Trainee (In vitro diagnostics for AMR and health threats)

At the European Medicines Agency (EMA), this traineeship offers the opportunity to contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe.

About the European Medicines Agency (EMA)

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU). It is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU.

About the traineeship programme

The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master's students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description

We are looking for a trainee in the Public Health Threats Department.

Specific objectives and projects

As a trainee, you will contribute to the work of the Public Health Threats department in the area of health threats response and preparedness. In particular, you will work on in-vitro diagnostics for pathogens with pandemic potential and for infections associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This is an area where the European Medicines Agency is preparing to take an increasing role, in collaboration with relevant EU bodies, to support the availability of innovative and reliable diagnostic tools.

In particular, the trainee will contribute to:

1. Developing a map of relevant EU and international actors in the in-vitro diagnostics domain
2. Analysing the product development pipeline, with a focus on diagnostics for emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance

In addition, the trainee will have the opportunity to participate in meetings and workshops with developers, regulators and international stakeholders, gaining exposure to cross-sector collaboration in public health preparedness.

Learning outcomes

The European health system relies on strong regulatory frameworks to prevent, prepare for, and respond to serious cross-border health threats, including the raising threat of antimicrobial resistance. Maintaining accurate and up-to-date regulatory information on such risks and on the tools available to respond is essential to support public health preparedness and effective decision-making at EU level.

By the end of the traineeship, you will have:

• Achieved a comprehensive understanding of the EU regulatory framework of in-vitro diagnostics and a good knowledge of their development landscape
• Gained practical experience in EU pharmaceutical and public health regulation
• Developed an understanding of how regulatory frameworks support preparedness for health threats
• Strengthened skills in analysing, managing and maintaining structured information useful for regulatory purposes
• Improved your ability to work with regulatory and scientific texts and translate them into clear, usable outputs
• Acquired experience working in a multidisciplinary and international regulatory environment
• Built a solid foundation for a career in regulatory affairs, public health or health policy

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
2. possess a university degree (minimum of three years or more) in Biomedical Sciences (in particular Microbiology, Biology, or Pharmacology with affinity with anti-infectives), Medicine (affinity with clinical microbiology and infectious diseases is an asset), Public Health, or Global Health that must have been obtained between 6 May 2025 and 6 May 2026 or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master's student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
3. a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

Additional skills

Previous experience within the field of diagnostics or microbiological investigations is considered an asset.

Behavioural Competencies

You will demonstrate the following behavioural competencies:

• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Working with others
• Adaptability
• Research and analytical skills
• Learning and development

Conditions of traineeship

The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 October 2026 – 31 July 2027) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

What do we offer?

• Meaningful work contributing to protecting the health of every individual and animal in Europe within multinational, multidisciplinary team
• Development opportunities (e.g. internal mobility, mentoring, peer coaching, career reflection programme, etc.)
• Work-life balance (flexible working arrangements, teleworking, generous annual leave plus official holidays)