YO Observerships
€2,000 Observership Grants for Young Ophthalmologists
Applications are now open - Deadline: 17 July 2026
Open to trainees and residents in all European countries who wish to visit a European hospital/university to observe clinical practice. Ten €2000 observership grants are available annually.
The YO Observership programme supports European trainee ophthalmologists who wish to observe clinical practice in a hospital or university setting. Awardees must be ESCRS Members. Free 5-Year ESCRS Membership for Trainees is available. For more information visit the ESCRS Membership section.
Grants are available for:
- Residents in the second half of their training programme
- Applicants must be trainee ophthalmologists working in Europe, and must be ESCRS members by the time the Fellowship begins
Awardees must make their own application to a suitable university or hospital centre (see list below). Applications to other centres not listed will not be considered
- Duration: two to three weeks
- Host: agree with the host before application that they are willing to host you for your proposed time and dates and provide evidence of this agreement in your application
How to apply
Your application must contain the following information:
- Curriculum Vitae (one-page) including your email address, surgical experience, qualifications
- List of publications and teaching activities within the last 3-years
- Letter of intent from applicant stating
- Their principal interest in anterior segment surgery
- Perceived benefit from training outside their own country
- Benefit to your career and home centre
- Letter of support from the present head of department of their institution
- Evidence of a pre-agreement with one of the named hosts below
Grants will be awarded based on the application documents. Ineligible applications will be given 1 week to complete missing areas and then will be removed from consideration should no reply be given. 10 grants will be awarded per year, assessed on quality of application and on a first-come-first-served basis.
The successful applicant will be asked to provide a short report of their experience at the end of their observership.
Clinics/Hospital Centres
The clinics listed below have observership programmes available for visiting ESCRS Young Ophthalmologists. You must reach out to them directly to obtain an agreement with the host that they will be willing to host you.
ESCRS will not provide contact details for the named hosts due to GDPR. You must contact them by publicly available methods.
| Clinic / Hospital | Location | Host | Areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acibadem Maslak Hospital | Istanbul, Turkey | Banu Cosar | Advanced refractive surgery and FLACS |
| Asst Spedali Civili di Brescia / University of Brescia | Brescia, Italy | Vito Romano | Cornea and Cataract |
| Ayrshire Eye Clinic | Ayr, Scotland, UK | Sathish Srinivasan | Cataract, corneal and laser refractive surgery |
| Bascom Palmer Eye Institute | Miami, USA | Sotiria Palioura | All subspecialties |
| Bristol Eye Hospital | Bristol, UK | Sarah Schimansky | All ophthalmic subspecialties except refractive surgery |
| CHU Morvan – Université de Bretagne Occidentale | Brest, France | Prof. Beatrice Cochener‑Lamard | Cornea, cataract and refractive surgery, glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology and retina |
| ELZA Institute | Zurich, Switzerland | Farhad Hafezi | Keratoconus, CXL, complex corneal and refractive surgery |
| Hanusch Hospital | Vienna, Austria | Prof. Oliver Findl | Cataract |
| Hospital Regional Universitario de Malaga | Malaga, Spain | Carlos Rocha de Lossada | Retina or glaucoma |
| Institute of Vision and Optics | Crete, Greece | Prof. Ioannis Pallikaris | Refractive Surgery |
| Instituto Microcirugia Ocular of Barcelona | Barcelona, Spain | Dr José Luis Güell | Cataract, refractive, cornea and glaucoma |
| Medical University of Vienna | Vienna, Austria | Claudette Abela‑Formanek | |
| Ophthalmica Sanoptis Eye Institute | Thessaloniki, Greece | Miltos Balidis | Cornea & External Eye Disease, Advanced Corneal Transplantation, Anterior Segment Surgery |
| Ruhr University Eye Hospital | Bochum, Germany | Burkhard Dick | |
| Sahlgrenska University Hospital | Sweden | Thiemo Rudolph | All subspecialities except orbital surgery |
| St. Franziskus Hospital Münster | Germany | Suphi Taneri | Cataract, refractive surgery, keratoconus |
| University Eye Clinic | Maastricht, The Netherlands | Dr Rudy Nuijts | Cataract, Cornea |
| University Eye Clinic in Florence | Florence, Italy | Dr Rita Mencucci | |
| University Eye Hospital Ljubljana | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Vladimir Pfeifer | |
| University Hospital of Coimbra | Coimbra, Portugal | Andreia Rosa | All areas |
| University Hospital of Copenhagen | Copenhagen, Denmark | Lars Holm, Louise Hildestad | All areas |
| UZA | Belgium | Luc Van Os | Paediatric cataract and bag‑in‑the‑lens |