Jos Willems Early Career Investigator Competition

The Jos Willems (JW) Early Career Investigator Competition (JWECIC) is open to any current student: (1) in an academic degree program (bachelor’s degree minimum), including interns, residents, or fellows, or (2) those who have received a terminal academic degree, including MDs who have completed a continuous residency, within the 4 years prior to the Competition (verification required). A JWECIC Investigator applicant may submit only one abstract for the competition but may also be a co-author, though not a first author (presenter), on a regular abstract submission. A winner of the JWECIC may not resubmit to the competition; a non-winning finalist may resubmit to the competition only once. Lastly, finalists in the competition must attend the conference.

The submitted abstract should not previously have been accepted for presentation and should not relate to work already submitted to a journal for review or publication. Furthermore, finalists must agree to submit a paper, based on their abstract, to the ISCE Symposium issue of the Journal of Electrocardiology.

A panel of judges, proposed by the JWECIC session chair and reviewed by the ISCE conference chair representing diverse disciplines, will rate the submitted abstracts; those investigators ranked the highest will be invited as finalists to present their work at the ISCE conference. An additional panel of judges selected by the JWECIC chair and co-chair from conference participants will decide the winner. Each finalist will receive travel reimbursement in an amount no greater than the least expensive fares obtainable by the executive administrator and will have their conference fees waived.

JWECIC submitters whose abstracts are not accepted for the competition but are accepted for oral or poster presentation will receive a reduced comprehensive conference fee if they attend and present their abstract. This will amount to a 50% reduction in registration, which includes accommodations.

All JWECIC applicants who attend the conference and present their work will receive for the following year an associate membership in ISCE with privileges and benefits. Finalists in the competition must attend the conference, and also will receive a one-year subscription to the Journal of Electrocardiology.

• Previous Winners of JW Early Career Investigator Competition
  

The process for abstract submission for the 2026 Conference has changed! 

To review the complete setps to submit your abstract for consideration in the 2026 program click here.

Abstract submission for the 2026 Conference will close on December 1, 2025. Click Here to Submis your Abstract!

Abstract submissions must be 400 words or less (including background, methods, results, and conclusions). 

You MUST include the following when submitting an abstract:

• Title of the abstract
• Authors’ names, institution, city, (state), country
• Abstract Body
  • Background - Context or background for the research and should state its purpose.
  • Methods - Basic Procedures. This section should show the selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observations and analytical methods.
  • Results - This section should show the main findings; giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible.
  • Conclusions - This section should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

If you wish to upload an associated figure or table, ensure that the table is provided in a word processing format and is not a screenshot/figure/jpeg of a table, and attach them as an attached file in the submission form.