This award is currently closed.

The Alistair McIntyre Prize for Improving Gastroenterology Training is designed to support work that may improve gastroenterology training in the UK.

The top 3 scoring applicants will be asked to do a presentation on their work at the Trainees section symposium at the BSG Annual Meeting. These applicants will complete the presentation and then be questioned by our panel members. The winner will receive the Alistair McIntyre Prize and an award of £1,000. The two runners up will receive £500 each to contribute to their project.

Eligibility

The award is open to any BSG member who is training in gastroenterology in the UK. This includes members of the BSG Trainee Section Committee not directly involved in the organisation of the award. Applications are welcomed from doctors in LAT posts, as well as those in numbered posts. Applicants must be in a recognised training scheme.

The proposal must look at an aspect of training in Gastroenterology but there are no specific restrictions on the nature of the work. Appropriate submissions would include research projects, high-quality audits, qualitative studies, or local training initiatives. This can be a project that has already been completed, is currently being undertaken, or has not yet started. Whilst all applications are encouraged, projects which are still at the proposal stage will be ranked lower than those that are already underway/completed.

The 3 shortlisted applicants must be available to give a presentation at the BSG Annual Meeting.

View the full BSG Policy for this award.

Conditions of the Award

The successful applicants must submit a short report (300 – 500 words) to the Trainees’ Section within 12 months of the award. The report should include a summary of the work undertaken and an outline of the results. Applications are anonymised prior to being assessed by a panel approved by the BSG. The personal statement should contain a full description of the work that has been undertaken and a description of why the work is relevant to current training and what remaining work needs to be done and how it will be actioned. The winner will also be expected to present their work at the following year’s symposium in addition to the report.

Please note, the BSG reserves the right to not issue the award for runners-up if applications are not deemed to be of a high enough standard.

Examples of previous submissions

• A project to create an automatic upload system to synchronise endoscopy reports and JETS automatically
• A smartphone application to help paediatric IBD phenotyping by utilising clinically useful information
• A project using questionnaires and feedback groups to improve local educational supervision
• A study to examine the availability and use of endoscopy simulators throughout the UK with a survey of trainee’s attitudes towards them
• A project to develop and evaluate a local gastroenterology training survey
• A proposal to redesign the content and delivery of a local gastroenterology teaching programme
• A series of seminars to add training in generic skills including medical leadership, management, communications skills, public health and quality improvement to a local gastroenterology training programme
• A project to develop a new DOPS tool for training and assessment of upper GI bleeding
• A syllabus-based gastroenterology website specifically aimed at trainees
• An initiative aimed at improving safety, efficiency and quality in endoscopy through enhanced teamwork and endoscopic nontechnical skills (ENTS)

How to apply

Below are the fields you’ll need to complete.

• Please provide a personal statement that includes details of your project: 1000 words

Judging information

Applications are reviewed and finalists agreed by a panel recruited by the Trainee Section Committee. Winners are decided by a panel at the BSG Annual Meeting who are recruited by the Trainee Section Awards lead.

The panel is selected by the BSG Trainees Chair and is a selection of eminent individuals in their field. A diverse selection of reviewers from different backgrounds are invited to ensure a fair system is in place. To ensure the process is fair for all applicants, the reviewers are also kept anonymous. Reviewers will declare any conflicts of interest before the process, and are removed if this is the case.

Applications are reviewed and finalists agreed by a panel recruited by the Trainee Section Committee. Winners are decided by a panel at the BSG Annual Meeting who are recruited by the Trainee Section Awards lead.

Where possible, the reviewers are blinded, however please note that applicants for these awards are often unique and well established. Therefore it may be possible to determine who an applicant is based on the information they provide.