Trainee research collaboratives: developing a new culture?

The novel and exciting surgical trainee research collaborative model developed in England more than a decade ago has since been widely adopted across the world. This model leverages the effort of surgical trainees from different specialties across multiple sites to deliver large prospective cohort studies and randomized controlled trials. Networks aim to provide surgeons with higher quality evidence to inform practice and improve clinical care. In the UK, surgical collaboratives now encompass all surgical specialties and geographic regions. Key to their success has been a grass-roots, trainee led approach, with trainees taking ownership of their collaboratives. This contrasts starkly with a more traditional top down approach to large scale clinical trials, where research is often led by an individual or a small group of senior investigators, and participating trainees might feel less engaged.