Bursaries

BCS - Faculty of Health and Care Bursaries

Opportunity for Future Digital Health and Care Leaders to attend the Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) 2026 in Genoa, Italy

The Faculty of Health and Care of British Computer Society is offering up to three £1,200 travel awards for those working in digital health and care to attend Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) in Genoa, Italy on 25-28 May 2026. MIE is the annual European Informatics conference organised by the European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI).

The Faculty of Health and Care awards are complementary to the Primary Health Care Specialist Group (PHCSG) awards, which are specifically for applicants working in primary health care. The Faculty awards are for applicants working in digital, data, informatics, technical and research roles in a health or care organisation in any setting other than primary care. It also includes those in vocational training, such as apprenticeships. If you work in primary health care, please apply for the Primary Health Care Specialist Group bursaries.  You can find more information on them here: Primary Health Care Specialist Group.

Applicants must be early in their digital career (5 years or less), but not necessarily in their health and care career, if relevant, and should be able to show the potential to be a future leader in the field. They are aimed specifically at those who can show potential and enthusiasm for the discipline, not those who are already well established in their careers.

Other characteristics which will also be considered are:

·         Inclusion on the FEDIP professional register

·         Undertaking a post graduate qualification in digital health and care/informatics at a UK university

·         A member of the current FEDIP Future Digital Leaders Programme cohort 

·         Working in a digital, data, informatics, research or technical role

·         Demonstrable potential to make a meaningful contribution to digital health and care and the Faculty.

The winning applicants will be expected to join the Faculty of Health and Care or one of the health and care specialist groups as soon as possible: https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/faculty-of-health-and-care/#communities-of-practice.

To apply you need to write a proposal maximum 800 words, in the following structure:

1.       Who are you, your email address, contact phone number and current employing organisation

2.       How do you meet the award criteria and why do you want to attend?

3.       Make clear how are you involved in digital health and care.

4.       What areas of digital health and care covered by the conference are of most interest and relevance to you?

5.       How can you help promote digital health and care and the Faculty of Health and Care?

6.       How will attendance contribute to your personal and career development?

Submit your application as a PDF file attachment and send it to groups@bcs.uk and cc elisavet.andrikopoulou@port.ac.uk with topic “MIE 2026 BCS Bursary application”

The closing date for applications is Friday 6th March 2026 at 5pm.

Applications will be reviewed, and the winner selected by a subgroup of the Faculty of Health and Care Board.  The committee decision is final. The winner will be notified no later than 8th of March 2026. The winner must commit to registering for the conference and ensuring active membership of BCS Faculty of Health and Care as soon as possible and be able to claim all travel expenses (to a maximum total budget of £1,200 including the BCS members reduced rate conference fee, travel, accommodation, and subsistence) by 30th June 2026.

The winners will be asked to:

·         write a blog for the Faculty of Health and Care website.

·         contribute to social media during the event. To be agreed with the BCS Faculty of Health and Care communications lead prior to the event.

·         produce a paper or poster on learning from the conference to be presented at the Faculty of Health and Care conference in the next summer.

Any enquiries should be submitted to jan.hoogewerf@bcs.uk