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 ERA President, the Local Congress President, the Secretary of the Congress, the Renal Science Chair, the Chair of the Registry, 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). 

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 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. Renal Physiology, Cell Biology & Genetic Diseases 
2. Glomerular & Tubulo-interstitial Diseases
3. Chronic Kidney Disease
4.  Dialysis  
5. Kidney Transplantation
6. Hypertension and Diabetes
7. AKI and Critical 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. 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:

• 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
• He/she cannot be a resident in the Country where the Congress is held
• 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. 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.

2. Procedure

 The ERA HQ will prepare a list of possible SC Chair candidates with names of past or current Council members, and past members of an ERA Congress Scientific Committee from the last 5 years (i.e for the 2026 Congress the List should have names from 2020 to 2025). This list will be sent to the Ex-Officio Officers for a pre-evaluation/selection. The Ex-Officio Officers will select a short list of possible candidates, according to their CV and expertise. 

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 ERA HQ will circulate this shortlist among the Council members and ask them to express their preferences.  

The final selection will be made by Council from those candidates who have received the highest number of nominations. 

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

3. Invitation of the SC Chair to the Council meetings

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

• Council meeting in June, 2 years before the event, normally to present the composition of the Scientific Committee members and the Plenary lecture speakers’ proposal 
• Council meetings in March and June held the year before the Congress to present, update and finalize the programme (this however does not include the CMEs). 

4. Various

1. The Chair of the SC will make a short presentation during the Opening session at the start of the Congress, he/she 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 max. 4 nights as well as travel.
2. The Chair of the SC is expected to hand over the special medal to the incoming Chair of the following ERA Congress SC.
3. The Chair is an ex-officio member of the CME Committee. 

II. Scientific programme timelines

1. Virtual Council meeting June 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. At this meeting also the proposals for the Plenary Lecture speakers must be presented. 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

The official kick-off of the Scientific Committee is normally held in October/November two years ahead the congress (virtually). In this Meeting the SC Chair present his/her Congress programme vision and asks the committee members to submit suggestions according to their field of expertise.  

 3. Winter 2 years ahead of the Congress

Preliminary invitations to Plenary Speakers are sent out.  

 4. Meetings 1 year ahead of the Congress

In the Winter/Spring 1 year ahead of the Congress there will be two meetings: 

• A meeting held in January to finalize the first proposal of the entire congress programme (with the exception of the CMEs and institutional sessions) 
• A meeting held in March to present the above mentioned draft to the Council (Virtual). 

In June, after receiving the Council’s feedback the programme as described above is finalized so that the invitations to all speakers and session chairs are sent out in the Autumn. 

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 moderated-oral sessions). 

 5. Spring the same year of the Congress

1. A virtual meeting with the Chair of the Scientific Committee, Chair of the Paper Selection Committee, Renal Science Chair, local Congress President and Congress Secretary to select and allocate the free communications.
2. The Chair of the Scientific Committee and the Chair of the Paper Selection Committee present the final Scientific Programme, thus including free communications to the Council for the final approval.
3. 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: February 2024