03 October 2017
WEEKLY NEWS

Dear colleagues,

The ESCMID Observership Programme is one of the most original, successful and popular activities of our society. ESCMID collaborative centres (ECCs) active in clinical microbiology and infectious disease welcome ESCMID members from abroad to learn about diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. These centres of excellence in Europe and abroad offer observers insights into the local organization of services, help establish new contacts and foster international exchange. The ECC programme was launched in early 2009 and currently lists more than 100 fully operating centres. Approximately 95% of observers rate their visits as excellent and 5% as good.

The ESCMID Executive Committee has gradually increased its budget for this activity every year (by 30% in 2016) and today sponsors more than 90 visits per year. Due to the ever-increasing popularity of the programme, we have been inundated with applications. The current process has led to a situation where a large part of the 2018 observership annual budget (about EUR 100,000) has already been spent.

For this reason, the ESCMID Executive Committee has decided to temporarily close the application platform and to not approve any further applications at this point of time. The ESCMID Executive Committee will meet in mid-November to discuss an alternative way of managing the observerships to allow a fairer application process and a more sustainable programme. We will therefore give you an update at the end of November 2017 and will be working towards once again offering the popular programme to our members as soon as possible.