A collaborative project between RCSI’s Institute of Global Surgery, the Global Surgery Foundation and the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR), aimed at giving trainee surgeons in low-resource countries access to training materials, has been shortlisted for Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year in this year’s Times Higher Education Awards.

An estimated 16.9 million deaths per year, almost one third of all deaths, are from conditions requiring surgical care. Many of these lives could be saved, yet most of the world’s population cannot access safe, affordable surgical care when needed. A key challenge is the insufficient number of surgical providers – surgeons, anaesthetists, obstetricians and peri-operative nurses. Training programmes in these specialties in low-resource regions of the world are often constrained from scaling up by a lack of access to appropriate training material.

The United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub (SURGhub) is addressing this need by curating existing, low-resource context-appropriate high-quality surgical, anaesthetic, obstetric and peri-operative nursing training resources, and making them available through an innovative open access online platform. SURGhub, which launched in June 2023, is a collaborative effort of the global surgical community, under the United Nations banner as a joint initiative of UNITAR, GSF, and RCSI’s Institute of Global Surgery. 

There are currently over 7,000 learners from 170 countries engaging with 60 courses on the platform. 71% of learners are from countries classified as low or middle income by the World Bank and the materials are also being used in highly challenging contexts, including in every conflict zone in the world such as Ukraine, Palestine, Yemen and Sudan. Courses are made as accessible as possible, with downloadable materials for offline access, transcripts and subtitles for all video and audio, and a mobile app.

The project’s key innovation is the radically participatory approach it has taken, fostering a diffused, global sense of ownership. The project is led by committees of volunteer clinicians, nurses, educators and technologists from all over the world, supported by a project team from RCSI, the Global Surgery Foundation and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. 

SURGhub is funded by the Johnson and Johnson Foundation; content is provided for free by numerous academic, professional and non-governmental bodies, and reviewed by a panel of over 100 volunteer experts from across the globe.

Essential surgical care

Professor Tracy Robson, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, RCSI said: “RCSI’s Institute of Global Surgery works to improve access to high-quality, essential surgical care for underserved populations. The SURGhub team is to be commended for the innovative, solutions-focused and collaborative approach they have taken in trying to increase access to high-quality training for surgeons who will go on to provide life-saving surgical care in underserved communities.”

Eric O’Flynn, Programme Director (Education, Training and Advocacy) at RCSI’s Insitute of Global Surgery, said: “In just one year since its launch, SURGhub has achieved significant milestones with the number of courses offered and learners using them, but behind these statistics are surgical care workers from all over the world, leveraging SURGhub to make a difference.

“The aim of SURGhub is to empower surgical healthcare workers worldwide by giving them access to high-quality, peer reviewed training material which will ultimately contribute to improving the quality of care offered to the patients in some of the world’s poorest countries.”

Widely known as the 'Oscars of higher education', the annual THE Awards celebrate excellence across a wide range of university activity including leadership and management, administration, and academia.

THE editor John Gill said: “This year’s THE Awards mark the 20th anniversary of the event, which over the last two decades has celebrated the wonderful achievements of a sector that has undergone extraordinary transformation without ever losing sight of the vital role it plays across the UK and Ireland. In 2024 it’s fair to say that higher education is going through a challenging period, but these awards are a constant reminder that we should never underestimate the dedication and drive of those who work in our universities to transforming lives for the better.

“Enthusiasm for these awards as a way to celebrate those achievements remains undimmed, with more entries in our 20th year than ever before. Our sincere congratulations to all those shortlisted in such a competitive year – it really is an achievement to have reached this stage, and we very much look forward to celebrating with you all at our 20th birthday party in Birmingham on 28 November.”