Education

Objectives and Scope

The EPC Education Committee supports the European Pancreatic Club’s mission by developing, curating, and disseminating high-quality educational activities across the EPC community.

• Design and deliver educational content for EPC meetings (courses, symposia, interactive sessions, and skills-oriented formats).
• Develop year-round educational initiatives (webinars, online learning resources, and curated educational materials).
• Develop and maintain Pancreas Academy as a structured, disease-oriented learning repository for EPC members and the wider community.
• Support training and career development for trainees and early-career professionals (fellowships, mentorship, and opportunities for engagement).
• Coordinate with other EPC committees and partners to ensure scientific accuracy, relevance, and consistency of messaging.
• Provide a clear pathway for endorsement and dissemination of education-focused initiatives through EPC channels.

Leadership and Members

Current and Future Projects

2025 highlights

• Strengthened EPC’s educational presence across key pancreas-focused meetings and collaborations.
• Standardised endorsement workflows and improved transparency for external requests.
• Continued development of Pancreas Academy as the central repository for structured, disease-oriented learning content.
• Prepared a template webinar (pain in chronic pancreatitis) to standardise future educational delivery and content reuse.

Pancreas Academy

What it is: Pancreas Academy is a structured repository for educational content on pancreatic diseases. Core disease-oriented modules include:

• Pancreatic cancer
• Acute and chronic pancreatitis
• Pancreatic cystic lesions
• Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (including special situations)
• Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms
• Foundational module on pancreatic anatomy and physiology

2026 priorities: The 2026 focus is to accelerate content production and shift from a static library to a dynamic learning ecosystem:

Country-specific webinars with national partner societies

A practical growth model in 2026 is to focus on one country at a time, in cooperation with a national partner society (e.g., AESPANC for Spain). The objective is to increase EPC’s tangible local value and grow dual memberships without requiring a central budget.

• Format: two talks by national speakers in the local language plus one international speaker (with subtitles where feasible).
• Targeted invitation to the national society’s audience; open access for other EPC members.
• EPC host/co-host ideally bilingual to facilitate inclusive discussion.
• Clear member-value messaging and light call-to-action regarding EPC membership/dual membership benefits.

Endorsements

Endorsement and partnerships

The Education Committee supports EPC endorsement and dissemination requests for educational meetings, events, and learning initiatives aligned with EPC’s mission. The endorsement process aims to be transparent, consistent, and timely.

A major focus has been to ensure that EPC is scientifically visible and meaningfully present in key pancreatic meetings. Recent collaborations have included DPC Meeting 2026 (Freiburg), the Harvard course “Management of Pancreatic Disorders for the Practicing Clinician” (September 2025), PICTURES (Bologna), METAPS, the International Pancreatitis Symposium (Newcastle), and the AESPANC National Pancreas Meeting (Marbella, January 2026).

What EPC endorses

• International meetings and national meetings with international participation in the area of pancreatic research/education.
• Meetings organised by an academic non-profit organisation in Europe.
• EPC pre- or post-congress satellite symposia linked to EPC meetings are automatically endorsed.

Core requirements (meeting organisation and programme)

• No direct involvement of sponsors in the scientific programme or scientific committee; strict conflict-of-interest disclosure rules.
• At least one EPC member is part of the organising and/or scientific committee.
• Programme meets local continuing education standards or EACCME standards.
• Invited speakers are recognised experts, come from at least 3 different European countries (also for national meetings), and aim for gender balance.
• Oral communications are systematically reviewed by an abstract selection committee (if applicable).
• EPC members may benefit from reduced registration fees where feasible.

Application package (what to submit)

• Applicants should submit the following to allow efficient review:
• Scientific programme (draft or final).
• List of invited speakers/faculty.
• List of sponsors and any other society endorsements.
• Short history of the meeting and previous programme(s), if applicable.
• Statement on continuing education compliance (local credits/EACCME) and conflict-of-interest policy.
• Requested support: endorsement only, and/or dissemination through EPC channels (website/newsletter/social media/member mailing).

EPC visibility and promotion (for endorsed activities)

• Use of EPC logo on publications, programme brochure, programme website, and promotional materials.
• Logo displayed with the text “Endorsed by”, comparable in size to other endorsing organisations.
• Recognition of EPC during welcome remarks by a programme co-chair (EPC member); EPC walk-in slide deck available.
• Endorsed programme listed in the EPC website ‘Events’ section and disseminated through EPC communication channels, as appropriate.

Review process and timelines

• Submission email: info@europeanpancreaticclub.org
• Submit at least 3 months in advance to allow adequate review.
• Assigned Education Committee members (not directly involved in the event) evaluate the application and provide an assessment within 10 working days for formal approval at the next EPC Council meeting.
• Council decision is typically communicated within one month from application.