Traineeship: Human Acceptable Daily Intakes for Active Substances Used in Veterinary Medicines (European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway Citizens Only)

Position description

Selection procedure reference: EMA/TR/11123 

Duration: 10 months

Deadline for applications: 30 September 2025 23:59 CET 

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU), located in Amsterdam. It began operating in 1995. It is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU.

This traineeship opportunity is now open for applications until 30 September 2025 23:59 CET, with an intake on 1 March 2026.

About the traineeship programme: The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master’s students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description: We are looking for a trainee in the Evaluation and Innovation support Department within Veterinary Medicines Division.

Specific objectives and projects

The selected trainee will have the opportunity to contribute to the following projects:

• Develop a better understanding of the relationship between safe limits for residues of veterinary medicines in food-producing animals and their pharmacological activity.
• Application of 3Rs in regulatory testing of medicinal products (CVMP workplan 2025).
• Implementation of the Agency’s Regulatory Science strategy – Reinforcing and further embedding application of 3Rs principles (EMA Regulatory Science to 2025).
• Veterinary medicinal products used in food-producing animals can leave pharmacologically active residues in animal-derived foods. To ensure consumer safety, a comprehensive risk assessment is conducted before such substances are approved for use. A core component of this assessment is the establishment of an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI): the amount of a substance that can be safely consumed on a daily basis over a lifetime without posing health risks.

The Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) has already established ADIs for many substances, based on their pharmacological and toxicological profiles.

As part of this project, the trainee will:

• Compile existing data on ADIs and their scientific justifications.
• Collect and analyze related information such as pharmacological or chemical classification and other relevant attributes.
• Investigate potential patterns or correlations between ADI values and substance classes (e.g. whether certain classes consistently exhibit similar ADIs).
• Explore the potential of using these patterns to inform and optimize toxicity testing strategies for future substances.
• The project will culminate in a comprehensive report outlining the methodology, analysis, and conclusions. If the findings are considered impactful, the results may be prepared for scientific publication.

Learning outcomes

Through this traineeship, the trainee will :

• improve his/her knowledge in toxicology, and in the classification of active substances used in medicines.
• gain knowledge of the legislative frameowork related to the safety of veterinary medicines for the consumers of food of animal origin
• gain experience of reviewing and understanding scientific regulatory reports
• gain experience of working in a multicultural, multidisciplinary environment

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

• enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
• possess a university degree in life sciences or a chemistry related degree (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained between 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2025 or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master’s student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
• a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

For criteria 1 and 2, you will be required to provide proof in the application form and at the interview stage. Failing to present these documents may result in the disqualification from the procedure.

Additional skills

In addition to the eligibility criteria, you will have:

• Experience of reviewing scientific reports
• Experience of using Excel
• Experience of writing scientific publications
• Good written communication skills

Conditions of traineeship: The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 March 2026 – 31 December 2026) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €1,963.93 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

The conditions of employment are stated in the Executive Decision on rules governing the traineeship programme at the EMA available at the website.

Expected selection timelines

• Deadline for applications: 30 September 2025 23:59 CET 
• Assessments (remote): From mid-October 2025 to mid-November 2025
• Decision and offers:  By end of November 2025
• Placement start: 1 March 2026

Deadline for Applications: 30 September 2025 23:59 CET 

Application instructions

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