We are delighted to announce the launch of the EBMT AMGEN Clinical Fellowship Programme. The programme offers promising young physicians the opportunity to work at higher educational institutions outside of their home country, to pursue one-year research projects which will contribute to advances in clinical research and improve patient care.

With the generous financial support of AMGEN, the programme will offer six clinical research fellowships in the period 2006 – 2008. The EBMT AMGEN Fellowships are aimed at promoting clinical and epidemiological research in the field of hemato-oncology. The programme is not designed to simply support the acquisition of standard clinical skills.

Two EBMT AMGEN Fellowship awards will be made in 2006. For full details on the eligibility criteria and selection process consult the Education & Outreach section of the EBMT Website: Fellowships. The deadline for the submission of applications is 30th June and the EBMT Fellowship Committee will complete the selection process by 15 September. A list of higher educational institutions which have expressed an interest in hosting a fellow will be listed shortly on the website, with contact names for applicants wishing to approach an institution to discuss a joint application.

For further information on the Fellowship programme please contact Fiona Mc Donald at fellowships@ebmt.org

T Masszi, Chair of Education Subcommittee

 

Outreach session in Hamburg Tuesday 21 March 2006 Congress Centrum Hamburg , Hall 8 On behalf of the Outreach Committee we would like to invite all members to join us for a lunchtime Outreach session in Hamburg. Following-on from the presentations made at the Outreach meeting in Prague we would like to take forward some of the ideas highlighted and discuss the committee's proposals on how to move forward with the Outreach programme and make use of the EBMT website to highlight opportunities and promote collaborations between members. We will also have a panel discussion involving representatives of Working Parties, JACIE, the Nurses Group and the Registry to consider how these areas can be developed within the Outreach programme. We look forward to meeting you in Hamburg. V. Koza and E Gluckman, Co-Chairs of Outreach Subcommittee

How to get published in Bone Marrow Transplantation: A session with Nature Publishing Group Tuesday, March 21, 2006, 13:00 - 14:00, Hall 5:2 How should I prepare my article? How do I submit it? What are the editors looking for? What do the publishers do? What happens in peer review? What happens afterwards? If you have ever wondered one or any of the above questions we would like to invite you to attend the workshop session offered by Nature Publishing and their panel of experts. John Goldman, Editor of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) and Haroon Ashraf, Executive Editor from the Nature Publishing Group will present the editorial and publishing perspectives and answer delegates' questions. Don't forget to stop by Nature Publishing Group's booth (#211) for sample copies, subscription information and other freebies! Haroon Ashraf, Executive Editor BMT

 

Last September, companies specialising in professional congress organisation (PCOs) were invited to tender for the management of the EBMT 2008 meeting. Eight companies submitted detailed bids and based on an initial evaluation focused on quality of service and competitiveness of the offers, the following four companies were invited for interview:

AKM, Switzerland
CPO Hanser, Germany
ICS, The Netherlands
MCI, Switzerland

The review committee were impressed by the quality of the bids presented and all four companies were considered well-qualified to organise the meeting. AKM offered a revised cost structure favourable to the EBMT and as a result there was very little difference in the offers in terms of costs. Proposals for managing hotels were also found to be comparable. Taking these factors into consideration and based on previous experience and confidence in AKM's ability as core PCO the review committee considered that there was no justification for changing PCO.

Following the presentation of the review committee's recommendations to the Board it was agreed to offer AKM and AKM Travel a further three year contract for the organisation of the 2008 – 2010 annual meetings.

The process has proved to be an informative one, increasing the EBMT's overall knowledge and understanding of the meeting Industry and the management solutions available. It is therefore recommended that the bid process be repeated in the future to ensure that the EBMT remains at the forefront of meeting management. The EBMT Board would like to thank all of the companies which participated in the bid process and look forward to a successful collaboration with AKM and AKM Travel over the next few years.

P Ljungman, EBMT Secretary