Trainee (Innovation and Horizon Scanning)

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU), located in Amsterdam. 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

Traineeship placement: Innovation and Development Office

We are looking for a trainee in the Innovation and Development Office.

Specific objectives and projects

The project consists in drafting a Horizon Scanning report on a dedicated innovative topic for medicines development. The drafting includes:

• Analyse and integrate data from scientific literature, patents, clinical trials, and European research funding calls to describe the research and clinical landscape.
• Review the information gathered through the EMA Innovation Task Force (ITF) briefing meetings and other EMA stakeholder interactions to identify challenges encountered by medicine developers in relation to the specific topic.
• Highlight regulatory and scientific challenges as well as opportunities.
• Engage with other EMA offices and divisions as well as European regulatory network experts.

The aim of the project is to publish the Horizon Scanning report on the EMA webpage and potentially publish the key outcomes in a peer-reviewed article.

Learning outcomes

The trainee will acquire knowledge of:

• activities of the European Medicines Agency and the European Medicines Regulatory Network focusing on early support to medicine development;
• key steps in medicine development;
• regulatory science;
• evolving evidence generation methodologies and technologies.

Moreover the trainee will have the opportunity to engage with different stakeholders and improve presentation and scientific writing skills.

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 in biomedical sciences or medicine (minimum of three years or more) 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

• Experience in scientific writing
• Experience in data analysis

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. The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €2,049.77 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

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)