Trainee (Stakeholder listening on health threats and Patient Experience Data (PED) )

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 two interrelated projects:

Health threats infodemic project:

Preparedness for future crises, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and handling of current health threats (COVID-19) is critical for EMA and the European Health Union.
In this project, the trainee would contribute to implementing EMA’s Vaccines Outreach Strategy (VOS) in particular to strengthen crisis preparedness with a stakeholder listening process.
Specific objectives:

• Contribute to implementation of the VOS and to pilot a stakeholder listening process.
• Evaluate  and report on the output of the work done on VOS from 2019-23 (COVID-19 and vaccines).
• Review the VOS to include preparedness aspects for future health threats.
• Contribute to finalisation of the AMR research and to drive recommendations for implementation by EMA.

Patient Experience Data (PED) project:  

Incorporating robust and meaningful patient experience data (PED) in regulatory submissions and elucidating how such data can best inform regulatory decisions is also a key priority of the European Medicines Regulatory Network (EMRN). In this project the trainee will contribute to the analysis of the public consultation of the PED reflection paper, and to progressing other deliverables of the PED action plan such as increasing transparency on how PED is used during the evaluation of medicines.

Learning outcomes

You will have the opportunity to:

• Increase your knowledge in the area of how an EU public health body prepares for health threats and engages with patients and healthcare professionals.
• Gain knowledge of the relevance of patients' experiences to enhance regulatory evaluation processes and outcomes.
• Gain knowledge of the Agency’s processes and regulatory work.

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 health or biomedical sciences (e.g. Pharmacy, Medicine) or other relevant degrees in public health or social sciences (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained within the last 12 months (graduated between 20 May 2023 and 20 May 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:

• Previous experience on vaccine or infectious diseases communication or public engagement
• Experience in vaccination or education campaigns in primary care setting.
• Previous experience on public engagement, EU policy, patient advocacy or liaising with patients and consumers and healthcare professionals on biomedical topics.
• Having a post-graduate diploma in EU and/or International regulatory affairs will be an advantage.

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 2024 – 31 July 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.