Systematic Review Awards

APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED

See below for details on how to apply in the future

 

The ESCRS Systematic Review Award (“SRA”) is an initiative sponsored by the ESCRS to produce a high quality body of research aimed to prepare, collate, analyse, synthesise and report medical research.  

The initiative will provide a new scholarly output in the field of cataract & refractive surgery or medicine focused on the methodology created by the Cochrane Library (https://www.cochrane.org/about-us, https://eyes.cochrane.org/ and / or https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/).  

As defined by the Cochrane Library*:  “A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view aimed at minimizing bias, to produce more reliable findings to inform decision making.”

*https://www.cochranelibrary.com/about/about-cochrane-reviews

Applicants are encouraged to refer online resources here, including a brief introduction on “Why systematic reviews matter”, https://www.elsevier.com/connect/authors-update/whysystematic-reviews-matter 

The competition is open to all ophthalmologists (MD, and/or Ph.D., or experienced ophthalmic nurse) holding a full time clinical/research post at an EU-based clinical or academic centre. 

ESCRS will offer up to six (6) SRAs in 2023-24.

Each applicant needs to provide an original Proposal relevant to a focused research question in cataract or refractive medicine or surgery and the applicant may wish to register their proposal with PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/) and adherence with PRISMA (http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

Funding may be offered for a maximum of €10,000 for each SRA applicant

At the completion of the research, the systematic review manuscript must be submitted to an accredited journal, acceptable to the ESCRS. 

Finally, given that systematic reviews require specific expertise, it will be a condition for the applicant to either (a) submit a previous published systematic review in a professional medical journal or, (b) the applicant will request a Supervisor or Medical Librarian available in the applicant’s institute / hospital / university. 

If an applicant is not member of ESCRS, the SRA application shall require written support from an ESCRS Member with at least 3 years of membership of the Society.  The support of the ESCRS Member is mandatory.

The amount for funding that may be awarded to a successful applicant, for up to €10,000 (maximum), and for a project with a duration no longer than 1 year. 

The 2023 SRA applications will be accepted until 5 March 2023, with the shortlisted submissions notified in late March and final submissions due by the end of May. Award recipients will be notified in July, with winners announced at the annual meeting in Vienna.

Review Process

As part of the opening of the research award calls for 2023, the ESCRS is also unveiling its new process for reviewing applications submitted for its research awards: The society has adopted a masked review process for submissions with specialist reviewers.

Under this new process, all applications will be masked before they are sent to the reviewers for judging and scoring. The applications will then be ranked by ESCRS staff, with the top masked submissions sent to the Clinical Research Committee for a final decision.

In addition, all research award calls will now be open calls.

How to apply

The 2023 SRA applications will be accepted until 15 April 2023, with the shortlisted submissions notified in late April and final submissions due by the end of May. Award recipients will be notified in July, with winners announced at the annual meeting in Vienna.

Once applications are received, they will be sent directly to the Clinical Trials Research team.