Call For Abstracts 2025 – Auckland

• Your Poster should be A0 size – portrait orientated (1190mm high by 840mm wide).
• Your Poster should be laminated and the text should be in a font of sufficient size for easy reading at a distance of 1 metre.
• The poster boards will be Velcro-sensitive, please bring Velcro hooks to attach your poster to the board. Sticky tape and other forms of adhesive won’t work on the fluffy board surface.
• Posters must be brought with you to the conference and erected on Saturday 29 March 2025, prior to 8.30am.
• The posters being judged, you will be required to stand beside your poster between 12.30pm – 1.00pm on Saturday 29 March 2025, to converse with the delegates.

• Text should be single spaced.
• Limit the number of authors to no more than 7
• Do not indent paragraphs
• All abstracts must be submitted in English

Your abstract should contain the following:

• Title: Sentence Case (not all capitals)
• Body of Abstract: Sentence Case. Your headings “Introduction (including the study hypothesis), Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions” need to be bold. Each heading should be its own paragraph. Sub headings may be used but should not be given separate paragraphs.
• References: References (maximum of two) in a list following the abstract. The style of the references should follow either the Harvard or APA method.
• Abbreviations may be used but must be spelt out in full at the first mention followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
• Authors / Presenters: Sentence Case. Authors’ names should be supplied in the surname-last format and should be in initial capital/lower case, not all capitals. All affiliations must state the authors’ institution, city and country. eg: Brown, G., ABC University, Auckland, New Zealand

• Best oral presentation by a registrar enrolled in a higher degree* …………….$700
• Best oral presentation by a registrar not enrolled in a higher degree ………..$700
• Best poster presentation by a registrar enrolled in a higher degree* …………$300
• Best poster presentation by a registrar not enrolled in a higher degree …….$300
  *Research must have been done as part of a higher degree.

NZAGS AWARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The applicant must research, write and present their own research. The research carried out must indicate if it was completed as part of a Higher Degree or not. Presenter must indicate if the research is clinical or science based. All NZAGS GSET trainees must have received prior approval for their research topic from the NZAGS Aotearoa New Zealand Training Suc-Committee (AoNZTSC). Applicants must register for and attend the conference to present their research.

THE DAMIEN MOSQUERA RESEARCH AWARD

In remembrance each year at the NZAGS Annual Scientific Meeting, a prize will be offered for the best submitted paper or poster from a regional centre. The prize of $700 will be awarded each year to the primary author of a paper or poster presented at the meeting, that best epitomises the scientific rigour and endeavour that defined Damien’s career. Damien was consultant surgeon from Taranaki/New Plymouth who was on the New Zealand General Surgery Training Committee up until his untimely death in 2014. His time on the committee was defined by his steadfast commitment to encouraging trainees into robust research projects, and many such projects came out of Taranaki Base Hospital as a result of his efforts. Amongst many things, Damien showed us that good quality, contributory research doesn’t always come from the big metropolitan centres. This award commemorates his enormous contribution to training in General Surgery in this country.

THE DAMIEN MOSQUERA RESEARCH AWARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• oral presentation or poster considered in equal competition
• must be accepted for presentation at the NZAGS annual meeting in March
• must be from data generated at a New Zealand centre other than Auckland, North Shore, Middlemore, Waikato, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin.
• only first author is eligible and must present the paper or poster at the NZAGS meeting
• fellows are not eligible, but non-GSET trainees are (e.g. house surgeons, junior registrars)
• literature reviews are not eligible
• meta-analyses and systematic reviews are only acceptable when the research supervisor is from a provincial centre
• submissions for this award are also eligible for consideration for the established registrar conference prizes,  if applicable.