The European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) was founded in 1989 with the primary aim of providing a forum to promote standards of excellence in medical writing by furthering professional development through training. EMWA currently has nearly 900 members working either in-house or freelance in the pharmaceutical industry, contract research or medical communications field involved with regulatory writing, translation and writing for the public.
The EMWA Professional Development Programme (EPDP) is one of a few opportunities available to obtain a qualification in medical writing. EMWA consider it important to ensure that the EPDP certification is regarded as a valuable qualification by the medical writing community, employers and clients. To achieve this, the EMWA Professional Development Committee (EPDC) strives to deliver high quality training workshops for which credits are awarded to participants who also successfully complete pre and post-workshop assignments. Workshops are provided by experienced writers and specialists in their field who do so without remuneration...
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The EPDC selects workshops to cater for a broad audience of writers; workshop content is assessed and the programme adapted to meet the needs of EMWA members. All workshops are evaluated by participants to verify their quality and usefulness. Workshops are currently offered in the following areas: Drug Development e.g. protocol & report writing, good clinical practice, ethics and regulatory guidance; Language and Writing e.g. improving English usage, editing & proof-reading, medical & pharmaceutical English for non-native speakers; Medical Science e.g. pharmacology, epidemiology and pharmacogenetics; Medical Communication e.g. publication planning & strategy, preparing medical communication documents, conference & meeting reporting; Professional Techniques e.g. data presentation techniques, presenting statistics, using data sources and medical writing software, and Soft Skills e.g. interpersonal skills and training methods. After successfully completing eight workshops participants can obtain an EPDP specialised or multidisciplinary certificate at either the foundation or advanced level.
EMWA holds conferences twice a year in various European cities; a five day Spring and a two day Autumn meeting. Spring conference themes have included Regulatory Writing and Scientific & Medical Translation. At these conferences short workshops, seminars and plenary lectures by invited speakers are offered in addition to the EPDP to keep EMWA members up to date with the current trends and regulations.
EMWA’s other aims include providing professional and social networking opportunities, and increasing awareness of medical writing throughout Europe. These aims are met by the provision of the EMWA journal 'The Write Stuff' which is published four times a year; the EMWA website which hosts information about forthcoming conferences and training, job advertisements and freelance opportunities; and by establishing links with other organisations, e.g. The Institute of Clinical Research, to increase awareness of medical writing within the broader clinical research community and to provide cross-function training opportunities.
