One of the main activities of IFSO-EC is to organize the annual European Chapter Congress, which provides an excellent international forum to exchange knowledge on surgical treatment of patients with severe obesity, to meet renowned experts in the field, and to build a network of clinical and scientific collaboration. To support this aim, every year IFSO-EC offers five scholarships to young members from countries where the national metabolic bariatric surgery society is a member of IFSO-EC. The applicants need to show strong interests, initial accomplishments, and potential for future career development in metabolic bariatric surgery and/or other obesity related specialties.

The main aim of the IFSO-EC scholarship is to support attendance at the IFSO-EC annual congress. Participation in another metabolic bariatric surgery or obesity congress may also be considered.

Each scholarship includes a honorarium of 1,000 Euros and a free registration at the IFSO-EC congress.

Public recognition of the Award will be made at the IFSO-EC congress.

The applications must be submitted by 31st January 2025 to the IFSO Secretariat (info@ifso.com).

Regulations:

• Applicants must be IFSO-EC members in good standing and not over 45 years of age at the date of the application.
• Applicants must be medical school graduates and/or other associated integrated health
• Applicants must demonstrate interest in metabolic bariatric surgery and/or other integrated health
• Applicants need to have a minimum of one year in surgical or other specialist practice, or they need to be in a nationally recognized specialist training program (excluding freestanding fellowships/other scholarships).
• Applicants whose careers are in the development stage are deemed more suitable than those who are serving in senior appointments.
• Applications must be supported by the documents listed below under “Requirements for Application”.
• Successful applicants are expected to provide a written report within 2 months of completing the
• The IFSO-EC scholarship can be awarded only

The Presidents of the member societies are kindly requested to inform their members about the availability of the IFSO-EC scholarships and about these regulations and requirements for applications.

Applications received by the deadline will be graded according to a scoring system by an ad hoc Scholarship Committee (President elect, Executive Director and Chair of the

Scientific Committee), which will nominate the five scholarships awardees to the IFSO-EC ( Executive Council. IFSO-EC secretariat will inform all applicants by email and will request their bank details for the bank transfer.

Requirements for Application

All applications must be supported by the following 4 documents and adherence to these requirements will be a part of the application assessment.

1. A structured 1-page CV including at minimum (nothing over the 1-page limit will be taken into account)
   • Name
   • Date of birth
   • Demographic data & personal details
   • Qualifications (MD, specialist, PhD )
   • Training
   • Employment history
   • Current position
2. A short publication list of main publications or presentations (maximum 2 pages)
   • Metabolic bariatric publications
   • Metabolic bariatric presentations (IFSO, IFSO-EC, IFSO-EC endorsed congress)
   • Other major publications
   • Other international presentations
3. A short summary of the applicants career phase and aims of the scholarship (maximum 150 words)
   • Overall future career aim within metabolic bariatric surgery
   • What is the next step in career development?
   • How would the scholarship help the to achieve this?
   • How the scholarship will help contribute to the development of metabolic bariatric surgery in the applicant’s home country / institute?
4. A signed letter from the Head of Department or professional mentor to support the application