Call for candidates is open – application deadline 17th April
Surgery is a very demanding career that requires learning a large number of procedures and countless technical details. Throughout a surgeon’s training and career, education, courses and congresses focus primarily on developing and improving technical skills. However, other talents and skills that are essential to becoming an outstanding surgeon are often neglected during traditional surgical training.
Through this project, we wish to provide young surgeons and surgical trainees with the opportunity to train on non-technical skills, through a series of online masterclasses given by experts and real leaders in surgery of our time.
Besides that, participants will work in small groups of five members, collaborating with peers from different countries on a joint project developed throughout the year. This experience will allow them to put into practice the knowledge acquired during the expert-led sessions, while receiving mentorship to further develop their projects and enhance their collaborative and leadership skills.
PROGRAMME OF RISING STARS ACADEMY 2025-2026
Sessions of 90-120 minutes with 2-3 talks of 20 minutes each in every session with 40-60 minutes of discussion.
Time of the sessions: 18:00 (UTC+1)
- Leadership and teamwork (17 September 2025)
Moderators: Ana Senent / Philipp Seeger (group 1) & Mostafa Refaie Elkeleny (group 2)
– Mentorship and leadership in modern surgery – Salvador Morales-Conde
– Can leadership skills be learned? – Delia Cortes-Guiral
– Communication and conflict resolution in a surgical team – Alberto Arezzo - Research (7 October 2025)
Moderators: Piers Boshier / Moysis Moysidis (group 3) & Annarita Libia (group 4) & Dumitru Catalin Piriianu (group 1)
– How to build a collaborative study? – Suzanne Gisbertz
– How to get the most out of a survey – Nader Francis
– How can guidelines inform my research? – Stavros Antoniou - Artificial intelligence (29 October 2025)
Moderators: Mark Portelli / Laetitia Hampe (group 2) & Teodor Vasic (group 3)
– Artificial intelligence in surgery – Silvana Perreta
– Artificial intelligence in training and research – Tan Arulampalam - Safety in the OR (18 November 2025)
Moderators: Emanuele Botteri / Apostolos Angelakoudis (group 4) & Marika Morabito (group 1)
– Safe use of energy devices – Bogdan Smeu
– Patient safety culture – Paul Barach - Lifelong learning (10 December 2025)
Moderators: Clarisa Birlog / Evangelia Dimitrakopoulou (group 2) & Ahmed Elsayed (group 4) & Tamas Talpa (group 3)
– Paradigm shift in surgical training – Jose Balibrea
– Overcoming obstacles in surgical training – Mark Coleman
– The EAES Curriculum – Milos Bjelovic - Mid year project presentation (7 January 2026)
Moderators: Ileana Geogloman / Marta Botti
- Innovation (27 January 2026)
Moderators: Moderators: Dana Sochorova / Georgios Geropoulos (group 1) & Amara Ghani Shaikh (group 3)
– Innovation as a science – Leonie Baldacchino
– Industrial partnerships & patents – Luigi Manfredi
– How to be a surgeon and an innovator – Tim Horeman - Sustainability (18 February 2026)
Moderators: Marta Botti / Vasiliki Tseliou (group 1) & Tudor-Alexandru Popoiu (group 2)
– Building a green OR – Nicole Bouvy
– The sustainable hospital – Stefania Marconi
– Everyone can be a sustainable surgeon – Oleksii Potapov - Work-life balance and personal well-being (10 March 2026)
Moderators: Ileana Geogloman / Dimitrios Chatziisaak (group 3) & Monika Momchilova (group 4)
– Finding the work-life balance as a surgeon – Delia Cortés Guiral
– Ergonomics: one size does not fit all – Ludovica Baldari
– Staying fit to perform – Freek Daams - Resilience in surgery (1 April 2026)
Moderators: Mark Portelli / Dimitrios Kechagias (group 2) & Radu Constantin Turluianu (group 4)
– How to deal with medico-legal issues – Mindy Duffourc
– Resilience in surgical training – Nader Francis
– From resident to president – Salvador Morales-Conde
11 – Project presentation (5 May 2026)
Moderators: Ana Senent / Clarisa Birlog
