Last updated: June 2017

What is the NFORC Trainee Collaborative?

The National Facial, Oral and Oculoplastic Research Centre (NFORC) Trainee Collaborative is a new initiative spearheaded by NFORC to increase the level of trainees’ participation and leadership in clinical research. This new group was formed as a result of a recent NFORC research summit, which was held in December 2016. Oral and maxillofacial trainees were invited to present potential prospective interventional studies for multicentre randomised control trials and cohort studies.

The seleted projects are led by trainees with a consultant surgeon as joint chief investigators for support and also to emphasise the importance of trainee involvement. Using a nationwide trainee network, we hope to encourage trainee participation and subsequent patient recruitment with the aim of ultimately informing and improving clinical practice and national guidelines.

For successful projects, all trainees will have abstracts for conference submissions and citable publications. We will organise future Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training as well as free courses such as ‘Train the Trainer’ and ‘Leadership and Management’. This reflects our priority in providing as many educational opportunities to trainees at no or at significantly reduced cost. With the ever increasing burden on trainees with mandatory courses to attend, and the rising costs they incur, we want to send a clear message that the NFORC Trainee Collaborative is about giving as much back to trainees as possible. Instead of providing hurdles, we want to provide solutions to these hurdles.