Research Project

Research Requirement For Higher Surgical Trainees

• The primary objective is to assist higher trainees to acquire the basic knowledge and skill in research.
• Higher Trainees are required to have at least two completed research projects approved by the Research Committee before they are eligible for examination enrollment.
• The Committee would only conduct the meeting in May and November; all research projects will only be approved by the Committee during the meeting.
• Progress Reports are NOT regarded as a completed one even though the Progress Reports are approved by the Research Committee.
• Higher Trainees MUST be the Principal Investigator (PI) of at least one submitted project.
• A Research Project of which the Higher Trainee is the Co-investigator (Co-I) will only be accepted provided that the PI of that project is a hospital staff / non-trainee.
• NO SHARING of research project is allowed. Each research project can only be submitted by ONE trainee as the main PI
• Each project should be submitted with only ONE trainee nominated as the Principal Investigator.
• A research project should be completed within two-year.  Trainees may apply to the Research Committee for an extension up to three years if necessary.
• The Research Committee appreciates that the nature and standard of the trainees’ research projects may vary widely. The minimum requirements are set to ensure that the trainee takes an active and meaningful role in the research activities.
• Retrospective case review is normally acceptable.
• Submission of case reports, literature review or meta-analysis report is not encouraged. A trainee may submit ONE case report, literature review or meta-analysis report ONLY provided they have substantial scientific value and can reflect the trainee’s contribution to surgical science.  In such cases, these case report, literature review or meta-analysis report should reach the standard for publication in a peer–review journal. The Higher Trainees MUST be the first Author and is required to submit the proof of acceptance or publication.

• HSTs admitted between January 2018 - 30 June 2020 are required to have at least one oral or poster presentation in the Annual Scientific Congress of the College before they are eligible for examination enrolment.

• HSTs admitted from July 2020 onwards are required to fulfil one of the following oral presentation/publication requirements before they are eligible for examination enrolment:

  a. at least 1 oral presentation (case report is not acceptable) as the first author in the Annual Scientific Congress of the College, OR

  b. at least 2 poster presentations in the Annual Scientific Congress of the College, OR

  c. at least 1 full paper (not a case report) publication as the first author in Surgical Practice / other peer-reviewed indexed journals

  
  

Documentation Required

• Higher Trainees must complete and forward the research report form to the College Secretariat together with the assessment forms for Higher Surgical Training through the supervisor concerned and the respective Specialty Board in January and July. The report form can be downloaded from the College website www.cshk.org.

Submission Deadline

• Surgical trainees are encouraged to seek for assistance from the Research Committee if they encounter any difficulties in their research activities.
• Basic Surgical Trainees may submit their on-going research reports to the Research Committee for advice during their basic training. However, research reports will not be regarded as completed ones. Only those completed research reports which are approved by the Research Committee during higher surgical training can be counted.
• Higher Surgical Trainees may submit their research reports together with the half-yearly assessment documentation at the end of 6-month training period. Deadline for research reports submission is normally at the end of March or September every year. Announcement for submission deadline will be sent to higher surgical trainees via email.The College will not take any responsibility of the consequence if any message delivering to the email address, which were provided to the College by trainees, cannot reach them or they fail to check their email regularly.

Logistics

• The research reports will be reviewed by members of the Research Committee and the assessment will be reported in a standard form.
• To ensure fairness, a research report should be assessed by a reviewer who is not working in the same institute of the trainee.
• Trainees may be invited at random to present their projects to the Research Committee.

Approved Reports

• A certificate of completion of research requirements will be issued to the trainees who have completed two research projects.
• An invitation will be sent to the trainee, who has completed a project, to submit a full paper to the College’s journal –Surgical Practice.

Reports Not Acceptable

• If a report is not approved by the first reviewer, it would be forwarded to a second reviewer, who is of the same specialty as the trainee.
• Comments from the two reviewers would be sent to the trainee. The trainee is encouraged to seek the advice of the reviewers.  The matter would be brought to the attention of the supervisors concerned.
• The trainee is expected to re-submit a revised report to the Secretariat no more than 3 weeks from the date of the result letter.
• The revised report would be forwarded to the same reviewers for assessment.
• If the decisions from two reviewers differ, the report would be put up to the Research Committee for discussion.
• Resolution of the Research Committee would be forwarded to the supervisor and the Specialty Board concerned for consideration for the necessary action.
• Trainees who have not completed two projects must continue submitting their progress reports to the Research Committee until they have fulfilled the requirements.

Best Research Award

The Best Research Award was established to encourage the high-quality submission of research projects from Higher Surgical Trainees and recognises those outstanding submissions. Every year, the Research Committee would assess the research projects of HSTs with the following grades:

-    Pass

-    Pass with Merit and

-    Pass with Distinction

The committee would nominate research project(s) for the Best Research Award (1st Prize and 2nd Prize) and the nomination is subject to the decision of the Committee. This award consists of a certificate and cash award. The recipient is presented with the award at the Diploma Conferment Ceremony every year.

Research Grant (for HST)

• Applicant must complete the“Research Grant Application form”. The form entries should be typed. All sections of the relevant parts must be completed.
• Each application should be submitted with only one applicant nominated as the Principal Investigator (PI) and no applicant should submit more than one application in this capacity. Other joint applicants, if any, will be regarded as Coinvestigators (Co-I). Each Co-I should have a clear, distinct and material role. Excessive number of Co-Is should be avoided. Save in very exceptional circumstances, the Council will not entertain requests for the addition of coinvestigators to a project after the funding award. A change of Principal Investigator (PI) during the period of processing the application will not be approved.
• A research project should be completed within 2 years. Timescale may be extended to a maximum of 3 years only.
• The Research Grant will normally be $30,000 for each project.
• A progress report of the project should be forwarded by the applicant to the Research Committee every 6 months.
• A full report must be submitted to the College after the completion of the project.
• The grantee is required to present his/her research report in the Annual Scientific Meeting of the College.
• The research report will be published in the Journal of Surgical Practices.

Please refer to“Guidance Note for Research Grant”for further details.