Dear EAN Members, colleagues, and friends,
As we celebrate 10 years of the EAN in 2024, I would like to take this opportunity to do mark our decade of teaching and learning with a brief ‘stocktake’ of the EAN’s ongoing educational projects– from those that have been running for the entirety of the EAN’s existence (even pre-dating the EAN in some cases) to recently launched programmes – and highlight some imminent application openings and deadlines.
To start with a classic, our range of fellowship programmes, relevant to all stages of a neurology career, are among our most beloved educational options.
The Clinical Fellowship programme is the longest running of these, started in 2001 under the EFNS. Since its inception, 1,046 participants have received grants to spend 6-12 weeks each at a neurological department outside their country of residence, 345 of whom have been since the EAN was established. In 2005, we began offering the Research Fellowships, which have seen 178 residents supported to undertake long-term projects. And since 2022 we have given out 58 grants for Student Teaser Fellowships to medical students about to embark on a career in neurology.
Going back even further, the Spring School was established in 2000, as the EFNS Academy for Young Neurologists, and since then, more than 2,500 people have taken part, 1,090 of whom in the ten years under the EAN. Still going strong, this year’s edition attracted a record number of applications, and we look forward to welcoming the successful applicants to this valuable and enjoyable event on 22-26 May. In a similar vein, the Autumn School, has hosted 318 participants since starting in 2018, and application for the next edition is open right now until 1 June! It will take place in Loutraki, Greece, on 24-28 October, with a focus on real-life experience, and will hopefully again feature some patient involvement.
We also offer various regional teaching events for National Neurological Societies, which are a fantastic way to bring together neurologist at all levels of expertise and or career-stage to learn and network in their local surroundings: the well-established Regional Teaching Day, the three-day Regional Teaching Courses, and the three-hour Regional Teaching Sessions that we offer during national neurological society meetings are all valuable ways for us to support those European countries that are unable to host an annual EAN congress by bringing EAN/international speakers to a national audience.
Recently, we have broadened our focus to include personal and career development, launching dedicated mentorship, leadership, and advocacy programmes. The EAN Mentorship Programme, established in 2021, matched its fourth round of mentor/mentee pairs in December, and we strongly encourage early-career neurologists – as well as senior neurologists interested in participating as mentors – to sign up for the next round by 15 September. We are happy to announce that mentees enrolled in the current programme will now receive free EAN Congress registration for the chance to meet up with their mentors onsite and attend the workshop. For the next round, our mentors and mentees will also benefit from welcome webinars and documents to facilitate their progress. Anyone interested should check out our mentorship workshop during the EAN annual congress and watch our webcasts on developmental mentoring.
Announced and begun in early 2023, the two-year EAN Leadership Programme is now at its halfway point in 2024, with the balance between online modules and peer group meetings welcomed by all involved. The newest addition to our personal and career development range is the EAN Advocacy Training for Neurology and Brain Health, with the first module successfully completed this January.
Online learning is of course a crucial part of what we offer, and we are very proud of our e-Learning platform, the EAN Campus, launched in 2022, hosting more than 2,000 pieces of peer-reviewed content, from congress webcasts, to interactive modules and cases, capstone exams, and guidelines, as well as the eanCast: Weekly Neurology. Live events such as webinars and masterclasses are held on a regular basis, and numbers of visitors are steadily increasing, with close to 9,000 logins, and 4,200 completed modules in 2023. In 2024, the EAN Campus is also hosting a series of special dedicated webinars to mark the 30th anniversary of the EAN’s official journal, the European Journal of Neurology.
Finally, the EAN Congress is naturally a crucial brick in our educational wall, and our 10th anniversary congress in Helsinki will be a big highlight. The Teaching Course sub-Committee has again struck the perfect balance of topics across our broad range of session types: from three-hour teaching courses to 60-minute hands-on courses, there is something for everyone. The selection of sessions and faculty is always guided by the European Training Requirements for Neurology (ETRN), containing a core curriculum for European residents in adult neurology co-created by the UEMS-Section of Neurology and the EAN. This document also provides the basis for the annual European Board of Neurology Exam (EBN Exam) which is conducted by the UEMS-SN and is scheduled to take place online in May/June.
As you can see from this rundown of educational activities, we have some very long running successes, but in recent years we have seen a rapid increase in the number of opportunities we offer. To explore these options in detail, please visit the LEARN section of EAN.org, and if you have any questions about any of our activities or would like to meet the team behind the scenes, stop by the EAN LEARN booth at EAN 2024 for a chat!
For our residents and neurologists in training please also look out for the quarterly Education Newsletter in the coming weeks, which compiles all the news from the last three months, plus important upcoming deadlines and announcements in the education sector.
I wish you all a lovely spring ahead, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Helsinki!
Best wishes
Irena Rektorová
EAN Education Committee Chair
