Mission
Why the society exists
Mission statement
Our mission
The Society of Early-Career Academic Surgeons exists to support surgeons during the transition from training to established academic practice, through regular peer exchange, a shared written record, and a national network that crosses specialty and institutional boundaries.
The first years of an academic surgical career are governed by expectations that are seldom written down. Promotion criteria differ between institutions and between faculty tracks. Protected time is negotiated rather than granted. A great deal of necessary work carries no formal credit, and it is not always obvious in advance which requests should be accepted.
Most surgeons learn these things slowly, and often by getting them wrong first. SECAS was founded on the premise that this knowledge transfers faster between peers than it does down a hierarchy, provided there is a setting in which people can be specific about their own departments.
Objectives
What the society undertakes to do
- 01
Provide a regular forum
To convene surgeons in the early years of academic practice at a predictable interval, so that the questions which arise in that period can be raised with peers rather than carried alone.
- 02
Keep a usable record
To document each meeting in writing, so that members who cannot attend are not excluded and so that the society accumulates something more durable than conversation.
- 03
Connect across institutions
To maintain a directory of members by specialty, institution and research interest, enabling direct contact between colleagues facing comparable problems.
- 04
Share practical material
To collect the documents, templates and language that members have found useful in promotion, negotiation, and the establishment of research programmes.
- 05
Remain open
To admit all eligible surgeons without dues, sponsorship requirements, or nomination, and to keep the barrier to participation as low as the society can sustain.
Values
How members are expected to work together
Confidentiality
What is said in a meeting stays within the membership. Members do not attribute another member's institutional circumstances outside the society.
Candour
The society is useful only in proportion to how directly members are willing to describe their own situations, including the parts that have not gone well.
Specificity
Discussion works from concrete examples rather than general principles. Members are asked to bring particulars.
Reciprocity
Members who have solved a problem are expected to make the solution available to those who have not.
Code of conduct
What members agree to
Membership is conditional on these undertakings. They are short because they are meant to be remembered.
- 01
Treat personal and institutional details disclosed in meetings as confidential to the society.
- 02
Do not circulate meeting notes, shared documents, or the member directory outside the membership.
- 03
Contribute specific examples rather than general observations wherever possible.
- 04
Share documents, language, or contacts when they would help another member.
- 05
Exclude patient information and unpublished institutional material from all discussion and shared files.
Membership is open to surgeons within 7 years of completing training who hold an academic or academically affiliated appointment. There is no fee.
Become a member