Allied Health Care Professionals

Programme Description

ECTRIMS offers a Professional Training Fellowship Programme for nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, and related allied health care professionals to obtain or expand their expertise in MS through practical experience and training in a mentored MS environment in Europe. Our aim is to enhance the care and support of individuals with MS by fostering improved clinical care and education and by helping to promote best practices in MS care throughout Europe.

Multiple fellowships may be awarded each year. If you are looking for a suitable host in the rehabilitation domain, you can contact: www.eurims.org/RIMS-Administration.html. Please note that applications for the 2022 Fellowship Programme are no longer being accepted. The next round of applications – for the 2023 Fellowship Programme – will begin in July 2022.

Meet our 2022 Nursing & AHP Fellowship Recipient

Name: Lorena Lopez-Rayes
Host Institution: Hospital Universitari Vall D’Hebron; Multiple Sclerosis Center of Catalunya (Cemcat)
Area of study: Intervention for nursing preconception counseling to women with multiple sclerosis

For a list of past fellows please click here.

Training opportunities

Mentored training will be available for outstanding candidates with no prior MS experience or those with some MS experience who wish to enhance their professional capabilities. Training must be under the direction and mentorship of a senior MS specialist, in association with a senior MS clinician where appropriate, at a European clinical site with significant expertise in MS.

The intent is to provide short- to mid-range training, either hands-on or observational, in a specialised MS practice, with a flexible training period of weeks to months, up to one year in duration. The proposal for hands-on or observational training should include a detailed explanation of the training programme at the host institution.

Programme Terms

Eligibility

The Fellow:

Citizens of any country are eligible to apply to this programme; however, the training must be undertaken in a European institution or clinic.
Candidates must have a professional qualification (with relevant degree) such as nursing, psychology, physiotherapy/ rehabilitation, etc. and, if appropriate, be licensed to practise in their home country.
It is anticipated that successful candidates will have either no prior MS experience or some prior, but not necessarily extensive, full- or part-time MS experience at their home institution; and that the candidate will return to their home institution after training or move on to an MS-related position at another institution, better prepared to excel in MS care, management and research and to better support people living with MS and the MS clinical care team.
In general, successful candidates will be 55 years of age or younger and will anticipate continuing in their MS careers upon completion of the training.
Candidates and their mentors must affirm that there will be no language barriers that will impede the training experience.

The Training Mentor and Institution:

The training institution/ mentor must be located in Europe, with an outstanding reputation and credentials related to MS clinical care/ research. While it is anticipated that the training institution will be a hospital/clinic in or closely affiliated with an academic medical centre, private clinic training sites will be considered if they are of outstanding quality and reputation in MS care.
The fellowship candidate must identify and solicit the agreement of an appropriate mentor for the training period.
It is expected that the lead mentor will be an experienced MS professional. If assistance is needed in identifying an appropriate training site/ mentor, the ECTRIMS Secretariat may be able to provide advice and direction (contact fellowship@ectrims.eu).
A relevant department head or clinic director must be identified and must agree to host the trainees in his/ her department/ clinic; the training institution must certify its willingness to support the trainee during the fellowship period.
The training institution may be in the same city or country as the candidate’s home institution; fellows wishing to train in a different city or different European country are encouraged, so long as language and nursing licensing requirements do not present barriers to a successful training period.

Explanation of the Training Plan

The trainee and mentor must outline and present a relevant, MS-specific training programme. This may include observational training or hands-on work under the guidance of the mentor/ team, relevant academic coursework, and other training-related activities. While not required, a special research project may be part of the training experience and if included, should be documented and justified within the context of a comprehensive training fellowship experience.

Fellowship Term and Support Levels

These ECTRIMS MS training fellowships are available for flexible terms of weeks to months, up to a maximum of one-year.
Training preferably should be planned to begin within six months of the award being made
ECTRIMS will provide a stipend that corresponds to the institutional, regional and experience level for trainees at the identified training site, up to a maximum of € 55,000 per year (salary plus any benefits) for the training period, which must be documented by the host institution at the time of application. For shorter periods than one year, the ECTRIMS award will be prorated according to the length of the training programme (e.g. € 27,500 for a six-month programme; € 4,583 for one month, etc.).
The ECTRIMS award must be used by the institution to pay the fellow’s stipend (“salary”) at the appropriate local rate for the fellow’s stage of training. Funds may be requested for any needed “social benefits” of employment (healthcare coverage, pension, other benefits) that may be required by the institution.
If the total required stipend, plus benefits, exceed the amount provided by the ECTRIMS award, it is the responsibility of the institution/ mentor to supplement the ECTRIMS award to cover the entire required costs. Additional sources of funding that may be needed to cover the total costs of training must be indicated.
Payments from ECTRIMS will ordinarily be made to the host institution, which will be considered to be the employer of the fellow during the training period. Stipends will be paid by the host institution to the fellow according to the institution’s own payment policies and schedules.
ECTRIMS will also provide economy class round-trip transportation between the successful candidate’s home location to the training site at the beginning and end of the training period. Upon presentation of receipts, ECTRIMS will reimburse the fellow directly for all approved travel expenses. Travel expenses for accompanying family members cannot be provided.
Fellows will be invited to attend the annual ECTRIMS Congress during the term of their training period. ECTRIMS will separately support travel and accommodations for Congress participation.
No additional support for travel, books, journal subscriptions, etc. will be provided.

Changes in the Fellowship Programme:

It is anticipated that the entire training period will be undertaken at the host institution as planned. However, in special circumstances, ECTRIMS will consider requests to transfer the fellowship to a new mentor or institution. Authorisation must be requested and provided prior to any such change. Unexpended funds at the original host institution must be returned to ECTRIMS in the event of an approved institutional transfer and the balance will be reissued to a new approved host institution by ECTRIMS.
An ECTRIMS MS training fellowship is awarded to an individual and is not transferable to a different fellow at the host institution.
ECTRIMS must be notified of early termination of a fellowship and unexpended funds at the host institution must be returned to ECTRIMS.
ECTRIMS may revoke or terminate an MS training fellowship early if; the fellow is unable to carry out the training as planned, a mentor requests termination because of unsatisfactory performance by the fellow, or in the event of cause established by due process of law or regulations or as a consequence of an institutional review committee’s determination of fraud or malfeasance.

Reporting:

Fellows and their mentors are required to provide reports of the training experience at its conclusion, due within 30 days of the completion of the training programme, including an evaluation of the mentor and training site by the fellow and of the trainee by the mentor. A financial report of how funds were expended by the home institution must also be provided. Forms for completing the reporting requirements will be sent by ECTRIMS to the fellow and her/ his mentor near the time of the end of the fellowship.

Post-Fellowship Follow-Up:

After the training period, it is expected that the fellow will return to her/ his original home institution for employment, or will obtain employment in a different institution. Post-fellowship career plans should be detailed as part of the application process.
ECTRIMS fellows are requested to maintain contact with the ECTRIMS Secretariat so that post-training career paths can be tracked and to assist with overall programme evaluation.

Application Process

ECTRIMS MS Professional Training Fellowships for Nurses, Psychologists, Physiotherapists, and Related Allied Health Care Professionals will be awarded in a competitive review process conducted by members of the ECTRIMS Executive Committee and designated consultants. Applications will be evaluated based on the:

candidate’s qualifications, including education, previous employment history, current employment responsibilities, self-stated goals of training, and an evaluation of the candidate’s career plans
qualifications and characteristics of the proposed training mentor
qualifications and characteristics of the host institution
the nature of the proposed training plan and its plausibility
the quality of letters of endorsement from the proposed mentor and from the home institution and from professional references.

To these ends, the fellowship application should provide:

Part One: Provided by the Candidate

A completed online application, in English, available from the ECTRIMS Fellowship Administrator (fellowship@ectrims.eu) or the ECTRIMS website (www.ectrims.eu) including demographics of the candidate, her/ his past experience, goals for training and future career plans.
A complete curriculum vitae for the applicant including a bibliography of any relevant publication.
A training programme description is developed together by the candidate and proposed mentor; if a research project is to be part of the training experience, it should be described and justified in detail.

Part Two: Supporting Materials Provided Directly to ECTRIMS by Others

The following additional items must be submitted electronically to fellowship@ectrims.eu. These should be submitted as confidential documents (.doc or .pdf format) and should NOT be submitted with the materials requested in Part one. Please be sure to ask referees to clearly identify the NAME of the applicant on all pages of his/ her letters and supporting materials.

From the proposed mentor: letter of support from the proposed training mentor, with special reference to interactions she/ he has had with the proposed fellow in planning for the training period and with details of the training programme that will be provided to the candidate. If hands-on training (direct interaction with MS patients) is proposed, a certification that the proposed fellow will be able to undertake activities as outlined in the training plan at the training institution must be provided by the mentor (this is not needed if the training experience is to be purely observational). A current curriculum vitae and full bibliography for the proposed mentor should be included.
From the training institution:
1) Letter of support from the department chair (or another relevant institutional official) at the proposed host institution accepting the proposed fellow, should a fellowship be awarded.
2) Institutional certification accepting the terms of the ECTRIMS fellowship and payments and the requested fellowship amount (stipend plus benefits, if any). The necessary form is available from the online application system; the applicant should forward this form to the institution for completion and return to ECTRIMS.
From other referees: in addition to a supporting letter from the mentor, letters of reference from the candidate’s home institution and from professionals acquainted with the proposed fellow, that addresses the fellow’s qualities and likelihood for a future successful career focused on MS. Up to three letters of reference may be provided.

Reminders

The applicant’s CV/ bibliography and description/ brief description of the training programme are to be submitted by the applicant to the ECTRIMS Fellowship Administrator using the online application by 1 December of each year.

The mentor’s letter, including details of the training programme, a certification that the proposed fellow will be able to undertake training at the host institution, and the mentor CV and institutional and referee support letters are to be submitted separately as confidential documents to the ECTRIMS Fellowship Administrator (fellowship@ectrims.eu) by 1 December of each year.

Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

Notification of ECTRIMS Award Deliberations:

The ECTRIMS Fellowship Review Committee will review all proposals; notification of the review outcomes during the spring of each award year; announcements of awards will be made by the end of March of each year, to facilitate logistics involved in relocation by the following fall of each academic year.

For questions and further information, please contact the ECTRIMS Fellowship Administrator at: fellowship@ectrims.eu.

To download this information as a PDF, click here.