Key takeaways:
- Cardiovascular diseases account for nearly 45% of all deaths in Europe, and continual growth in ageing population is increasing demand for all types of healthcare, including those that require extensive simulation-based training – especially in the rapidly growing field of electrophysiology dealing with heart rhythm disorders
- Today there is a significant lack of coherent, standardised, and high-quality simulation training for healthcare professionals across Europe in all medical specialties
- Most of current available courses are run by private companies and often separate theory, simulation, and lab access, and while being high quality this separation can make such courses redundant and non-inclusive
- New EU-funded project "ERIS" (May 1, 2025 – April 30, 2027) aims to create and validate the first ever European Research Institute on Simulation (ERIS), an educational institution at European level, based on a collaborative academic network for healthcare professionals training in interventional electrophysiology
Brussels, 4 November, 2025: There is a pressing need for academically driven simulation training across Europe. To address this gap, the European Union's Horizon Programme is funding a project titled the European Research Institute on Simulation (ERIS), aiming to coordinate the simulation-based training for healthcare professionals across Europe.
The EU's ERIS project (running from May 1, 2025 – April 30, 2027) will create and validate the first ever European Research Institute on Simulation, an educational institution at European level, based on a collaborative academic network for healthcare professionals training. Over its 24-month duration, the ERIS project will develop new educational pathways and academic programs to provide state of the art training for novel electrophysiology (EP) procedures, making use of most advanced simulators developed by partner companies.
ERIS will be an independent, hybrid, flexible/adaptable and innovative educational and research infrastructure, bringing together companies, academia, care-providers, patients associations, hospitals, and scientific societies to improve clinical proficiency and performance in order to ensure the highest level of training, enabling healthcare professionals all across Europe to stay up-to-date with global best and most innovative practices and thus optimise the quality of care for all European citizens in an ever-advancing environment.
Combatting cardiac diseases and sudden cardiac death is a global priority, particularly for the European Union. According to the European Society of Cardiology, cardiovascular diseases account for nearly 45% of all deaths in Europe. "The ageing population is significantly increasing the demand for healthcare, driving growth in the healthcare market," explains ERIS project coordinator Professor Serge Boveda, co-head of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Management Department at the Clinique Pasteur Toulouse, France. "This market is highly dynamic, with innovations and new technologies continually emerging to enhance patient care and safety – including those involving simulation in order to facilitate and optimise training in novel sophisticated procedures."
A strong and coordinated simulation programme is particularly important in interventional EP, one of the fields with the strongest scientific and technical development over the last decades. EP disorders, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, encompass a wide range of conditions related to abnormal electrical activity in the heart (atrial fibrillation, ventricular arrhythmias, supraventricular tachycardias, heart block, sudden death, etc.) that are quite common and have an increasing prevalence worldwide, due to the increasing demand of an ageing population needing more complex therapies.
To ensure the safe and effective adoption of these innovations in medical practice, healthcare professionals must receive comprehensive theoretical and practical training, including simulations and EP laboratory work. There is a significant lack of coherent, standardised, and high-quality training for healthcare professionals across Europe in all medical specialties. This deficiency hampers the homogeneity of training, limits professional mobility and networking, and negatively impacts patient care. Currently, simulation training courses are predominantly organised by private companies because organising them at local or national levels is challenging and costly. While company led courses are of high quality, they are not fully integrated — separating theory, simulation, and EP lab access, meaning courses can be redundant and/or non-inclusive depending on the region or country.
The new ERIS institute will be an independent, hybrid, flexible/adaptable and innovative educational and research infrastructure, bringing together companies, academia, care-providers, patients associations, hospitals, and scientific societies to improve clinical proficiency and performance in order to ensure the highest level of training, enabling healthcare professionals all across Europe to stay up-to-date with global best and most innovative practices and thus optimise the quality of care for all European citizens in an ever-advancing environment.
The project is coordinated by the Fundació de Gestió Sanitària Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; and involves partnership with the Clinique Pasteur Toulouse, France; the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium; the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) / European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA); and VALDE SL – the consulting company dealing with administation of the project.
Professor Boveda says: "Among the various aims of the ERIS are to expand and facilitate the access to simulation-based medical education by organising high quality specific training modules on novel procedures, optimising existing simulators and eventually developing new ones, initially in EP, then extending to other cardiology specialties and clinical scenarios; and ultimately to develop and accredit an EU-level academic program in interventional cardiac electrophysiology that combines theoretical and practical training in the latest therapies."
He adds: "Within cardiology, it will promote excellence and standardisation of EP training across Europe. The ERIS will be designed to be flexible and scalable to rapidly adopt scientifically validated procedures and novel technologies, establishing agile processes for developing new teaching modules. As part of this, it will foster innovation through structured dialogue among patients, professionals, and industry to identify gaps and improve clinical outcomes, professional practice, and patient experience, while supporting participation in Horizon Europe."
The ESC is represented by its branch, the EHRA, and together they are the Work Package leader of Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation, with objectives to increase the visibility and understanding of the ERIS project among key stakeholders such as policymakers, healthcare professionals, hospitals, universities, MedTech and simulation companies, scientific societies, and civil society. ESC/EHRA will also be involved in the academic process of the training modules developed by ERIS, in order to harmonise and create synergies with EHRA's educational pathway, that will at the same time be enriched by this new opportunity.
This Work Package aims to disseminate project findings across Europe while fostering professional mobility, promote the ERIS Institute as a reference center for academic and professional education in innovative EP procedures, and engage with healthcare professionals, companies, and other EU-funded projects to maximise integration and cooperation.
Professor Boveda concludes: "Among their other roles, the EHRA/ESC will contribute in designing an innovative simulator-based educational curriculum that aligns with European accreditation standards, combining theoretical knowledge with practical and clinical training. They will also participate in collaborative research initiatives focused on advancing simulation technologies and improving performance assessment methods."
ERIS | European Research Institute on Simulation - Home - ERIS-EU.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2023-2025 ERA programme under Grant Agreement 101216605.
