Grants and scholarships for ECPG members

Scholarships given by FIP ECPG in collaboration with the FIP Foundation and other FIP structures, such as the FIP Industrial Pharmacy Section (IPS) and the Health and Medicines Information Section (HAMIS) include the opportunity to participate in the FIP Congress, and/or the ECPG Leadership Development Workshop, which takes place before the annual FIP Congress, aiming to have the recipients to learn about global health issues, shaping pharmacy and to have the opportunity to meet other global leaders in pharmacy, thus advancing their careers and expanding the network of FIP. Also, ECPG and the Foundation collaborate to give grant for early career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists on their innovative research projects under the FIP Foundation and ECPG Innovation Research Grant.

Professional Innovation Research Grant
Early Career Leadership Development Scholarships
Ton Hoek Scholarship
Mike How Travel Award
HAMIS Stipend

Early Career Leadership Development Scholarships

The ECPG collaborates with the FIP Foundation and the regional forums to award six scholarships to assist early career pharmacists or pharmaceutical scientists to attend the annual FIP World Congress and participate in the ECPG Leadership Development Workshop, which are planned to take place in the first weekend of the congress every year. Find more information here.

First set of Early Career Leadership Development Scholarship 2023 awardees are:

Mr Imoiboho Ekwere Williams, Nigeria(African Region)
Mr Oscar Allende, Paraguay (Americas Region)
Dr Hazem Gammoh, Jordan (Eastern Mediterranean Region)
Prof. Martin Kondža, Bosnia & Herzegovina (European Region)
Dr Praveen Devanandan, India (South East Asia Region)
Ms Sheron Sir Loon Goh, Malaysia (Western Pacific Region)

Ton Hoek Scholarship for Young Leaders

This scholarship recognises the work of a young leader in inspiring others to advance pharmacy practice, the pharmaceutical sciences and/or pharmacy education, and gives the recipient an opportunity to attend the FIP congress and the ECPG Leadership Development Workshop in order to improve his or her knowledge and skills and become better acquainted with the work of FIP. Find more information here.

Mr Chima Amadi, Nigeria - African Region (2023)
Mr Lucas Ercolin, Brazil - Americas Region (2022)

Mike How Travel Award

This award was created in 2007 in honour of Mike How who dedicated much of his time and efforts to the promotion of industrial pharmacy, particularly towards young pharmacists and pharmacy students. The award is granted to young pharmacists or pharmacy students who have shown keen interest and passion for industrial pharmacy. It is collaboration between the ECPG, FIP’s Industrial Pharmacy Section, and the International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation (IPSF). It supports ECPG or IPSF members involved in the development, manufacturing and regulatory aspects of pharmaceuticals and includes:

Up to €1,500 to be used in support of transport, accommodation and registration for the annual FIP congress
Free attendance to Industrial Pharmacy Section pre-satellite workshops at the FIP congress
Invitation to the Industrial Pharmacy Section dinner

Former recipients include:

Joyce Marianne J. Alvarez, Philippines (2020)
Bakani Mark Ncube, Zimbabwe (2019)
Isaac Nii Ofoli Anang, Ghana (2018)
Muoh Joanne Chinemerem, Ghana (2017)

HAMIS Stipend

FIP ECPG also collaborates with the Health and Medicines Information Section (HAMIS) to support pharmacy students, early-career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists who live and work or study in a country or territory with an income level classified as low, lower-middle or upper-middle by the World Bank in the latest available classification to attend the next FIP Congress. If you have any questions, please email ecpg@fip.org.

FIP Foundation and ECPG Innovation Research Grant

This innovation research grant consists of €1,000 for the implementation of a project by an early career pharmacist/pharmaceutical scientist who is an ECPG member. Projects can stem from any field of pharmacy (practice, science or education) but must focus on innovation that improves the practice of pharmacy or the advancement of pharmaceutical science with direct clinical application. Pending the acceptance of a project report, the awardee may, in addition, be granted complementary registration, a return APEX airfare and hotel accommodation to attend the incoming world congress of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

Judging - Applications are evaluated based on five criteria: significance & relevance, creativity & innovation, scientific accuracy, feasibility, and clarity of communication.

Grant conditions - The grant recipient is expected to submit a project report to the FIP Foundation for Education and Research and to present on the winning project at the FIP congress. They will also be obliged to submit interim reports and updates as required by the ECPG or the FIP Foundation.

How to apply: The Professional Innovation Grant deadline for submissions has closed for 2023. A call for the 2024 Professional Innovation Grant should launch in the second quarter of 2024.

Here are some Tips for Success and Pointers for Professional Innovation Grant Application that might help you in your application. Recent professional innovation awardees include:

	2022: Brian Cicali, USA - “Model-informed Evidence Approach for Paediatric and Neonate Dosing of Tramadol project results will be reported at the Brisbane FIP World Congress in September 2023.

	2020: Dallas Smith, Malawi - a recent PharmD graduate with a passion for equitable pharmaceutical interventions. His project explores the role of an ambulatory care pharmacist in an outpatient hypertension clinic in urban Malawi. Through capacity building in this local pharmacist, this study will evaluate blood pressure control and medication adherence through medication therapy management (MTM) services. Dallas hopes the outcomes of this data will encourage public and private entities in Malawi to employ ambulatory pharmacists and expand the role of the pharmacy profession.

	2019: Shepard Nqobile Mhlaba, Zimbabwe - a Young Pharmacist with keen interest in Global Health. His research on integrating supply chain management practices in community pharmacies and information technology was inspired by the disheartening poor supply chain practices affecting developing countries. This has resulted in significant expired medicines.

	2018: Jack Collins, Australia - a PhD candidate at The University of Sydney and a practising community pharmacist in Australia. Through his pilot research, Jack aims to determine to what extent implicit racial bias is present and then use these findings to go on to explore other potential biases and eventually develop interventions to address this bias to improve the uniformity of patient care regardless of patient demography.

	2017: Chelsea Thorn, Australia - a PhD candidate from the University of South Australia and a registered pharmacist in Australia. Her project focuses on identifying new solutions to treat highly tolerant bacterial infections relating to biofilms. The direction is to deliver antibiotics with biofilm-dispersing enzymes through a nano-carrier delivery formulation. With the innovative formulation, Chelsea is attempting to improve the efficacy of infection treatment, especially for the drug-tolerant infections.

	2016: Ekpenyong Aniekan, Nigeria - his project was about developing adequate human resources for pharmacy in developing countries. It was piloted in Nigeria and involved using data to make a five-year trend assessment and in-depth analysis of the pharmacy workforce across 36 states to inform workforce planning and policy development.

	2015 Arcelio Benetoli, Australia - a PhD candidate in Pharmacy Practice at the University of Sydney. His research focused on how consumers use social media for health purposes. The research comprised an observational study which identified chronic disease public Facebook groups whose content was quantitatively and qualitatively analysed and consumer focus groups. Understanding how consumers use social media will assist health care providers in guiding consumers in their social media health journey; and importantly, help design innovative ways to deliver care via social media, accessing people who may not visit health care professionals regularly.

	2014 Vivian Tong, Australia - a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney, focusing on optimising written medicine information to support safe and appropriate consumer use of over-the-counter medicines. The research focus for the grant was to develop and test alternative standardised over-the-counter medicine label formats.