Two-Week Training Grant

Two-Week Training Grant

Application Deadline: 15 FEBRUARY 2025

The ESRS two-week training grant enables members of the ESRS in the early stages of their careers, who pursue a career in sleep research or sleep medicine to visit a host institution in a European country other than their own to learn a skill or procedure not available at their home institution. The training should benefit the home institution when the applicant returns there.

A maximum amount of 1.400 EUR will be awarded.

A maximum of one grant per year will be financed.

Conditions:

  • Training will be pursued in an experienced laboratory belonging to the ESRS Network of Sleep Research Laboratories.
  • Candidates are responsible for identifying a skill or procedure at the host institution as well as a suitable supervisor. The skill or procedure needs to be transferrable to their home institution.

  • At the time of application, candidates must already have an agreement with the host institution where their training will be carried out.

  • Candidates must have adequate fluency in a language that permits effective communication at the host institution.

  • Candidates must return to their home institution to apply the newly acquired research skills, or to continue to develop their research upon completion of their visit.

  • The duration of the training may not be reduced or split.

  • The training must be carried out on a full-time basis. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.

  • The visit must be started within 1 year from notification of a successful grant application.

  • All candidates must be members of the ESRS at the time of submission of the application.

  • Candidates must be training in sleep research or sleep medicine at their home institution at the time of application.

  • There is no upper age limit for eligibility; however, preference will be given to candidates who are in the early stages of their career.

  • Funding is open to all nationalities and for European and non-European-based candidates.

  • Applicants must not have been awarded an ESRS Two-Week Training Grant in the previous three years.

Requirements:

  • Cover letter (max. 1 page) detailing: The purpose of the visit, including clear objectives that will be reached during the stay, and particularly the skill or procedure not available at the applicant’s home institution, which will be learnt during the stay; A description of how this will benefit the applicant’s training and career; Concise description why the chosen host institution and the supervisor at the hosting institution is ideal to reach the objectives of this stay.

  • Home supervisor’s release form

  • Host supervisor’s acceptance form

  • Host supervisor’s training background and CV (max. one page) with a specific focus on the objectives to be reached during the stay.

  • Breakdown of travel, accommodation and projected subsistence costs at host institution.

  • Candidate’s CV (max. 2 pages), also mentioning proficiency in the language(s) that will be spoken at the host institution.

  • Candidate’s list of publications.

  • Candidate’s passport or ID scan.

  • Within 1 month after completion of the visit, grant recipients will be required to send a summary report of the training (max. 1 page) to the ESRS Secretary. The report shall document the skill or procedure not available at the applicant’s home institution, which was learnt during the stay. Recipients with missing reports or reports evaluated as incomplete or unsatisfactory by the ESRS Scientific Committee or Executive Committee will be banned from applying for ESRS bursaries or grants for 5 years.

Application Guidelines

Application Deadline: 15 February 2025
All application files should be submitted via the online application form only. All application documents except for the passport or ID scan must be submitted in a single PDF document. Applications can be submitted for all funding opportunities simultaneously.
The ESRS Scientific Committee will rank the grant applications based on:

  • Learning objectives, as detailed in the cover letter.
  • Candidate’s CV and publications, taking account of seniority.
  • Congruence of the host supervisor’s choice with respect to the objectives to be reached during the stay.

In ranking applications, the ESRS Scientific Committee will strive to foster diversity in terms of age, gender, geographical distribution, and research topics.

Please contact ESRS if you have any questions.

Two-Week Training Grant Recipients

The ESRS is pleased to announce the recipients of the ESRS Two-Week Training Grant developed to enable ESRS members in the early stages of their careers in sleep research or sleep medicine to visit a host institution in a European country other than their own to learn a skill or procedure not available at their home institution.
 
We congratulate the recipients and cordially thank the supervisors and teams of the host laboratories for their support and cooperation in this endeavour.
  1. Claudia Picard-Deland – Montreal, Canada
    Hosting Laboratory: Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
  2. Leonie Balter – Stockholm, Sweden
    Hosting Laboratory: Institute for Neuroscience, Netherlands
  1. Ann Rosen – Stockholm, Sweden
    Hosting Laboratory: University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany – Read Report
  2. Christopher McCausland – Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
    Hosting Laboratory: Reykjavik University Sleep Institute, Iceland – Read Report
Agata Gabryelska
Lodz,  Poland
Haykuhi Hovakimyan
Armenia
Host Laboratory: University of Freiburg, Department of Psychology
Supervisor: Prof. Dieter Riemann
Sara Alvente
Bologna, Italy
Host Laboratory: University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Supervisor: Vladyslav V. Vyazovskiy, PhD
 
Leonie Maurer
Oxford, United Kingdom
Host Laboratory: Karolinska Institut, Stockholm
Michelle Carr
Swansea, United Kingdom
Host Laboratory: Center for Investigation and Research in Sleep, Lausanne, Switzerland
Supervisor: Raphael Heinzer, MD
 
Heiður Grétarsdóttir
Reykjavik, Iceland
Host Laboratory: Parma University – Sleep Disorders Center
Supervisor:Prof. Dr. Liborio Parrino
 
Melanie Kölbel
Guildford, United Kingdom
Host Laboratory: Surrey Sleep Research Centre, Guildford, United Kingdom
Supervisor:Prof. Dr. Derk-Jan Dijk
Chiara Bartolacci, MSc
Rome, Italy
Host Laboratory: University of Oxford Sleep Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford, United Kingdom
Supervision: Prof. Colin Espie, Dr. Simon Kyle
Esther Afolalu
Coventry, United Kingdom
Host Laboratory: Center for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine, University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, Freiburg, Germany
Supervision: Prof. Dieter Riemann
 
Michelle Magee
Cranbourne, Australia
Host Laboratory: Surrey Sleep Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
Supervision: Prof. Simon Archer