| Project Acronym | ADVANCE |
|---|---|
| Funding Program | Erasmus Plus |
| Budget | € 375,000 |
| Coordinator | EATRIS |
ADVANCE in a nutshell
ADVANCE is a 30-month EU training project, supported by Erasmus Plus with the objective to develop a 3-stage blended learning programme to support early-career biomedical scientists in developing currently missing scientific knowledge, transversal skills and competences to meet the key challenge areas existing in the ATMP development cycle.
The “next generation of ATMP developers” – i.e. early-career biomedical academics (PhDs, Postdocs), including doctors in training, clinician-scientists and SME-based professionals, who are considered to be an important component of the labour market and the critical intermediaries of the ATMP development pipeline – are the core target group for the three-stage blended learning programme foreseen by ADVANCE.
What ADVANCE Offers and How to Get Involved?
ADVANCE Programme will run in 2 cycles. One cycle will last about a year and will offer participants to be involved in webinars, take an online course, and participate in a 5-day intensive workshop.
Webinars
Each cycle of the programme will have 7 webinars, completely free of charge and open for all. Three of the webinars are focusing on career development (CV and motivation letter writing, preparing for a job interview, and maintaining a good work-life balance). Four webinars will be handling the key challenges of ATMP development (Scientific, Manufacturing, Reimbursement and Regulatory).
Watch all past webinars on our YouTube Channel Advance Project Playlist
Upcoming webinars are announced through our Events page, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Online Course
The first iteration of the online course was launched in December 2020 and it’s completely open and free of charge to anyone interested in the ATMPs development topic. The course is ca. 7 hours of interactive lectures, and nearly 20 hours of independent assignments, and is entirely self-paced. It consists of 4 Units representing the key challenges of the ATMPs development cycle – Scientific, Manufacturing, Reimbursement and Regulatory. Participants will have a chance to listen to talks by 12 top scientists, industry experts and regulators in the field, get acquainted with the relevant literature, and complete assignments such as developing a potency assay strategy for a new ATMP, building a submission dossier for regulatory review for a new cell therapy, and performing a Health Technology Assessment on an ATMP using the HTA Core Model.
Workshop
The workshop is a 5-day full time commitment focusing on all aspects of ATMPs development. The curriculum is complemented by career development and activities. The workshop is held twice during the programme (once in 2021 and once in 2022). Only 30 participants are selected to participate in each iteration. There is no tuition fee however participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation.
The first workshop took place virtually on May 3-7th 2021.
The 2022 iteration will take place face-to-face on June 20-24 in Rome, Italy. More information can be found by clicking on the event card on the right here →
Participants can apply for 3 ECTS through University of Ljubljana after successfully completing the workshop.
Digital Accomplishment Badges & ECTS
To show the participation in the ADVANCE Programme we have created digital accomplishment badges associated with participation and acquired skills. There are 4 separate badges that participants can apply for in conjunction with all of the above mentioned activities. Two badges are linked to webinar participation (CV writing skills and preparing for a job interview), one badge will be earned for completion of the online course, and 1 badge will be earned in relation to the 5-day workshop.
Intellectual Outputs
The project will generate 5 different outputs:
- Online course (IO1 )
- Webinars (IO2)
- Workshop (IO3)
- Open Badges (IO4)
- Sustainability plan (IO5)
ADVANCE consortium
The consortium is led by EATRIS ERIC and consists of 6 additional European partners:
- Elevate Health, The Netherlands
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Italy
- KU Leuven, Belgium
- ULB/ I3H, Belgium
- University of Ljubljana Faculty of Pharmacy (UL FFA), Slovenia
- Takis Biotech, Italy
