CIRSE’s Fellowship Grant Programme

December 6, 2024

The CIRSE Fellowship Grant Programme (FGP) offers CIRSE members the opportunity to apply for a €3,000 grant to support a one-month training stay at a European centre outside their home country. This allows participants to gain experiences and learn about new procedures, most often in the form of an observership. By funding this initiative, the CIRSE Foundation promotes international collaboration among interventional radiologists and fosters the development of IR across Europe. Applications are currently open for the 2025 funding cycle, and candidates can select from 41 outstanding recommended training centres for this programme.

Introduced earlier this year,IRs from around the world took part in the 2024 programme to expand their horizons, make connections, and learn from experts outside of their home countries.

2024 CIRSE Fellowship Grant recipients meet at CIRSE 2024.

Dr. Kevin Fung with the team in Strasbourg. 

Dr. Kevin Kin Fen Fung of Hong Kong Children’s Hospital was the very first 2024 awardee to put his grant into action, traveling to Strasbourg, France. “I gained so much during my one-month time at Professor Gangi’s Department,” he said, “not only in terms of IR-related knowledge and insights, but also in gaining many friendships. Professor Gangi is a great mentor, clinician, and scientist – warm, kind, caring, and innovative. He is a very busy man, yet he manages to find time to look after the fellows and take care of his patients amongst many other duties. Everyone in his team is full of energy, dedicated, and friendly. I would highly recommend any IRs with interest in developing interventional oncology services to visit Professor Gangi and his team to experience clinical IO at its best!”

2024 grant recipients used the opportunity to travel to a myriad of exceptional IR centres around Europe – IR departments across the continent opened their doors to physicians eager to learn new skills and expand their ideas of what an IR department can look like.

“My major drive to apply for a CIRSE Fellowship Grant was to see how things are done in other places.” says Dr. Adeniyi Wasiu of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. “My observership in the IR department at the Liverpool University Hospital offered me an incredible learning experience that broadened my understanding of many procedures as well as my appreciation of the breadth of IR consumables. I extend my profound appreciation to CIRSE for making me one of the recipients of the 2024 fellowship grants in order to complement my interventional radiology training. I look forward to applying the knowledge gained in my future practice.”

Dr. Ana Isabel Simões Ferreira in Galway with Prof. O’Sullivan.

Dr. Adeniyi Wasiu with team members in Liverpool.

Dr. Inês Conde Vasco with team members in Madrid.

“My main goal was to learn about deep venous disease, so I could later be confident in treating such patients at my hospital.” says Dr. Ana Isabel Simões Ferreira of Lisbon’s Central Hospital, who completed her fellowship with Prof. Gerard O’Sullivan and his team at Galway University Hospital. “But I learned so much more!  It is a great experience to be in a different setup. You immediately start thinking about what you could bring back and what you can optimize in your own practice workflow.”

“I was really excited to get the chance to learn about different types of procedures. And this fellowship was absolutely perfect for that!” states Dr. Inês Conde Vasco of Curry Cabral Hospital in Lisbon, who travelled to the Hospital Universitário Severo Ochoa in Madrid for her fellowship. “I had contact with and participated in procedures of varying complexity, from the simplest to the most complex. I was able to gain experience in both vascular and non-vascular procedures, as well as in oncological and non-oncological cases. There was also the opportunity to participate in multidisciplinary meetings from different fields of medicine. Prof. Abadal and his team were always happy to share their tips and tricks during the procedures and encouraged me to get involved in everything the team did. They really made me feel like I was part of the team!”

“Without a doubt, the main key to the success of Prof. Bale’s Department is its great medical team, which is dedicated and devoted to their patients, but at the same time really open, friendly, and easy-going.” says Dr. Maciej Szmygin of the Medical University of Lublin in Poland in his report on his time at the Department of Interventional Oncology and Minimally Invasive Therapies at the Medical University of Innsbruck. “They were very welcoming and patiently listened to and answered my questions in German even when I was far from perfect. I was happy to see that they are really well integrated, regardless of their medical profession and position.”

Dr. Duccio Rossi during his time in London.

Dr. Andrzej Lejawka with the team in Milan.

Dr. Ákos Bérczi and team members in London.

“I was deeply impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the entire IR team.” says Dr. Duccio Rossi, a consultant IR at Ospedale Luigi Sacco in Milan, Italy, of his time in the IR department of St George’s Hospital in London, England. “Every aspect, from the meticulous board rounds and team meetings to the execution of complex procedures, was managed with the utmost care and precision. The exemplary attitude and high standards of the department are qualities I aspire to bring back to my home institution in Italy.”

Dr. Andrzej Lejawka of Nottingham University Hospitals, who carried out his fellowship at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, said it succinctly: “To summarize, doing a CIRSE fellowship was an amazing experience which has greatly benefited me in a way of further professional development.” (Stay tuned – Dr. Lejawka full report including a video in which he summarised some of his experiences will be online soon!)

Applications for the 2025 funding cycle will be open until February 10, 2025, 23:59 CET. The applications will be reviewed by an independent board and all applicants will be notified of if their application has been successful by March 31, 2025.