Master of Surgical Research

This course of study leads to a Masters by Research degree, with the students drawn from qualified medical practitioners, surgeons in training and fellowship-trained surgeons. The program has a primary function in providing doctors with a structured training and experience in independent research, specifically in the surgical speciality. It also fulfils a secondary function in providing discipline-specific training for doctors with aspirations in surgery, and provides an option for students to gain some skills in clinical leadership, for future leadership roles in surgery and broader medicine. Research training and clinical leadership training will be carried out at the Waurn Ponds campus, with heavy utilisation of online resources to support the teaching. Research activity, although coordinated from the Waurn Ponds campus, will mainly be carried out at the student's place of work, although the School of Medicine's Anatomy Laboratory will also be utilised where the Clinical Anatomy Investigation project involves cadaveric inspection or dissection. Primary supervision will be shared by academics within the School and other experts local to the workplace.

Through completion of the Master of Surgical Research it is expected that medical graduates, surgeons in training and qualified surgeons will:

1. gain an understanding of research techniques relevant to surgery;
2. produce high quality written work, suitable for publication in scientific journals, and present this orally to a high standard;
3. gain the skills needed to critically evaluate their own, and therefore other's, work;
4. demonstrate their ability to apply research techniques in surgery and to lead research work; and
5. develop, or consolidate, an advanced knowledge of human anatomy, as relevant to their discipline

To complete the Master of Surgical Research students must attain 16 core unit credit points.

This comprises of 5 credit points of core Research Training and Preparation Units PLUS 11 credit points comprising the appropriate mix of HME805 and HME806 Research Project in Surgery Units.

Please note that no Recognised Prior Learning is available for Research Project in Surgery units {HME805 and HME806}.

Recognised Prior Learning may be awarded against any combination of HMH800 Research Design, HMH810 Research Communication, HMH811 Research Interpretation and Integrity and HME808 Clinical Anatomy Investigation.

As this is a research degree there will be no nested courses, and there are no guaranteed pathways and no recognition of prior learning for the research component of the degree.

However, the course is designed to offer articulation through a credit structure, as follows:

Students entering with an MBBS, or equivalent, will be expected to complete all 16 core credit points of the course.

Students entering with an MBBS, or equivalent, and an Honours degree will be expected to complete 14 credit points of study, including 1 credit point of 'Clinical Anatomy Investigation', 2 credit points of 'Research Communication' and at least 11 credit points of 'Research Project in Surgery'.

Students entering with an MBBS, or equivalent, and a postgraduate anatomy qualification will be expected to complete 15 credit points of study, including the 4 credit points of research training units and 11 credit points of 'Research Project in Surgery'.

Students entering with an MBBS, or equivalent, and a higher degree by research, will be expected to complete 12 credit points of study, including 1 credit point of 'Clinical Anatomy Investigation' and 11 credit points of 'Research Project in Surgery'.

Students entering with an MBBS, or equivalent, a postgraduate anatomy qualification and an Honours degree will be expected to complete 13 credit points of study, including 2 credit points of 'Research Communication' and 11 credit points of 'Research Project in Surgery'.

However students entering with an MBBS or equivalent PLUS an honours degree, post grad anatomy qualification or another form of research by higher degree, maybe eligible for credit for the research training or anatomy components of the course and should contact the HDR research office for further information.