Awards Bursaries & Prizes

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to Carole Turner  [email protected] 

Deadline for submission for the next award - 31 October 2026

Prize will be announced Spring 2027.

The winner will get an opportunity to present their paper at an SBNS meeting.  

The  Campbell-Connolly Neurotrauma Prize was introduced in 2009 and is awarded by the Society of British Neurological Surgeons following a generous bequest from Mr Campbell Connolly, retired Barts Neurosurgeon who sadly passed away aged 90 on August 15 2009.  The value of the award is £1,000 and will be awarded every two years.

In September 2024 we received a further donation to the fund from the late Susan North who was a patient of Mr Campbell Connolly.  In 1968, when she was 21 she had a cerebaral bleed and was treated by Mr Connolly at Barts. To show her gratitude for saving her life she left a donation to the SBNS in her will.  She specifically wanted her bequest to go to Campbell Connolly prize fund and help young neurosurgical trainees.

The eligibility criteria for the prize are as follows:-

• Neurosurgeons either in training or recently appointed Consultants (within the last 5 years)
• Manuscripts should comprise either laboratory or clinical research relevant to either cranial or spinal neurotrauma
• The applicants should make a declaration stating that he or she has performed most of the work, led the project, and that such work was mainly undertaken in the UK/Ireland
• A letter to this effect from the candidate’s Head of Department should also be attached detailing the applicant's role
• Manuscripts may contain research which is unpublished, submitted for publication, in press or published.  The text of the essay should not be a direct facsimile of the manuscript submitted for publication, in press or published.  This will ensure that the winning essay can be published on the SBNS website without breach of copyright. Figures should either be redrawn or copyright permission provided.
• A short curriculum vitae. 
  
  The papers will be judged by members of the British Neurotrauma Group and SBNS Academic Committee.

Previous Winners

2025

Ms E Toman from Stoke for her paper

The diagnostic utility of salivary microRNAs in non-athlete concussion

 

2023

Mr R Visagan from London for his paper

Monitoring spinal cord tissue oxygen in patients with acute severe traumatic spinal cord injuries

 

2021

Ms F Hogg from London for her paper

Acute severe traumatic spinal cord injury: improving urinary bladder function by optimising spinal cord perfusion

 

2019

Mr C Hill from Cambridge for his paper

Highwire is a novel target that protects against the effects of traumatic brain injury

 

2017

Mr D Baxter from St George's Hospital, London for his paper entitled: Blast injury in pigs

2015

Mr S Harrison from Southampton General Hospital for his paper entitiled: Quantitative assessment of the effect of severe traumatic brain injury on markers of CNS injury in human patients.

2013

Mr A Ahmed from Southampton General Hospital for his paper entititled: Stem cell activation following traumatic brain injury 

2011  

Mr I Timofeev  from Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge,  for his paper entitled: Cerebral extracellular chemistry and outcome following traumatic brain injury: a microdialysis study of 223 patients.  

2009  

Mr M Tisdall, from the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, was awarded the prize for his paper entitled: Normobaric hyperoxia increases cerebral aerobic metabolism after traumatic brain injury

 

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to Carole Turner   [email protected]

Sir Hugh Cairns Essay Prize

Deadline for submission 30 April 2025

Prize will be announced Summer 2025

The winner will get an opportunity to present their paper at an SBNS Meeting.

Following the transfer of Trusteeship of the Sir Hugh Cairns Memorial Fund to the SBNS, we have reinstated the Sir Hugh Cairns Essay Prize. The prize is open to all Associate Members of the SBNS at the time of submission. The prize of £1,000 will be awarded every year. The topic can be anything relating to neurosurgery, other than trauma and must be based on original unpublished material or observation. The essay is restricted to 5,000 words (not including references, figures and tables) and aimed towards trainees in mid training.

THIS PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED ANNUALLY

Previous Winners

2024

Ashwin Kumaria from National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London 

How is tumour tissue microarchitecture linked with cerebrospinal fluid spread?

 

2023

Kanza Tariq from National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London

Impact of global warming on brain temperature

 

2022

Danyal Khan from National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London 

CSF rhinorrhoea after endonasal intervention to the skull base (CRANIAL): a multicentre prospective observational study

 

2021

Sebastian Toescu from Great Ormond Street Hospital, London 

Spatiotemporal changes in along-tract profilometry of cerebellar peduncles in cerebellar mutism syndrome

 

2019

Vejay Vakharia from UCL, London for his essay entitled:

Machine learning for stereotactic neurosurgery: A prospective implementation and validation 

2018

Ravindran Visagan from Kings College, London for his essay entitled: 

Joseph Buford Pennybacker CBE MD FRCS (1907-1983): Continuing Sir Hugh Cairns’ Oxford Legacy and Pioneer of the Modern Management of Cerebral Abscesses 

2017

Richard Fu from Imperial College, London for his essay entitled:

Caudal pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation best predicts improvements in freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease 

2016

Michael Hart from Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge for his essay entitled: 

Connectome analysis for pre-operative brain mapping in neurosurgery

2014

Rasheed Zakaria  from The Walton Centre, Liverpool for his essay entitled:  

How invasive are brain metastases? Diffusion weighted MRI characteristics of the tumour boundary predict patient outcomes

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to Carole Turner   [email protected] 

 John Pickard CSF Prize

Deadline for submission 30 April 2025

Prize will be announced Summer 2025

The winner will get the opportunity to present their paper at an SBNS Meeting

Following the launch of the British CSF Group, Professor Pickard, retired neurosurgeon from Cambridge, has generously offered to fund a biennial essay prize. The essay, on a cerebrospinal fluid related theme, should be approximately 3000 words in length, with a preference for original personal research over a review. The winner will receive £250 and will present their paper at an SBNS meeting.

Eligibility criteria:

• Neurosurgeons either in training or recently appointed Consultants (within 5 years)
• Manuscripts should comprise either laboratory or clinical research relevant to CSF and its circulation
• Applicants should make a declaration stating that he or she has performed most of the work, led the project, and that such work was mainly undertaken in the UK/Ireland
• A letter to this effect from the candidate's Head of Department should be attached
• Manuscripts may contain research which is unpublished, submitted for publication, in press or published. The text of the essay should not be a direct facsimile of the manuscript submitted for publication, in press or published.  This will ensure that the winning essay can be published on the SBNS website without breach of copyright. Figures should either be redrawn or copyright permission provided.
• A short curriculum vitae should also be attached. 

The papers will be judged by members of the British CSF Group and the SBNS Academic Committee

Previous Winners 

2023

K Tariq from London for her essay entitled:

Cerebrospinal fluid production rate in various pathological conditions

 

2021

J Merola from Cardiff for his essay entitled:

Toll-like receptor linked cytokine profiles in cerebrospinal fluid discriminate neurological infection from sterile inflammation. Published: Brain Communications, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2020 

and

A Nunn from Bristol for his essay entitled:

Clinico-Radiological Predictors of Response to CSF Diversion and Supplemental Tests in the Diagnosis of iNPH

 

2019

G Craven from NNHN, London for her essay entitled:

Classification of Ventriculomegaly in Adults:A Cluster Analysis  

 

2017

A Chari from NNHN, London for his essay entitled:

Intraparenchymal Intracranial Pressure Monitoring for Hydrocephalus and Cerebrospinal Fluid Disorders 

 

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to Carole Turner  [email protected] 

Diana Beck Prize

Deadline for submission 29 June 2025

Prize will be announced Autumn 2025

The winner will get an opportunity to present their paper at an SBNS Meeting.

Diana Beck was recently honoured with the unveiling of a plaque in London for the significant contributions she made within British and World Neurosurgery.  The family have since made a generous bequest to the SBNS to further the careers of aspiring neurosurgeons. The value of the prize is £1000 to be awarded every 2 years.

 

The eligibility criteria for the prize are as follows:-

• Neurosurgeons in training working in the UK or Ireland
• Applicants should have been a member of the SBNS for a minimum of 2 years
• Manuscripts should be based on the theme, 'A Quality Improvement Project that has benefitted neurosurgical patients'
• The applicants should make a declaration stating that he or she has performed most of the work, led the project, and that such work was mainly undertaken in the UK/Ireland
• A letter to this effect from the candidate’s Head of Department should also be attached detailing the applicant's role
• Successful applicants will be expected to submit their manuscript to be considered for publication in the British Journal of Neurosurgery.
• A short curriculum vitae. 

Cavernoma Essay Prize  https://bit.ly/35WvKhi

 

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to  Liz Morgan, CEO Cavernoma Alliance UK  [email protected]

 

Cavernoma Alliance UK have recently launched the 2020 'Caver-no-more 2030' essay prize.

The subject can be any cavernoma related topic. The value of the award is £500.

The winner will be determined by a panel of clinicians and researchers. The prize will be awarded at the Cavernoma Alliance UK CaverHub in November 2020.

The entry criteria are as follows:

• Open to trainees in clinical neuroscience specialties or early-career clinical/laboratory researchers working in the UK; 
• Approximately 3000 words in length excluding references, figures or tables; 
• To include original unpublished material or observations; 
• Declaration required from applicants stating they have performed most (i.e. more than 50%) of the work, with a letter to this effect from their Head of Department; 
• Submission deadline of midnight on 1st September 2020.
• Sponsored by the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation

Winner 2019

The winning essay was by Susanna Zuurbier (Dept of Neurology, Amsterdam University Center) and Charlotte Hickman (University of Edinburgh). The association between oral antithrombotic drug use and intracerebral haemorrhage for patients with cerebral cavernous malformations: a population-based cohort study, systematic review, and meta-analysis

All essays should follow the relevant guidelines below and be submitted to Carole Turner  [email protected] 

If this prize is to be awarded in the future further information will be posted on this site

Winner 2016

Yizhou Wan for his paper entitled 

'Uncovering the genetics of Brain Cancer: Recent Advances and their Diagnostic and Clinical Relevance'.

The pituitary prize, funded by Mr. Michael Powell, Senior SBNS Member is awarded to the best pituitary presentation over the year, judged from the Spring and Autumn SBNS conferences.

2024

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2024 is Mr M. Veremu for his abstract  "Predictive value of retinal nerve fibre layer thickness for post operative visual improvement in patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma"

2023

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2023 is Mr F. Fayez for his abstract "Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery for Acromegaly: A Retrospective Analysis of Cure Rates, Outcome Predictors, and Long-Term Prognosis in a Large Tertiary Centre"

2022

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2022 is Mr C. Botella Campos for his abstract "Trends in skullbase repair and CSF leak rates following endoscopic endonasal tumour surgery in 508 procedures"

2019

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2019 is Mr. D. Lewis for his abstract "Quantitative MR derived imaging parameters as a predictor of secretory and histological phenotype in pituitary adenoma"

2018

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2018 is Mr. M. Andrade for his abstract "Hypopituitarism rates post SRS/SRT treatment of pituitary adenoma"

2017

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2017 is Mr. Hamad Almhanedi for this abstract "Risk factors for postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak following endoscopic transnasal pituitary and anterior skull base surgery"

2016

The winner of the pituitary prize for 2016 is Mr. SA Alavi for his abstract "Pituitary dysfunction following traumatic brain injury: incidence, risk factors and quality of life in a prospective study"