SAT0676 SUPPORTING EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN RHEUMATOLOGY AND MUSCULOSKELETAL MEDICINE: RESULTS FROM AN EMERGING EULAR NETWORK (EMEUNET) SURVEY

Abstract

Background Early career researchers (ECRs) across Europe face a number of challenges as highlighted by the European federation of education employers (EFEE) (1). Understanding the unmet needs of ECRs in rheumatology would allow development of targeted educational resources and support where required. Objectives To perform a Europe wide survey on the demographics of ECRs, current unmet needs and perceptions of possible solutions. Methods Clinical and non-clinical researchers who work in the field of rheumatology and under the age of 40, were invited to participate in an online-based survey. EMEUNET is a Europe-wide network of >2000 young researchers in rheumatology addressing educational needs and promoting research interests. Survey questions were devised and modified in collaboration with members of the EMEUNET education subgroup and steering committee. It was disseminated to EMEUNET members and national young rheumatology organisations. Participants were allowed to choose ≥1 answer options where applicable. Results 339 participants’ anonymised responses were collected from 53 countries. The majority of participants were between 31-35 years (38.1%) and female (63.4%). Most were clinical researchers (including 33.3% rheumatology trainees) and 24.1% were non-clinical, including allied health professionals. The area of research of the participants was as follows: Epidemiology (40.0%), basic science/translational (39.6%), clinical trials (38.1%), imaging (17.7%), health services research (14.7%), other (7.5%). 48.6% did not feel they had adequate educational resources to develop their research skills locally. Obtaining grant funding as ECRs was deemed to be difficult (43.3%) or very difficult (31.4%) in their respective institutions/countries. Reasons listed are presented in figure 1. 98% were interested in developing new European collaborations in their research area either through: face to face interactions at conferences (82.1%), website forum (50.8%), email interactions (61.1%), teleconferences (43.5%). In addition, 93.7% felt they would apply for small European grants for ECRs, 81.6% would be interested in funding to spend short periods (4-8 weeks) at another European institute and 87.5% in focussed deep dive sessions on a topic of interest. The top 3 research skills that participants felt they would benefit from having more resources for as ECRs were: 1. Writing a study protocol (64.9%), 2. Writing a first grant application (64.0%), 3. Performing a systematic review (51.1%) (Figure 2). Conclusion A large proportion of ECRs in rheumatology felt they lack resources to develop their research skills locally. Small grant funding, research opportunities for pan-European collaborations, short periods of exchange to other institutes and targeted support to develop research skills can help address some of the current needs of ECRs.