Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellowship Scheme

The overall objective of the Fellowship is to give the Fellow the opportunity to learn about evidence synthesis in general, as well as to develop the practical skills of how to plan, design, conduct and report an evidence synthesis.

The scheme places Fellows virtually with experienced evidence synthesis centres and review teams in Ireland and internationally. Reviews will be advertised each call.

Fellows will receive structured theoretical training from ESI and join an existing or new review team being led by experienced reviewers within the respective centre to gain hands-on evidence synthesis experience in a high-quality environment.

Fellows will also receive one-to-one mentorship from a designated mentor from the review group. This will afford the Fellow the opportunity of networking with a range of stakeholders in evidence synthesis and will provide direct experience for ESI Fellows in the conduct of evidence synthesis projects that ultimately inform decision making for clinical practice, health services and heath policy.

Award details

Up to 16 Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellowships are available per year, which will be available over three calls annually. Award duration is until review completion or for up to 24 months maximum. There is access to a bursary for receipted travel, training and/or dissemination expenses up to a value of €1,000 available to each Fellow. Fellows will be eligible to attend all ESI training workshops for free during their Fellowship.

Benefits for Fellows

It is expected that ESI Fellows will gain the following benefits from their participation in the Fellowship scheme:

• The opportunity to develop a variety of evidence synthesis methodology skills
• Evidence synthesis experience without the need to manage or lead a review team
• Free attendance at ESI evidence synthesis training workshops
• Co-authorship on high quality review reports/publications
• Access to a €1000 bursary to support travel and/or dissemination
• Mentorship in evidence synthesis from high-quality review teams
• Networking and collaboration opportunities with national and international experts

Who should apply

Fellows may be in full or part time employment, be clinicians or clinician-academic trainees, researchers and/or postgraduate students resident of the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland and working in health and/or social care areas. As this is a training Fellowship, there are no restrictions on career stage and applications from those with no prior experience and/or structured training in conducting evidence synthesis are encouraged. It is highly recommended that applicants emphasise the new skills/knowledge they will accrue from this Fellowship. 

Fellows should expect to spend a minimum of 8 hours per week (external to formal evidence synthesis theoretical training provided) working on their review. Although this may vary at different stages of the review, with some reviews having tight turnarounds by nature, this is the average expectation that Fellows are expected to commit to the review. Flexibility is required from Fellows, particularly with host centres in different time zones.