European Medicines Agency - Trainee programme

The European Medicines Agency operates a trainee programme. The programme gives trainees an understanding of the Agency and its role within the activities of the European Union (EU) and provides professional experience in a working environment.

Eligibility

The trainee programme is aimed at university graduates at the beginning of their professional careers. Applicants need to have:

European Union (EU) or European Economic Area nationality;

a university degree (minimum Bachelor level) by the deadline for applications;

a good command of English and knowledge of a second official EU language.

Successful candidates will typically have a background relating to the activities of the Agency, such as pharmacy, medicine, life sciences, healthcare, chemistry, information technology, law (with an interest in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs), human resources, finance, communications, public relations, or library and information science.

Traineeships last for a maximum of twelve months (two consecutive six-month contracts).

There are two possible traineeship intakes per year, starting on 1 October and 1 April. In the intake of 1 October 2015, 48 trainees started at the Agency.

The application process for the 2015 traineeship intake is now open. The Agency only accepts electronic application forms submitted via e-mail. The application form is located under 'related documents'. Please submit your completed applications totraineeship@ema.europa.eu. Applications e-mailed to any other address cannot be considered.

Timing

Procedure	Timing
Deadline for receipt of application forms	15 June 2015
Sending of acknowledgement of receipt	Usually within two weeks
Telephone contact with candidates	July-September 2015
Contract issued	By end of August 2015

Traineeship grant

The Agency pays a maintenance grant of £1,350 net per month to trainees.

It also pays a travel allowance to compensate for relocation to the United Kingdom and other costs at the start and end of the traineeship.

Application instructions

The Agency only accepts electronic application forms submitted via e-mail. The application form is located under key documents. The application form can be completed using any EU official language.

Submit your completed applications to traineeship@ema.europa.eu. Applications emailed to any other address cannot be considered.

You need the latest version of Adobe Reader for the application form to work correctly. Download the latest version for free from Adobe Reader download. The application form only opens automatically with Internet Explorer. If you are using a different Internet browser, please right-click on the application form link and save the document locally on your computer before opening it.

If you are working on a Mac you should follow one of these options:

Download the PDF file from the website to the Mac, and drag it on to the Acrobat Reader application to make sure that the file opens with that application.

Change the default settings on the Mac so that Acrobat is used as the default application when opening within a browser window. Then click once on any PDF file to select it and select ‘get info’ from the file menu. Change the ‘open with’ option to read Adobe Acrobat. You will need to restart any browsers that are open when changing the ‘open with’ option.

Once you have completed the application form, click on the 'submit by email' button at the top right of the application form. Your application form will be transformed into an XML file and attached to an email to be sent to traineeship@ema.europa.eu. If you prefer to send the application form as a PDF document attached to your e-mail, use the ‘save as’ option when saving the application form; do not use the ‘print as’ option.

Click on the send button of the email to ensure that your application form is sent to the Agency.

You do not need to write a message in the e-mail. You will receive an automated responsefrom the Agency acknowledging receipt of your email.

Please note that due to the large numbers of applications we receive, the system may encounter problems processing the large amounts of data close to the submission deadline. Applicants are therefore advised to send in their application form well ahead of the deadline. 

Curricula vitae (CVs) are not considered as an application. In order to be considered for the selection procedure, you must follow the application process as outlined above and submit the relevant, completed application form.