Discovery Award Teams Head Into the Finalist Phase
The Discovery Award teams are refining their prototypes and preparing to apply for the Finalist Awards, to be announced in January 2022. Three to five teams will receive up to $500,000 USD to further develop their original surgical training module. Finalist teams will also each develop an additional two to three modules from February to November 2022.
During this period, an institution chosen by the GSTC team will conduct an external evaluation of the original prototypes and innovators will be expected to iterate on the design of their original prototype to maximise impact.
Evaluation Partner Opportunity
GSTC is looking to engage with surgical training facilities in low resource settings that could undertake the role of evaluation partner for us in 2022. The role will involve evaluating one or more of the created surgical training modules with learners in your facility(ies), following a previously developed protocol.
There are multiple benefits to becoming an Evaluation Partner:
Funding available to undertake this evaluation
Ability to contribute to innovation within surgical education
Opportunity to connect to a network of partners working in global surgery
Opportunity for trainees to use newly designed modules and influence their design
If you are interested in this opportunity, please see here more information on how to submit an Expression of Interest. You can also contact the GSTC team at globalsurgicaltraining@challenges.org if you have any questions or would like to know more. We will be accepting expressions of interest until 26 November 2021.
Question and Answer Session
Our Challenge partner, Intuitive Foundation’s Executive Director Dr Catherine Mohr, along with the administrative team at Nesta Challenges, hosted an online 'Any Questions Answered' session on 20 October.
During this 'Q&A,' the panelists clarified any remaining questions about the application process and the judging criteria. They also addressed any outstanding concerns from applicants. You can find answers to the questions asked during the session on our Finalist Awards page. You will also find detailed guidance on the application process on this page.
Application Opening and Closing Dates
The application process opened on 18 October and runs through 12 November of this year. After reviewing the applications, the judging panel will meet on 13 December to make the final recommendations for the Finalist Winners.
Resources for Applicants
Applicants can review the Finalist Awards Draft Application here. This draft should be used as a reference only. They can also download further guidance on the Finalist Awards Judging Criteria here. All applications should be submitted via the Intuitive Foundation's portal.
Lessons from the Start-Up World
During an Innovator Panel discussion at the Prototype Showcase in August, Discovery Award team members shared their insights from the process of developing and building their prototypes.
One of the panelists suggested that teams can learn a lot from start-up culture when it comes to ideation, iteration, and working with diverse teams.
What can we learn from start-ups? Although the Global Surgical Training Challenge is not aiming to create new start-ups, there are many lessons that diverse teams of innovators can learn from successful, and even failed, start-ups.
We decided to explore that question further. Click here for our analysis of what global innovation teams can learn from the world of start-ups.
One in seven cancer patients around the world have missed out on potentially life-saving operations during COVID-19 lockdowns, according to a new study published in The Lancet Oncology. Led by experts at the University of Birmingham, almost 5,000 surgeons and anaesthetists from around the world worked together as part of the NIHR-funded COVIDSurg Collaborative to analyse data from the 15 most common solid cancer types in 20,000 patients across 466 hospitals in 61 countries.
Low Cost VR in Cancer Surgery Simulation
A team of researchers in Zambia have published a paper examining the user experience with low-cost virtual reality (VR) cancer surgery simulation. The study, published in JCO Global Oncology, explored gynecologic oncology trainee learning and user experiences using a low-cost VR simulator to learn to perform an open radical abdominal hysterectomy.
Interested in learning more about other challenges being delivered by Nesta Challenges? Take a look at our website to find out about our other prizes.
