Call for ESPN Research Grant Proposals 2023

Dear ESPN members,


Applications for ESPN research awards for 2023 are now open. The aim of the grants is to stimulate collaboration between paediatric nephrologists in Europe in the promotion of clinical or basic science research pertinent to children with kidney disease. Research awards are open to all ESPN members working in hospitals or academic institutions within Europe. Preference will be given to applications which are collaborative projects endorsed by ESPN Working Groups. There are 3 categories of award:

  • General Awards:

This grant category allows applications of ESPN members with documented support by an ESPN Working Group but the Working Group Board does not have to be actively involved in the research project or ESPN members who work in small groups and encourage collaboration between ESPN centres with their research projects are eligible to apply for this category.

  • ESPN Working Group Awards:

These are proposals where the relevant ESPN Working Group is actively involved in the project.
Evidence for this must be provided by an accompanying letter of support by the WG chair.

  • Young Investigator Award:

This award is intended to be start-up funding to support new researchers early in their careers. It is open to proposals where the principal applicant is under 35 years old.

The total value of the research grant budget this year will be up to € [60.000]. Individual grants are likely to be in the range of €[10.000] to [20.000].

All applications will be evaluated by the ESPN council and external reviewers on the basis of scientific merit and relevance to the field. All categories of grant will be scored and ranked together but priority will be given to ensure that one Young Investigator grant and at least one ESPN Working Group grant are awarded each year.

The application form is available at the ESPN webpage and should be completed and returned to our new ESPN office secretaryespn@oic.it together with a brief (max. 2-page) curriculum vitae for the principal applicant and any supporting documentation from an ESPN Working Group. A receipt of the application will be sent by email.

The closing date is 30.3.2023. Late applications will not be considered. The evaluation of ESPN council is final and there is no option for appeals.


The winners will be announced during the ESPN General Assembly in Vilnius in October 2023 and posted on the ESPN website.
Visit the ESPN research grant page for detailed information (https://www.espn-online.org/research-grants-2)

Click here to download the application form.

Regulations for ESPN research grants, approved by ESPN Council (February 2021)

  1. A progress report is sent after 6 months to the Spring ESPN Council and thereafter every year to the Autumn ESPN Council (up to a maximum of 3 years).
  2. At the completion of the project (or after 3 years if the project is on-going, a final report should be sent that includes details of presentations/publications resulting from the project and a financial report of how the grant monies were spent. The final report will be published in the website.
  3. In all publications and presentations, it should be reported that the work was “supported by an unrestricted grant provided by European Society for Paediatric Nephrology”.

The full Standard Operating Procedure document for administration of the ESPN research grants was approved by ESPN Council in February 2021 and last amendment was made in October 2021 can be downloaded here.