Trainee (Stakeholder engagement)

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 Public and Stakeholders Engagement Department within the Stakeholders and Communication Division.

Specific objectives and projects

During your traineeship, you will be involved in a Stakeholder engagement project: developing stakeholder surveys and analysing and reporting results and assessing the reach/impact of EMA's communications following feedback from EMA stakeholders and national competent authorities (NCAs).

Stakeholder engagement is an important part of EMA's work. At EMA, we engage with several stakeholder groups including patients who use medicines and healthcare professionals who prescribe, use and deliver medicines, as well as with EU industry trade organisations representing the pharmaceutical industry. As a trainee you will be involved in two separate projects working on industry engagement and patients/healthcare professionals engagement.

1) Developing stakeholder surveys, analysing and reporting results:

This project offers a unique opportunity to work closely with EMA's stakeholders network, contributing to the implementation of the framework of interaction with industry and gain a greater understanding of EMA's stakeholder information needs. The tasks of this project will include:

• Contributing to the implementation of the industry stakeholders’ survey.
• Conducting analyses, present findings and make recommendations to improve future stakeholder engagement practices, including updating relevant EMA survey guidance.
• Identifying areas where further development is needed.

2) Assessing the reach/impact of EMA's communications for the public and healthcare professionals:

EMA prepares important medicine-related information for the public, such as medicine overviews and safety communications which are reviewed by patients and healthcare professionals. This project builds on earlier work to measure the impact and reach of those types of communications. The tasks of this project will involve:

• Mapping how eligible patient and healthcare professional organisations disseminate EMA communications, and through which channels.
• Seeking feedback from relevant organisations on the value of EMA communications on medicines.
• Identifying areas for improvement and proposing next steps to tackle these areas.

Learning outcomes

Through this traineeship, you will

• Learn on EMA’s approach to stakeholder engagement and information on medicines.
• Understand who EMA's stakeholders are and how the Agency engages with them.
• Develop expertise in designing, implementing and analysing stakeholder surveys.
• Gain insight into what information EMA makes available to the public/healthcare professionals and through which channels.
• Understand factors contributing to effective communication about medicines.
• Gain knowledge of the Agency’s processes.

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 (e.g. pharmacy,  medicine) or public health or Social sciences (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained between 30 September 2023 and 30 September 2024 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, you will have:

• Postgraduate degree/qualification in regulatory affairs, pharmaceutical legislation, or health  related communications or public health (advantage).
• Previous experience in regulatory affairs, pharmaceutical legislation or stakeholders' engagement (advantage).
• Experience in pharmaceutical industry (advantage).
• Communication skills (English writing and verbal).
• Experience working for public health or medicines regulatory agencies  (advantage).
• Experience in drafting, conducting and analysing surveys.
• Experience creating communication materials.
• Understanding of behavioural science.

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 March 2025 – 31 December 2025) 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 €1,858.31 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.