Annual Meeting Young Investigator Award

1. Purpose and scope

The ESPGHAN Annual Meeting Young Investigator Award / AHP (YIA) aims to support young investigators, including Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), trainees and scientists, who have had an abstract accepted for presentation at the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting.

ESPGHAN membership is required to receive the award.

Applicants are not required to be ESPGHAN members at the time of submitting their YIA application. However, successful applicants must hold ESPGHAN membership in order to receive the award.

Applicants who are not yet members must submit their ESPGHAN membership application no later than 6 March 2027 to remain eligible for the YIA. Membership approval is not required by this deadline. However, successful YIA applicants must have their membership application approved in order to receive the award.

Further information on ESPGHAN membership is available on the ESPGHAN website by clicking here.  

Membership application deadline for YIA eligibility: 06 March 2027.

Funding specifications

The award provides financial support towards expenses related to attending the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting, including:

  • Travel expenses to the host country.

  • Visa application fees.

  • Accommodation expenses.

  • ESPGHAN Annual Meeting registration fees, up to the Early Bird registration rate.

  • Registration fees for PIBD, Postgraduate and AHP courses.

  • Registration fees for courses on Clinical Research, Parenteral Nutrition and Artificial Intelligence taking place during the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting.

All eligible expenses are covered up to the maximum value of the award.

Amount: up to EUR 1.000,00 

2. Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the Young Investigator / AHP Award, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Applicants must be young investigators, clinicians or Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) with less than 10 years of experience in their respective subspecialty.

  • Medically qualified applicants must be in a training position. Applicants who have completed their training in Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (PGHN) or who hold a staff position are not eligible.

  • Applicants must not be established, independently funded researchers.

  • Full ESPGHAN Members are not eligible for this award.

  • Applicants must have received fewer than two YIA awards in the past.

Presenting author requirement

The applicant must be the designated presenting author of the abstract submitted to the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting.

Only the individual identified as the presenting author during the abstract submission process is eligible to receive the award.

The submitting author may complete and submit the YIA application on behalf of the presenting author. However, all required information must relate to the designated presenting author.

Only one YIA application may be submitted per abstract.

Non-transferability of the award

The award is strictly non-transferable.

If the presenting author changes after the abstract has been submitted and reviewed, the award cannot be transferred to another author.

This rule also applies if the new presenting author has submitted a YIA application for another abstract but was not selected for an award. The award remains assigned to the original designated presenting author, as the new presenter did not apply for the award in connection with the original abstract.

3. Application and selection process

Applications for the Young Investigator / AHP Award must be submitted as part of the abstract submission process.

Please refer to the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting abstract submission guidelines for instructions on submitting an abstract and applying for the award.

Required documents

Applicants must provide the following documents as part of their application:

  • A support letter from one of the following:

    • An ESPGHAN Full Member.

    • An ESPGHAN Senior Corresponding Member.

    • A senior member of any FISPGHAN member society.

  • An up-to-date CV of the applicant.

Selection criteria

Applicants who have previously received one YIA award or who reside in regions geographically closer to the host country may receive a reduced award, taking into consideration their potentially lower travel expenses.

If the number of eligible applications exceeds the number of awards available, the ESPGHAN Treasurer reserves the right to:

  • Select applicants based on a first-come, first-served basis, giving priority where appropriate to applicants with particular financial needs, for example, applicants from low-income countries; or

  • Adjust the amount of individual awards to maximise the number of applicants who can benefit from the funding.

Selection process

  • Complete applications will initially be reviewed by the ESPGHAN Office and the ESPGHAN Treasurer.

  • ESPGHAN Council will subsequently review the applications independently.

  • Applicants will be informed of the outcome approximately one week before the Early Bird registration deadline of the ESPGHAN Annual Meeting.

Important: Applications for the Young Investigator / AHP Award must be submitted during the abstract submission process. Applicants who do not apply within this period will not be considered.

Applications cannot be accepted after the abstract submission deadline has passed and the blind review process has been completed.

4. Reporting and disbursement of funds

Award funds will only be disbursed once the following requirements have been fulfilled:

  • The recipient has signed the YIA register at the ESPGHAN booth during the Annual Meeting.

  • The recipient has submitted a completed financial statement, together with copies of all relevant receipts, to the ESPGHAN Office.

  • The submitted expenses have been reviewed and approved by the ESPGHAN Treasurer.

Eligible recipients can download the Travel Expense Claim Form after the Annual Meeting of the respective award year.

The completed form, together with all relevant supporting receipts, must be sent to office@espghan.org.

Please ensure that your bank details, including your IBAN and BIC/SWIFT codes, are correctly provided to allow the reimbursement to be processed.

Travel Expense Claim Form

To claim eligible expenses, please download and complete the Travel Expense Claim Form below and submit it together with all supporting receipts to office@espghan.org.

The completed expense claim form and all supporting receipts must be submitted in the same email.

Please note that receipts must be submitted in PDF or Word format. JPG files and receipts embedded in email messages cannot be processed.

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