Education alignment and member pathway review – EHA
The European Hematology Association (EHA) is the leading professional association for hematology specialists across Europe, delivering education, guidelines, Congress activity, mentoring, and professional development programmes for a diverse international membership community. EHA commissioned Membership Matters to help bring greater strategic cohesion across its education ecosystem and ensure its offer remained relevant, accessible, and impactful for both members and external partners.
Membership challenge
EHA had developed a broad and highly respected portfolio of education activity, but different programmes and platforms had evolved separately over time. This created challenges around consistency, communication, and how members navigated the wider learning offer. Members valued EHA’s education highly, yet many found the structure difficult to understand, particularly across different career stages and specialisms.
The organisation also wanted to better connect Congress, guidelines, mentoring, grants, and digital learning into a more joined-up professional development experience. At the same time, EHA needed to balance the priorities of multiple internal committees, governance groups, sponsors, and external societies, while identifying opportunities for collaboration rather than duplication across the sector.
A key objective was to establish clearer strategic themes and priorities that could guide future programme development, improve organisational alignment, and support stronger long-term member and sponsor engagement.
Strategic alignment and pathway development – what we did
Membership Matters developed a phased consultancy and insight programme designed to map the current education landscape, identify areas of fragmentation, and support the creation of a more integrated member experience.
The project included stakeholder interviews, member research, focus groups, sponsor consultation, horizon scanning, and benchmarking against peer organisations including ESMO, ESH, EBMT, and ISTH. This work explored how member expectations, learning needs, and professional priorities differed across career stages and specialist areas.
We also facilitated co-creation and journey-mapping workshops with leadership teams, governance groups, and internal stakeholders to examine how education, Congress activity, guidelines, mentoring, and specialist learning could connect more effectively across the wider organisation.
Alongside this, we helped EHA explore future thematic structures, collaboration opportunities, communication approaches, and governance considerations to support a clearer, more strategically aligned education framework and a more frictionless member journey.
Impact
This work helped EHA to:
- Create a clearer picture of how members engage with education across different career stages and needs
- Identify opportunities to simplify and connect learning pathways across programmes and platforms
- Strengthen alignment between governance, strategic priorities, education activity, and member value
- Improve communication clarity for members, sponsors, and partners
- Develop practical recommendations and phased priorities for future implementation
With these insights, EHA was better equipped to develop a more connected and strategically aligned education ecosystem, supporting stronger engagement, clearer pathways, and a more coherent experience across its wider professional development offer.
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