Trainee (Database of centrally approved antibiotics and antifungals)

About the traineeship programme

The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master's students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description

We are looking for a trainee in the Therapeutic Areas Department.

Specific objectives and projects

The Office for Vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases (H-TA-INF) manages the benefit-risk assessment of medicinal products related to infectious diseases, including  antivirals, antibiotics, antiparasitics , antifungals and vaccines, throughout their lifecycle. In this context, maintaining oversight of all centrally approved antibiotics and antifungals is essential, to support the preparation of key meetings, the preparation of EMA annual reports and addressing internal and external queries. 

The objective of this traineeship is to create a database recording historical information of approved products as well as an overview of currently ongoing procedures, prospective forthcoming applications, and all relevant pre-submission interactions with EMA. The data used to populate the database will be retrieved from an exisiting internal EMA database and completed as needed with information from EMA assessment reports and/or publicly available information. The database is expected to include functionalities enabling easy visualisation of information and allowing sub-analyses (e.g. approval patterns over time, paediatric use, route of administration, break-down of therapeutic indications etc), so a critical review and harmonisation of the structure and format of the data will be required.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this traineeship, the trainee will:
•    Achieve increased knowledge of the the functioning of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and its scientific committees, the centralized marketing authorization procedure and the EU regulatory network
•    Achieve in-depth regulatory knowledge and experience in the area of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), antibiotics, antifungals
•    Experience working in a multi-cultural and international environment
•    Develop technical and soft skills such as communication and project management

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
2. possess a university degree in Life Science (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained between 6 May 2024 and 6 May 2025 or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master's student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
3. a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

For criteria 1 and 2, you will be required to provide proof in the application form and at the interview stage. Failing to present these documents may result in the disqualification from the procedure.

Additional skills

• Pharmaceutical / microbiology background
• Good project management skills and knowledge of different IT systems
• Good communication skills
• Good analytical and organizational skills
   

Behavioural Competencies

You will demonstrate the following behavioural competencies:

• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Working with others
• Adaptability
• Research and analytical skills
• Learning and development

Expected selection timelines

Conditions of traineeship

The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 October 2025 – 31 July 2026) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €1,942.19 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

The conditions of employment are stated in the Executive Decision on rules governing the traineeship programme at the EMA available here.