The 5-year Agenda

The student council represents the interests of students & trainees and has the goal is to engage a lively student community among trainees in pharmacoepidemiology. To fulfill this, the student council needs to be aware of its member interests. In the past, student member interests and needs have often been expressed by communication with student chapters, during conference events, and other networking opportunities, but seldom systematically. Given that SISPE is steadily growing, the student council wanted to conduct a general assessment of its member’s interest, to define the major areas of its work for the next years. The 5-Year Agenda was therefore designed to identify the needs and expectations of student members and to fulfill ISPE´s 2020-2024 Strategic Plan.

Objectives of the project includes: 1) to identify the interests of SISPE members; 2) to foster the inclusion of students within the larger ISPE society; 3) to ensure that students’ needs and interests are met; and 4) to establish milestones for the successful implementation of the ISPE 2020-2024 Strategic Plan.

To achieve the objectives, we completed two surveys in 2021 and 2022. From the results, we identified three main areas of interest: Career development & career opportunities, Educational events, and Networking with peers. Among those three different areas, five action items were identified to be of most benefit to student members:

• Events that focus on career pathways for pharmacoepidemiologists
• Networking opportunities with potential employers
• Educational events (e.g., workshops hold from SISPE members)
• Workshops regarding the job application process
• Networking opportunities specifically for students / trainees

To meet identified needs and interests of student members and to achieve identified action items, the student council increased additional positions at the 2022 ICPE conference to aid in improving the yearly activities of SISPE. These positions included the Immediate Past Chair, Career Development Lead, Networking & Communication Lead, and Educational & Academic Lead. All leads will help in developing relevant activities of the area of interest and to serve as a liaison between the student council and other relevant councils/committees and institutions.