ERA Congress Scientific Committee (SC)

The Council will appoint an ERA Congress Scientific Committee consisting of no less than 15 and no more than 20 ordinary members (plus the ex-officio members mentioned below), to be chosen from Members of the Association; exceptions can be made to this rule only for non-nephrologists. The duty of the Scientific Committee is to create the scientific programme of the Congress.

The Presidents of the Congress, the Renal Science Chair, the Clinical Nephrology Governance Chair, the Chair of the Paper Selection Committee, the YNP Chair, the CME course Chair, the NDT EiC and the CKJ EiC will all be ex-officio members of the Scientific Committee.

The Chairs of the Scientific Committee of the previous and following year will participate in the activities of the SC as advisers/observers with no vote.

At least three of the ordinary members of the Scientific Committee must be members of the ERA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and at least one ordinary member should be nominated/endorsed by the YNP Board.

The composition of the Scientific Committee should be balanced to reflect the international nature of the Association therefore no more than 1/5 of its ordinary members should be from the same country. It is also important to take into consideration the representation of gender and age, thus also women and young people must be included in the final composition of the Scientific Committee.

All the ordinary members of this Committee, as well as the Chair, must sign the appropriate disclaimer form.

Experts in all the fields mentioned below, as well as any other identified by the Council, should be included in the Scientific Committee.

1. basic sciences, including immunology and immunopathology;
2. hypertension;
3. clinical nephrology, including AKI and CKD;
4. haemodialysis;
5. peritoneal dialysis;
6. transplantation.

The Chair of the Scientific Committee will also allocate the Scientific Committee members in the specific tracks in which the Congress scientific programme is divided (the Council can, at any time, decide to modify them):

1. Fluids and electrolytes, tubular transport, renal physiology, urolithiasis;
2. Hereditary disorders, development, pregnancy, paediatric nephrology;
3. Glomerular disease and general clinical nephrology;
4. CKD – pathophysiology, epidemiology, prevention, progression, aging;
5. ESRD, dialysis;
6. Home therapies, PD;
7. Transplantation and immunology;
8. Hypertension, diabetes, vascular diseases;
9. AKI, intensive care nephrology.

All members of the Scientific Committee receive a free congress membership.

Exceptions in the occasion of joint congresses or collaborations with other Societies.

When a Congress is held jointly with another society or whenever the Council enters into an agreement with another Society, the number of ordinary members of the Scientific Committee can be increased in order to take advantage of the contribution from the partner society. If the partner society is a national society, its members’ participation in the SC will represent an exception to the standard rule concerning the nationality of SC members. In such a case the number of SC ordinary members of the same nationality should not exceed 1/3 of the total.

I. Appointment of the Chair of the Scientific Committee.

The ERA Council will be in charge of electing the Chair of the Scientific Committee according to the procedure outlined below.

1. Requirements:

Essential criteria:

1. 1. He/she should be a person who can dedicate some of his/her time to this activity and react promptly when needed and must be extremely well organized;
   2. The candidate should also fulfil at least one of the following criteria:
      • Past or current Council member;
      • Past member of an ERA Congress Scientific Committee.

Further criteria:

1. 1. Full ERA member;
   2. High ranking scientist;
   3. Wide range of interests in Nephrology;
   4. Wide network of scientific relationships;
   5. Experience in running scientific committees;
   6. He/she should provide his/her vision for the scientific programme of a Congress before the election;
   7. He/she cannot have been Chair of the Scientific Committee in the past;
   8. Candidate must send a standardized CV that must include the following items:
      • Curriculum Vitae;
      • Scientific areas of interest;
      • Membership in scientific committees/boards/societies (to be subdivided into: leadership roles in professional societies; membership in professional societies; editorial scientific activities; advisory board member and review activities);
      • International education and teaching;
      • Most relevant invitations – societies;
      • Awards;
      • Organization of national or international scientific meetings;
      • Parameters linked to publications in the respective field (Google Scholar: H-Index, no. of citations);
      • Ten selected and updated publications and three best cited.

2. Procedure

At least four weeks before the Council meeting in which the Chair of the Scientific Committee must be elected (this cannot be later than the Spring Council meeting held two years before the Congress), the person in charge of the Scientific Program within the ERA HQ must ask all Council members to send maximum 2 names of possible candidates for this position. Only people who fulfil the requirements mentioned above can be considered as valid candidates.

A selection will be done according to the nominees who received the highest number of nominations. In case of need, the President, Secretary-Treasurer and the Renal Science Chair will then be in charge of choosing the candidates with the best three scores (in case of a tie, there can be more than three candidates).

The shortlisted candidates must approve the candidacy and send the standardized CV and their vision for the scientific program that will be circulated to the Council for the election of the Chair.

The ERA President will be in charge of informing the selected winner.

3. Various

1. 1. The Chair of the SC will receive a diploma during the Welcome Ceremony (given by the ERA President) and he/she will be invited to attend the President’s Dinner, finally, if he/she is not also a speaker at the Congress he/she will receive complimentary hotel accommodation for 4 nights and travel.
   2. The Chair is an ex-officio member of the following:

• • • GNC;
    • CME;
    • SEID.

4. Invitation of the SC Chair to the Council meetings

The Chair of the Scientific Committee can be invited to attend Council meetings when needed, however, he/she should be invited to the following meetings:

1. 1. Pre-Congress meeting 2 years before the event;
   2. The Spring, pre-Congress and Fall meetings held the year before.

II. Scientific programme timelines

1. Pre-Congress Council meeting held 2 years ahead of the Congress

The Chair of the Scientific Committee presents his/her proposal for the composition of the Scientific Committee to the ERA President and then to the Council. After the Council’s approval, the Committee members are invited to join and, with a later invitation, are asked to submit suggestions according to their fields of expertise.

2. Fall 2 years ahead of the Congress

Normally a meeting of the Scientific Committee is organised during ASN’s Kidney Week with those Committee members who are already attending this meeting.

3. Winter 2 years ahead of the Congress

Preliminary invitations to Plenary Speakers are sent out.

4. Meetings 1 year ahead of the Congress

The Chair of the Scientific Committee prepares a selection of the best proposals received for symposia and mini lectures and presents it to the Council (Spring Council meeting) and, thus, a meeting with the Chair of the Scientific Committee, the local Congress President and the ERA President is organized approx. 1 month before the Spring Council meeting.

5. 1 year ahead of the Congress

• • Meeting of the Scientific Committee during the annual ERA Congress;
  • The scientific programme is finalised, in particular in coordination with the Committees in charge of any other special initiative (i.e. CME Courses, Meet the Expert, etc.);
  • Invitations to all speakers are sent out in the Autumn/Fall.

IMPORTANT. Due to compliance, it is essential that the entire programme of the Congress, with the names of the speakers and the titles of the sessions is finalised (thus with the speakers and titles confirmed) at least 6 months before the Congress (the only exception to this rule concerns the free communication and mini-oral sessions).

6. Spring the same year of the Congress

• • Meeting of the Chair of the Scientific Committee, Chair of the Paper Selection Committee, local Congress President and Congress Secretary (if any) to select and allocate the free communications;
  • The Chair of the Scientific Committee and the Chair of the Paper Selection Committee present the final Scientific Programme including free communications to the Council for approval;
  • The invitations to the chairs are sent out;
  • The abstracts authors are informed of the outcome of the acceptance/not-acceptance and the grant winners are also informed accordingly, these letters are signed by the Chair of the Scientific Programme and the Chair of the Paper Selection Committee.

Last update: September 2022