FAQs

Fellows are the participants of the Catalyst Europe program. Their profile typically is PhD students, postdocs, researchers in a company or academia, or clinicians (residents, fellows, attendings) who would like to accelerate the impact of biomedical research. Other early stage professionals interested in biomedical research may be considered if they fit the cohort. They typically have experience or interest in any domain area linked to health technology: life sciences, engineering, biomedical engineering, data science or any clinical domain. They form what we call an “innovation cohort” and they organically form teams throughout the program to identify unmet medical needs,  brainstorm and evaluate potential solutions and plan research project proposals.

There will be 12-14 fellows participating in Catalyst Europe 2021. Each fellow will be assigned to a Catalyst Europe Hub (Debrecen in Hungary, Erlangen in Germany, and Madrid in Spain). 

Professionals (from academic, clinical and commercial background) with a strong experience and interest in health innovation, who will share their expertise with fellows, guide them through the Catalyst process and run workshops during the program.

A Catalyst Europe Hub is a region where there is at least a university and a clinical center that belong to the Catalyst Europe consortium. These organizations bring faculty and mentors, as well as relevant networks that bring value to the program. They also provide rooms and host program activities.

Each Fellow is assigned to one of the Catalyst Europe Hubs. Fellows don’t need to leave in the Hub, but must be able to travel 3 times to their assigned Hub during the program to attend meetings (see more details in the Terms & Conditions).

Currently, there are three Catalyst Europe Hubs: Debrecen (Hungary), Erlangen (Germany) and Madrid (Spain).

Fellows must attend weekly sessions on Tuesdays from 3pm CET to 6pm CET from May 4th to November 18th, 2020. Most of these sessions will run online, via videoconference.

Fellows are expected to attend in person the following activities:

• Sessions: 3 Weekly sessions on Tuesdays from 3pm CET to 6pm CET in their assigned Hub. Fellows will attend the sessions at the university in the Hub they have been assigned to (dates in the website and Terms & Conditions).

• Trips – Clinical Immersion and Intensifications: Fellows are required to participate in the following activities (dates in the website and Terms & Conditions):
  1. Clinical Immersion (3 weeks). Part of the intensification will run online, and the other portion physically in Madrid.
  2. Intensification in Erlangen (4 days).
  3. Intensification in Boston (4 days).
  4. Intensification Debrecen (4 days).

If the COVID-19 pandemic situation does not allow (as indicated by governmental and health authorities) having the in-person activities planned as part of the Catalyst Europe program, these activities will be converted to online format.

Fellows are expected to dedicate an average of 15 hours/week to the regular weekly activities of the program, including Sessions, personal work and teamwork – personal and team work in a flexible schedule format.

For the Clinical Immersion and Intensifications, Fellows are expected to work full time.

Fellows are compensated by means of one of the following possibilities.

• A stipend provided by Catalyst Europe
• or time release provided by their current organization (in this case, the organization will be considered a “Fellow Sponsor”).

Please check the Terms & Conditions, section Compensation And Contractual Relationship, for more information. 

Yes! Please check the Terms & Conditions, section Compensation And Contractual Relationship, for more information. 

After the program, Fellows are expected to apply for competitive research grants and raise the funds required to develop the need-driven research projects that they have defined during the program. These research proposals are planned to be conducted with strong consortiums formed after the program – Catalyst Faculty mentor the process and help fellows generate opportunities. Catalyst Europe organizers are constantly raising funds to facilitate the transition of Fellows from project plan definition to actual research project execution.

This program is not designed to help you progress on an existing project or idea, but to help you leverage your knowledge and experience to initiate new research projects with high translational potential in collaboration with strong international partners. The program is designed to guide you in a process to discover and validate meaningful unmet clinical needs and plan a winning research project proposal, while surrounding yourself (and develop relationships) with all the stakeholders that may increase the translational success probability for your project.

The Catalyst Europe program is organized in a way that it is not expected that fellows generate Intellectual Property during the program. It would be after the Catalyst Europe program, and during the execution of the research projects (if fellows execute them), that Intellectual Property would be generated.  

For any hypothetical intellectual property created or enhanced in the course of program activities or afterwards, it is important to notice that the participation in the Catalyst Europe program does not, in and of itself, confer on fellows any ownership, license or other interest in or to intellectual property (copyrights, inventions, trademarks, etc.). Any intellectual property is generated by fellows as part of their work in the program will be handled in accordance with the institutional policies of the inventor(s).