Background
The ISTH has always given a priority for educational activities around the globe but was quite handicapped because of lack of sufficient funds. During the last few years, it became possible to organize several educational meetings apart from the ISTH “reach the world program” in which young scientists receive support for participating in the ISTH Congresses, and in addition to scholarships granted to young scientists from underdeveloped countries for training at designated training centers.
So far, several formats of Educational activities have taken place. For example, in year 2000 a 2-day Educational Symposium on bleeding and thrombotic disorders took place in Alexandria, Egypt. In October 2001 an ISTH-sponsored symposium took place during the Latin American Congress in Mexico City in which invited lecturers presented reviews and interacted with the audience. In 2002 an intensive 2-day educational meeting, including a laboratory workshop took place in Vellore, India. In 2006, a symposium on bleeding disorders took place in Phnom Penn, Cambodia, in which a full day was devoted to a wet workshop of basic coagulation tests. Other ISTH – sponsored educational activities were held in Rio de Janeiro, Casablanca, St Petersburg and Cairo. Past ISTH educational activities are listed here.
The purpose of this document is to provide an outline of the prerequisites for submitting an application to organize an ISTH-sponsored Educational activity.
Eligibility
Any member of the ISTH can submit an application for organizing an ISTH-sponsored educational meeting. The person in charge should be an experienced physician or scientist in the discipline of Thrombosis and Hemostasis who has organized national or international meetings. This person should be backed up by a team of experts and good administration. The Educational Committee will prepare a roster of members who are good educators and willing to donate their time, in order to assist local organizers to prepare a program.
Criteria for support by ISTH: basic courses
- Support could be programmatic and logistic (i.e. assisting in recruiting faculty) and financial
- Support should mainly go to specially designed educational activities
- Support could also be provided to educational activities held as clearly separate entities at international conferences
- No support will be provided to national meetings
- Support should be limited to activities for which local resources are insufficient
- Encouragement will be given to inclusion of dry and wet laboratory workshops, whenever appropriate
- Organizers will have the responsibility for local support of Faculty; the ISTH funding will be restricted to reimbursement of travel of foreign faculty, who will donate their time
Criteria for support by ISTH: advanced courses
- Advanced courses will be promoted, both during SSC meetings or as stand-alone activities
- Such advanced courses will require external financial support
Topics
Topics of educational activities should be carefully selected taking into account the specific needs of the region where the activity is planned.
Objectives
The objectives of a meeting must be clearly defined.
Target audience
It should be clearly stated to whom the activity is designated. For example, a meeting could be targeted at clinicians (hematologists, cardiologists, etc.), Ph.D.s, laboratory experts or at mixed audiences. The maximum size of the audience must be defined.
Venue
The venue should be explicitly described and its convenience vis a vis the distance from the accommodations of the participants should be reckoned with.
Accommodations
Different categories of accommodations are desirable.
Program
A tentative program for any format of a meeting should include possible lecturers (local and from abroad), dates, the preferred topics, timetable, etc.
A program should be prepared together with the co-Chairmen of the ISTH Council’s Education Committee taking advantage of the cumulative experience of previous events.
Finances
When financial support is needed, the ISTH will cover the travel expenses of the foreign speakers and the local organizer will take care of all local expenses. This usually means that special funds from other sources are indispensable. The foreign speakers volunteer their time and energy and do not receive an honorarium. For flights over five hours, business class tickets will be offered. A budget for the whole event should be submitted for review by the education committee.
Publications
It is a prerequisite to print the program of the meeting. It may be helpful if the speakers prepare handouts for distribution by the organizer. Formal papers for proceedings or publication in national or international journals are not encouraged. If a workshop is planned, preparation of a manual can be very helpful. Exemplary in this regard is the manual prepared by Professor Mammen Chandy and his colleagues from Vellore, India for the Nov. 2002 Educational Symposium. This manual can be obtained through headquarters. Also, it is very useful to prepare and distribute CDs of the slides used by the Faculty during their lectures.
Publicity
Once approved, the educational event and program will be published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Hemostasis in 3 consecutive issues 3-6 months prior to the meeting, and on the web site of ISTH.
Evaluation
- Evaluation sheets should be filled by all participants in the ISTH-sponsored event. The organizer is in charge of preparing and implementing it with the assistance of the Chairman of the ISTH Education Committee. The organizer will analyze the results and submit a report to the Education Committee.
- At the end of the event the speakers are asked to submit a report on their impressions.
Procedure
- A letter of intent should be sent by the organizer to the Chairmen of the ISTH-Education Committee with an attached CV of the organizer.
- The organizer receives guidelines how to prepare an application and works in lieu with the Chairman of the Education Committee on bringing the program into shape.
- The application is distributed by the Chairman of the Education Committee to the members of the committee.
- The application is discussed by the members of the Committee either by e-mail or during a meeting of the Committee.
- If approved the Education Committee submits its recommendation to the Council for final approval and funding.
- For advanced courses during SCC meetings, the organiser of the meeting will liaise with the Chairmen of the Education Committee