Trainee (EMA's Horizon Scanning)

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 Regulatory Science and Innovation Task Force.

Specific objectives and projects

The EMA performs Horizon Scanning to future proof the EU regulatory system, enabling rapid timely adaption to advancements in medicine, technology, and science.
Goals of Horizon Scanning (HzS) include:

• Identify breakthrough therapies and technological advances expected to impact development or regulation of medicines in the next 3-10 yrs, by scanning various sources of information 
• Produce reports on selected topics to highlight future opportunities and current challenges and provide recommendations on how to address those
• Enable an EMA and Network response to ensure innovation reaches patients with minimal developmental, legal, regulatory and process bottlenecks
• Support preparedness and future proofing of the agency and the European Regulatory Network

In the context described above, the selected trainee will be involved in the following two projects:

1. Testrun and evaluate novel developed Horizon Scanning methodology and compare deliveries with current output.
2. Write a short outcome evaluation report.

Learning outcomes

During this traineeship, you will have increase your knowledge of:

• activities of the European Medicines Agency and the European Medicines Regulatory Network focusing on early support to medicine development;
• key steps in medicine development;
• regulatory science; 
• evolving evidence generation methodologies and technologies. 
• Moreover you will have the opportunity to engage with different stakeholders and improve scientific writing skills.

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 Biomedical Sciences (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

In addition to the eligibility criteria, it will be an advantage to have:

• Experience in/knowledge of scientific writing;
• Experience in/knowledge of data analysis.

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.