health and/or any relevant degree might be considered
must not have participated in a previous ESCMID-ECDC observership visit during the last 24 months
must have a proven interest and/or experience in public health, e.g. degree, research interest, research for policy /creating policy
should have an interest that extends beyond a regional level, e.g. EU or internationally
must have a strong interest in the ECDC/public health fields. ECDC’s activites should be pertinent to their work

Selection criteria

We are looking for enthusiastic applicants selected based on a specific range of criteria. ESCMID evaluates applicants based on their demonstrated interest and experience in public health, extending beyond regional levels to include the EU or international sphere. This includes a strong interest in ECDC and related fields, with relevant activities or future projects integral to their work. The applicant’s focus should be in the infectious disease, clinical microbiology and public health fields: health services, outbreak detection and control, infection control and infectious disease epidemiology, etc.

Applicants will be reviewed based on the following criteria in the PH fields:

Degree
Research, publications, presentations at meetings
Current or past projects
Experience
International collaboration
Active engagement with a public health organization such as ECDC, or use of resources from ECDC (or similar public health organisation) in the course of their work.

Applicants are encouraged to highlight relevant experience and interest in their applications, which will then be used to select participants.

Funding

For the ECDC observerships, ESCMID is happy to sponsor your travel costs according to our regulations.

Intra-European Observership visits

ESCMID member from Europe visits an ECC in Europe ESCMID subsidises travel costs and subsistence for outside-of-country visits and inside-of-country visits for ECDC as follows:

A maximum of 500 EUR to cover your travel expenses (airfare, train tickets, and car expenses at 0.3 EUR/km)
70 EUR/day for a maximum of 7 days to cover any expenses onsite during your visit (accommodation, food, transportation, etc.)

Intracontinental Observership visits

ESCMID member from outside Europe visits an ECC in Europe ESCMID subsidises travel costs and subsistence for outside-of-country visits as follows:

A maximum of 1,300 EUR to cover your travel expenses (airfare, train tickets, and car expenses at 0.3 EUR/km)
70 EUR/day for a maximum of 7 days to cover any expenses onsite during your visit (accommodation, food, transportation, etc.)

List of countries

A list of countries and respective geographic regions can be viewed here

Report

After completing your special funded observership, you will need to submit an official evaluation form, including a report, to be published on the ECC website or in any other ESCMID publication. ESCMID may share your name when publishing this report.