United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub (SURGhub)

Training more surgical care providers, particularly in low-resource settings, is vital to address unmet surgical need. However, training programmes in low-resource settings are often constrained from scaling up by a lack of context-appropriate training material.

The United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub (SURGhub) is addressing this need by curating existing surgical and perioperative training resources appropriate for low-resource settings and making them available through an innovative open access online platform. SURGhub is a joint initiative of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Global Surgery Foundation, supported by RCSI in association with the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.

SURGhub launched in 2023. As of March 2026, it has over 135 peer-reviewed courses made available for free on the platform, provided by over 30 academic, professional and non-governmental organisations with additional courses added regularly. SURGhub has more than 39,000 enrolled learners across more than over 190 countries, the majority of whom are based in low or middle-income countries.

Learner feedback has been extremely positive. While the early uptake has been substantial, this is only a fraction of SURGhub’s potential audience. We aim to surpass 100,000 learners in 2026, and expand globally.

The key innovation of SURGhub is its participatory model, fostering a diffused, global sense of ownership. Development of the platform is guided by international committees of volunteer clinicians, nurses, educators and technologists. Content is reviewed by a panel of over 200 expert volunteers worldwide. SURGhub is therefore a product of the global surgical community, for the global surgical community.

SURGhub expands access to surgical education and has the potential to contribute meaningfully to improved patient outcomes worldwide.

You can read a report about the development and rollout of SURGhub here.

Awards

  • Winner of the Times Higher Education Award for Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year 2024 – read more.
  • Winner of the QS Reimagine Education Award 2025 for Best E-Learning Project – read more.

The RCSI team

The RCSI team working with partners on this project is led by: