Canine Practice: A Travel Grant for the Exchange of Experiences Among European Veterinarians

Want to travel and see how your fellow canine veterinarians practice in Europe? If this exchange sounds appealing, why not take advantage of the travel grant awarded by the Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (Fecava)? If you’d like to travel in 2017–2018, there’s still time to apply for the “Fecava Travel Scholarship,” which awards €2,000 each year. To apply, simply submit your pet clinic’s application by May 31, in writing and in English, introducing your team members and selecting three European countries—all Fecava members—that you’d like to visit.   The Fecava Travel Scholarship initiative aims to place companion animal veterinary medicine in a global context at the European level. The goal is to enable veterinarians practicing in different regions of Europe to visit one another for a few days to benefit from each other’s practical experience. Ideally, they will also be able to participate in a joint continuing education event. The grant, in the amount of €2,000 per year, is awarded by Fecava to help fund exchange visits between the two veterinary practices selected each year. For visits taking place in 2017–2018, interested veterinarians who do not have European partners may submit their individual travel grant applications by May 31, 2017, via email to Fecava*. Their application, written in English, must introduce the members of the veterinary team and propose three regions to visit within the federation’s member countries. Fecava will then help them find counterparts in the desired regions or suggest other options based on available opportunities. Once the two parties have been matched, they must then submit a joint application to Fecava, by mail and in English, no later than July 15, 2017. In no more than 500 words, this text must list the names and titles of the trip participants, detail how the exchange will be organized, and outline the planned training objectives. All applications are collected by Fecava, which compiles a shortlist of up to six candidates. The names of the 2017 scholarship recipients will be announced at the congress in Copenhagen (Denmark) this coming September. They will then receive an initial payment of €1,000, provided that the first visit takes place no later than six months and the return visit no later than twelve months after the date of this announcement. The remaining €1,000 will be paid upon receipt of a report on the exchange (300 to 500 words in English, with photographic documentation) written by the participants. The grant may be used, among other things, to cover travel expenses, lodging, rental of the training room, etc. The successful applicants for the 2016 travel grant, announced at the most recent Fecava conference in Vienna (Austria), were Marisa Luisa Suárez and Frida Quintano (Spain) and Bieke Lannoy and Koen De Bleecker (Belgium). The Spanish veterinarians visited Belgium in October 2017, and the Belgian veterinarians will soon travel to Spain. In 2015, the recipients were Livia Dumitrescu and Mariana Lihet (Orthovet Clinic in Bucharest, Romania), paired with Alasdair Hotston-Moore and Alex Gough (Rosemary Lodge Veterinary Hospital, United Kingdom).   * Applications from interested veterinarians should be sent to Fecava ([email protected]), with copies to Lea Kreszinger ([email protected]) and Linda Jakušenoka ([email protected]).