The SURGhub project, a joint initiative by the Global Surgery Foundation and UNITAR, supported by RCSI, and in association with the J&J Foundation, has been awarded the prestigious QS Reimagine Education Award 2025 for Best E-Learning Project, recognising its pioneering use of digital innovation to expand access to high-quality surgical education worldwide.

The award celebrates the world’s most outstanding electronic learning initiatives – programmes that leverage innovative technology to support and transform learning. The United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub, known as SURGhub, was selected as this year’s global winner for its impactful, scalable and inclusive approach to digital learning in global surgery.

The global need for accessible surgical training is profound: nearly one-third of worldwide mortality relates to surgically treatable conditions, and an estimated 17 million people die each year due to lack of access to safe surgical care. Launched in June 2023, SURGhub is helping to close this gap by delivering timely, relevant and effective training directly to healthcare providers who need it most.

The free-to-access platform provides frontline healthcare workers, particularly those in low and middle-income countries, with high-quality, context-appropriate training across surgery, anaesthesia, obstetrics and gynaecology, perioperative nursing and essential non-clinical skills.

Since its launch, SURGhub has attracted more than 30,000 learners from more than 200 countries and territories, with 65% of users coming from low and middle-income nations. Its rapid uptake reflects both the global demand for accessible surgical education and the platform’s uniquely inclusive design.

Digital innovation and global collaboration

SURGhub’s recognition by QS follows its recent success at the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) Awards, where it was named Technological Innovation of the Year.

The project’s successive international accolades underscore the strength of its open-access model. SURGhub’s learning ecosystem is powered by 35 academic and professional partners, alongside more than 200 global volunteer experts, including clinicians, nurses, educators and technologists who curate, develop and quality-assure its content. Funding from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation enables the platform to remain completely free for learners worldwide.

Professor Cathal Kelly, Vice Chancellor, RCSI, said: “Winning the QS Reimagine Education Award validates the RCSI Institute of Global Surgery’s vision of equitable, quality learning at scale. As SURGhub continues to establish itself as a transformative force in global surgery education, it builds on our 25 years of work to strengthen surgical capacity in underserved communications and advances RCSI’s efforts to improve human health and champion equitable access to training."

Nunzio Quacquarelli, President, QS Quacquarelli Symonds, said: “This project has achieved world-class recognition in educational innovation, being selected as one of the top applications from a pool of 1,600 submissions in the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2025. The awarded application demonstrated exceptional innovation, impact, and scalability, successfully progressing through four rigorous evaluation rounds conducted by a panel of 1,300 international higher education and edtech experts.”