Introduction & Purpose:

The ISCO Clinical Observership Placement (the “ISCOlarship”) is a participant-tailored medical and clinical oncology observership program provided jointly by the International School of Clinical Oncology (ISCO) and Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR), Paris.

The selected winner(s), also referred to as “placed-applicant(s)”, will undergo a one-month observership at IGR, attending the daily clinical and academic routines of IGR medical staff and sharing experiences with doctors, residents, and research staff under the supervision of a designated medical advisor.

The ISCOlarship Placement offers a unique opportunity to develop the placed-applicant’s expertise in cancer research and clinical practice. This Placement is not awarded for academic credit.

Up to six (6), Placements are offered per annual ISCO congress cycle, subject to the eligibility and scoring criteria defined in this Agreement.

1. Agreement

  1. This Agreement, together with the Application Form, sets out the terms and conditions under which the applicant agrees to sit for the ISCOlarship Exam and participate in the Placement.

    Each applicant agrees to be bound by this Agreement, provided that they are granted a Placement. Participation in the Placement is conditional upon acceptance of this Agreement in full.

    Upon accepting a Placement offer, the placed-applicant shall hereinafter be referred to as the “clinical observer” for the duration of the Placement and post-placement obligations.

2. Application

Upon submitting an application, each applicant declares to ISCO that he/she:

    • is between 25 and 42 years of age at the time of submitting the application form;
    • makes the application on his/her own behalf and in his/her own name, and not on behalf of or in the name of any third party;
    • has not participated in any previous ISCOlarship Placement;
    • is an oncologist or oncologist-in-training with at least six (6) months of clinical experience in internal medicine, medical oncology, clinical oncology, radiation oncology, or surgical oncology;
    • has attended at least 75% of the lectures of the most recent ISCO Annual Congress, as per the official congress agenda published on the ISCO website and official social media accounts;
    • speaks English fluently at a minimum of CEFR Level C1; proficiency in French at DELF Level A1 is considered an advantage but is not mandatory;
    • is a citizen of a lower-middle-income or low-income country as classified by the World Bank at the time of application;
    • shall act in good faith and in full accordance with this Agreement throughout his/her participation in the Placement.

3. ISCOlarship Exam

    1. Eligibility as defined in Section 2;
    2. Submission of a fully completed Application Form with an acceptance notification from ISCO confirming eligibility to sit for the exam;
    3. Attendance of at least 75% of the ISCO Annual Congress lectures on both congress days;
    4. Ranking among the highest-scoring applicants in the ISCOlarship Exam.

      The ISCOlarship Exam shall take place in the main congress hall at the end of the second day of the ISCO Annual Congress.

      The exam questions are set by the international faculty to assess applicants on the scientific material presented during the ISCO Annual Congress.

      The exam is conducted anonymously and under the supervision of the ISCOlarship Executive Director. Eligibility verification is completed prior to the announcement of results to prevent any erroneous declaration of winners.

      Exam scores shall be monitored, corrected, and announced by the ISCOlarship Executive Director. The results will be declared during the Gala Dinner of the ISCO Annual Congress.

      A Placement will be offered to applicants according to the following criteria:

    ISCO and IGR reserve the right to withhold the Placement offer within fifteen (15) business days of announcing the exam results, should any administrative, logistical, or eligibility issue arise.

    In the event that a winner is subsequently found to be ineligible under Section 2, the Placement offer shall be considered void and the observership shall be cancelled. In such an event, the Placement may be offered to the next highest-scoring eligible applicant at ISCO’s discretion.

4. Placement

The ISCO may, at its discretion, offer a Placement to the Applicant after the announcement of the ISCOlarship Exam scores.

    1. The Applicant must confirm to the ISCO by either accepting or rejecting the Placement offer within 10 business days from the announcement day.
    2. If the Applicant rejects the offer, the ISCO shall be under no obligation to make any further Placement offers to that applicant (but may do so at its own discretion).
    3. The placed-applicant will be required to submit their passports, IDs, qualifications and any further required documents to the ISCO for the facilitation of travel logistics.
    4. ISCO is responsible to provide the resources and facilitate all logistics pertaining the ISCOlarship for the placed-applicants. i.e, flights, accommodation, living allowance, ISCOlarship Placement structure and communication with IGR medical advisor
    5. The Placement shall be for a term of 1 month in accordance with the placement notified to the applicant by the ISCO.
    6. IGR will provide the placed-applicant (clinical observer) with an academic/clinical advisor whom shall be contacted and referred to in case of any queries.
    7. The academic/clinical advisor’s name will be announced to the placed-applicants (clinical observers) as soon as they arrive to IGR.

5. Post-Placement

The following deliverables are required from each clinical observer within four (4) weeks of completing the Placement:

  • A written one-page report summarizing the observership experience and knowledge gained;
  • Photographic proof of attendance at IGR, as directed by ISCO.

The above materials are subject to publication on the ISCO website, annual congress reports, official social media channels, and the ISCO handbook. By accepting the Placement, the clinical observer consents to such publication.

A testimonial video may additionally be required from the clinical observer. Where requested, this may be filmed independently by the clinical observer or by the ISCO professional photography team during the Placement period. ISCO will communicate this requirement in advance.