RACP Trainee Research Awards
Applications for 2024 closed 31 August 2024.
All Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand trainees are invited to submit abstracts for oral presentation on topics related to the fields of adult or paediatric medicine for the RACP Trainee Research Awards. Those selected will present at competitive regional events being held in Australian States and Territories and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Trainees who take out top honours at their regional event will be invited to present alongside recognised researchers at an RACP event in 2025. Regional top honour trainees will also be invited to have their abstracts published in the Congress supplement of the Internal Medicine Journal or Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.
RACP Trainee Research Awards Symposium 2025 – free hybrid event
The 2024 award recipients will present their research at a Symposium in early August 2025, at the historic 145 Macquarie Street in Sydney.
You can attend the event in person or online. More details will be shared soon.
Eligibility
You must be:
- an RACP trainee* actively training in any of the College Divisions, Faculties or Chapters, or
- a New Fellow actively undertaking Post-Fellowship training with the RACP (see the Post-Fellowship Training section on the Variations in Training page), provided you have been admitted to Fellowship within the last 12 months.
An applicant on an Interruption of Training may be accepted, provided that the Interruption does not exceed 12 continuous months at the time of application.
Overseas Trained Physicians undertaking RACP training are ineligible to apply.
In your application, select the category that best aligns with your topic. For example, you're an Adult Medicine trainee but your topic best aligns with paediatric medicine, then you should apply for the Paediatric Medicine category.
Works or projects included in the submission that are unpublished or have been published within 12 months before submission will be considered.
*We acknowledge that when the presentation event is held in the following year, an Award nominee may have become a Fellow.
Prize
Trainees selected at each Australian regional and Aotearoa NZ event receive the opportunity to present alongside recognised researchers at an RACP event in 2025. Presentations will be required to be made in person. Further details to be advised.
To enable selected Trainees to present their research at this event, they'll receive:
- return economy airfares to the event city from the closest major airport in the region they're representing
- accommodation
- official acknowledgement and a certificate
Award recipients will be invited to publish their abstracts in the Internal Medicine Journal or Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health RACP Congress supplement.
Apply
Read the terms and conditions for awards and prizes valued up to $5000 before you apply.
Your abstract should conform to the prescribed Trainee Research Awards Abstract Guidelines. Abstracts that do not conform to these guidelines will not be accepted.
All applications must be submitted through the online application portal. You may submit as many abstracts as you like in separate applications, however, only one of your abstracts may be selected for presentation.
Your research may have been undertaken anywhere in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand or overseas. However, you must apply under the region in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand that you will be residing in at the time of the regional events.
The College Conflicts Of Interest Policy and Privacy Policy apply to the applicants and recipients.
Regional Presentations
Regional events will be held between October and December each year.
The following events are confirmed for 2024:
| Region |
Adult |
Paediatric |
| Aotearoa NZ |
Thursday, 24 October, online |
Thursday, 14 November, 10.30am as part of the Paediatric Society of NZ ASM, St David Complex, University of Otago, Ōtepoti Dunedin. |
| NSW/ACT |
Wednesday, 20 November, 6:00-8:00 pm at the RACP Sydney Office. |
| NT |
Saturday, 12 October, as part of the NT Annual Scientific Meeting. |
| Qld |
Tuesday, 26 November, at the RACP Brisbane Office.
|
| SA |
Thursday, 27 February 2025 at 6:30pm ACDT. Attendees can register to attend in-person or online: South Australian Trainee Awards | Attendee Registration |
| Tas |
Friday, 8 November, as part of the Tasmanian State Conference in Launceston. |
| Vic |
Thursday, 31 October, 7:00 pm at the RACP Melbourne Office. |
| WA |
Wednesday, 27 November, 6:30 pm at the RACP Perth Office |
Friday, 8 November, 12:00 pm as part of the Child Health Research Symposium at Perth Children’s Hospital, 15 Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, in the level 5 auditorium. |
Selection criteria (regional events)
- You must have contributed strongly to the concept and execution of your abstract and presentation, with preference given to primary authors.
- Presentations are assessed on:
- content — originality, significance and importance
- presentation — clarity of verbal communication, use of visual aids
- how well they contribute to the discussion
- Works or projects included in the submission that are unpublished or have been published within 12 months before submission will be considered.
Presenting advice
Presenting is an intimidating but invaluable aspect of research. For trainees presenting their work or considering submitting their work in the future, previous adjudicators have provided their reflections that may assist you in communicating your research findings effectively.
Bolster your conclusion
While every clinical study needs a primary outcome, it's valuable to see an attempt at looking at this in another way. It can be tempting to associate cause and effect but also easy for consumers of research to discount associations as meaningless. However, appropriate use of statistical methods like a multivariate logistic regression can strengthen audience confidence in the presented conclusion.
Understand your stats
Much clinical research nowadays is conducted with a statistician as part of the team. As statistical methods increase in complexity, it can be difficult for trainees without formal statistics training to convey the statistical methods of their presented research. As the presenter of the work, it's essential that you at least understands why the employed statistical methods were selected over others and attempt to present the statistical analysis in a conventional manner rather than having to fall back on describing consultation with a statistician.
Describe the relevance
The purpose of clinical research is to improve the quality of medical care in terms of effectiveness, access or cost. Understanding the ‘point’ of a research project is what audiences are trying to do in any research presentation. Making this easy for them improves the quality of a presentation. If clinical research has resulted in a change in practice or has made a difference in lives of people, it should be described in the abstract.
Basic science research may not have a clear link back to patient benefit, which makes it even more important to describe its relevance. This can take the form of suggesting the type of clinical research that should now be undertaken as a result of the benchtop work or what benefits patients may expect from continued work along the line of inquiry.
Explain your role
Research in the 21st century is a team sport and most clinician-researchers generally fall on the modest side of the personality spectrum. When presenting an abstract, particularly in a forum such as the Trainee Research Awards, describing your role personalises the work and makes it much easier for your audience to engage with you and your work.
Selection process
- The selection panel assesses all abstracts to ensure they meet the required standard to fulfil the selection criteria.
- Selected applicants will be invited to give an oral presentation of their abstract at their regional event.
- Each presenter is allocated 10 minutes maximum for their presentation and 2 minutes for questions and answers.
- A judging panel can select up to 2 trainees in each region — 1 trainee per category (adult medicine or paediatric medicine).
- The judging panel reserves the right not to select a representative from their region if no submissions presented meet an acceptably high standard.
Contact
If you have any enquiries about award eligibility and application requirements, contact RACP Foundation.
For enquiries about regional presentations, contact your local RACP office.
Hear from the winners of Best Presenter at the 2024 TRA Symposium
Dr Stephen Bacchi (SA) - Adult Medicine
Dr Ngaire Keenan (Aotearoa NZ) - Paediatric and Child Health Medicine