Hans Eijsackers Award 2020

Posted on 9 March 2020

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This award is meant as an encouragement for researchers who not only focus on Tourette Syndrome, but actively incorporate the patients’ perspective into their research.

The winner of this award will receive a conference grant to attend the conference of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS), where he or she will be able to reinforce the importance of the patients’ perspective in research. The grant will cover up to €1800 in expenses, divided over three years (€1000, €500 and €300).

This award is named after Hans Eijsackers, our former president, who has decided to step down as volunteer and member of our Advisory Board, due to his age. In his columns in the Tourette Magazine, Hans regularly expressed how hard it is for him to understand what the actual effect of research is on his life with Tourette Syndrome. We value his pragmatic view on research very much. The practical reality should not be separated from research; it should be entangled in it. We’ve been advocating for this for many years. With this in mind we decided to establish this award in his name.

With this award, we want to encourage, inspire and motivate researchers to use the voices of Touretters and their family members in their research into Tourette Syndrome.

The winner of the award will be announced on 7 June 2020, the European Tourette Syndrome Awareness day. The funds that are made available for the winner can be used for the ESSTS Conferences of 2021, 2022 and 2023. However, if the winner plans to attend a different conference in 2020 that relates to Tourette Syndrome, Stichting Gilles de la Tourette can decide to allocate part of the grant to attending this conference. . This way, we hope to contribute to the notion that the voices of Touretters and their families matter in research and encourage researchers to actively take these voices into account.

Conditions To be eligible for this award, a researcher must be presently involved in research into Tourette Syndrome, have been involved in this in the past two years, or will be involved in this in the next two years. The patients’ perspective must play, or have played an active role in this research, or there must be concrete steps being taken (in any form) to do this. Both Dutch and non-Dutch researchers are eligible for this award.

How to apply To apply, send the following documents in PDF to HEaward@tourette.nl

1. A motivational letter of up to 750 words, in which you: o Express the importance of the patients’ perspective in research. o Articulate why you believe this perspective improves the quality of research. o Illustrate how you believe this perspective should be used in research, including examples of how you do, or have done, this.

2. A document of up to 500 words, in which you illustrate how you have included the patients’ perspective in your research. For example, by describing: o How you have used the advice and feedback of Touretters and/or their family members in your research, and in what way this has changed your research. o In what way you have included Touretters and/or their family members in your research and how this has affected your research.

OR

2. A document of up to 500 words, in which you illustrate how you are planning to include the patients’ perspective in your research. For example, by describing: a. Which concrete steps you have taken, or plans you have made to include the patients’ perspective in research. b. In what way you are planning to include Touretters and/or their family members in your research and what your expectations are for how this will affect your research.

3. A short cv of up to 1 A4, stating information that is relevant for this award.

The jury consists of Hans Eijsackers, other adults with Tourette Syndrome and parents of children with Tourette Syndrome, who have research experience.

Deadline: Tuesday 30 April 2020, 11.59pm CET.

The winner of the award will be announced at our Landelijke Contactdag, which is held on 19 April 2020 in Doorn. You are not required to be present to be eligible for this award. There can be no correspondence about the result.

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