Scholarship (S)

Participants may apply for financial funding for basic, clinical or experimental research in urology for a maximum of one year

Who can apply
Applicants for the EUSP Scholarship must be urologists or urologists in training. EAU membership for at least one year is mandatory. All projects, visits or exchanges must be conducted in a European institution outside the home country.

Further conditions for application are:
• Age under 40 years
• Interest in academic position
• Project must be feasible and ethically acceptable
• Project should be in accordance with the financial and technical facilities of the host institution
• A letter of acceptance from the head of department and programme director of the host institution is required
• A complete and scientifically valid project description should be submitted

Financial support
A maximum of € 33,000 is available for research work -basic, clinical or experimental- in the field of urology for the duration of one year. Expenses have to be justified by a well documented budget. The budget should include the estimated costs of living, travel expenses for one round trip, limited refunds for continuing expenses in the home country, such as continuation of insurances and other costs for which documentation can be presented. The EUSP stipend is meant to finance the above mentioned costs made only by the applicant, and not by accompanying persons.

The EUSP does not pay for
• Course fees
• Consumption of materials and chemicals

How to apply
Candidates should apply online and provide the following appendices:
• CV, list of PubMed publications of the past five years and copy of passport
• Letter of motivation from the applicant
• Signed letters of recommendation from at least two senior urologists from the applicant’s country on original letterhead paper
• A detailed project description including time table (signed by the head of the department and the project supervisor of the host institution)
• Evidence of acceptance as a scholar in the host institution (by means of a signed letter on letterhead paper of the host institution)
• A detailed specification of the budget, approved and signed by the host

The original and signed appendices should be sent by post to the EUSP Office.
Please allow time for obtaining signatures from all relevant parties when preparing your appendices.

What makes a good application:
• A carefully thought out project with realistic goals
• Precise description of the project, including a time table
• Communication between potential scholar and host institution
• Compatible research interests and a good track record from the host institution
• A clear idea of how the work can be continued on return home

Project description
The project description must be enclosed with the application as appendix 4. This project description should contain at least the title of the project, the name, address and affiliation of the responsible host researcher, a confirmation that facilities and financing of local expenses of the research itself are guaranteed, confirmation of ethical approval, goal of the research,
explanation of applicant’s exact role in the project, description of previous work, including references of recent publications and a plan of investigation for one year, including time table.
The project description should be signed by the head of department and the project supervisor of the host institution.
In the case the project description does not contain all these items, the application will not be considered.

Reapplication
Unsuccessful applicants may submit a reapplication for an EUSP Scholarship before a next deadline. This application will be assessed in open competition with first time applicants. A covering letter stating how the previous proposal has been modified must be enclosed with the new application.

Deadlines for Scholarship applications
1 May and 1 November of each year.
3 Months after the deadline you will receive the EUSP Board decision on your application.

Review of the applications
Applications are evaluated by the EUSP Board. In reviewing the applications, the total package -including the quality of the proposed project, the quality of the applicant and the quality of the centre or research group where the research is
to be conducted- are considered. For this reason documentation on these three issues is required. A multi disciplinary expert committee was recently established to assist the EUSP Board in an advisory capacity assessing Scholarship applications.
The decision of the Board is final and no further appeal is possible.

Reports
The scholar is required to present reports which should include the clinical or scientific achievements, his/her impression of the host institution, judgement of provisions that have been made by the host institution for the successful conduct of the (research) project.

A first report should be submitted six weeks after the start of the Scholarship. This report will be evaluated by the EUSP  upervisor in consultation with the supervisor within the host institution. In case of a negative evaluation, you may be asked to discontinue your Scholarship.

A second, intermediate report should be sent to the EUSP Office after six months. A detailed overview of expenses should be included.

At the end of your Scholarship you are obliged to send a summary of your work of at least 10 typed pages, as well as prints of
resulting publication(s). A detailed overview of your expenses should again be included, together with the proof of payment of travel, accommodation, insurance and continuing expenses in the home country.

Furthermore, the results of your work should be presented at the EUSP Session held during the Annual EAU Congress.

Instalments
Grants will be transferred to the scholar in three instalments. A first instalment of 40% will be transferred before the start of the Scholarship. Written confirmation of the start date by the host supervisor is mandatory. The second instalment of 30% will be transferred after four months. A third instalment of 30% eight months into the project. The total amount of the grant will cover the real costs as presented to the EUSP Office after the Scholarship.

Intellectual property - financial benefits
The regulations of the host institution where the research project is conducted will be applicable for the intellectual property and
financial benefits resulting from the research performed under the terms and conditions of this Scholarship.
All publications must acknowledge the support of the EUSP Programme.

Deadlines for Scholarship applications are 1 May and 1 November of each year.

Only signed and complete applications received in the office before these deadlines will be considered.

Please note that the EUSP Office will not respond to any correspondence until the EUSP Board have decided on your application. All applicants will receive notice from the EUSP Office approximately 3 months after the submission deadline.

Click here to complete the online Scholarship Application Form