I hope you, your family and colleagues are well.
I’m delighted to let you know that, thanks to the hard work of our task force led by Nils Krone and Mehul Dattani, as well as our colleagues at Bioscientifica, you can now register for ESPE Connect Online. This is a great opportunity to learn from top experts in the field and stay up to date with the latest research and clinical best practice in the absence of a physical meeting this year. The online programme will take place from 6-14 November 2020 and, due to the exceptional circumstances this year, ESPE is providing access to the content free of charge. You can find out more and register on the ESPE Connect Online website.
Informative sessions will differ from the ESPE Liverpool programme in 2021 and will include talks from our specialist working groups, as well as How Do I… and Yearbook sessions. Importantly, we will also present new, high quality research in our Hot Topic sessions. I encourage early to mid-career researchers to submit your recent papers, with a listed impact factor of 3.5 and above, to be considered for a pre-recorded presentation. This is a great additional opportunity to share your research and raise your profile this year. Please check the submission guidelines to ensure your research is aligned with them.
In the meantime, we look forward to updating you at our Annual Business Meeting on Friday 11 September 15:00-16:00 CEST. Once again, this will be a virtual meeting and all ESPE members are invited to attend. The ESPE Team will be sending the agenda and joining instructions by email in due course.
We continue to provide support for research and education with our grants programme. We have just opened a call for applications for our Visiting Professorship of Rare Diseases (open to all mid-career paediatric endocrinologists, not just professors!) and today is your last opportunity to apply for the current Early Career Scientific Development Grant.
Meanwhile, the Bioscientifica Trust (an independent charity chaired by Prof. David Ray of Oxford University, on the board of which an ESPE member sits) is currently offering timely funding to early career scientists and clinicians to help ease the negative impact of COVID-19. I would like to share this opportunity with you as the Trust is welcoming applications for grants of up to €5,000 to cover short-term salary support, travel, equipment, consumables costs, etc during this difficult time. You can find out more and apply via the Bioscientifica Trust website. This call will end on 31 August.
Finally, applications for the postponed ESPE Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism School (10-12 May 2021 following the ESPE Annual Meeting, UK) will close on 1 September, so I encourage trainees with an interest in this area to apply for this excellent school before the deadline.
As always, you can find the latest information, dates and deadlines on our website and we welcome your feedback.
I send you all my very best wishes,
Anita
ESPE Secretary General