Welcome to the 9th EAPS Congress Programme Scheduling

Abstract Body

There are many opportunities for the future of paediatrics including new and improved patterns of care, medicines, technology, and data. Some, but not all, of these opportunities will benefit babies, children, young people, and their families. We need to avoid wasting resources on ineffective, harmful, or expensive approaches to care. We need to implement opportunities effectively. To exploit these opportunities, we need to know about the benefits, harms, and costs of each opportunity through effective evaluation.

Evaluation needs to be centred on the needs and voices of babies, children, young people, and their families.

Effective evaluation requires structured assessment that is fit for purpose, proportionate, and transparent.

The nature of data that contributes to evaluation needs to be high quality, based on standards, and easily available for reuse (in line with FAIR principles and respect for data privacy).

The processes of data collection need to be efficient and minimise burdens on study participants, researchers, and sites.

Clear implementation needs to be planned during the evaluation of an opportunity.

The expertise to meet all these needs is available through Clinical Research Networks. It is essential to generalise access to high quality evaluation in paediatric medicine. Clinical research networks in paediatrics and rare diseases are available across all paediatric specialties and need to link widely with industry and academic researchers.

We need to develop team science while recognizing individual contributions.