Includes The Damian McMahon Trauma Research Paper Prize The Free Papers session provides a platform for emerging and established researchers to showcase cutting-edge work in trauma surgery and related disciplines. It is the scientific heart of the Trauma Section program, encouraging rigorous scholarship, fostering debate, and highlighting the next generation of trauma leaders. The session incorporates the Damian McMahon Prize, the session both honours the legacy of a foundational trauma surgeon and inspires excellence in research and clinical practice.

A candid, unscripted dive into the real stories behind surgical careers—this session invites the audience into the personal journeys of consultants across a wide range of specialties. Participants will hear honest reflections on challenges, turning points, sacrifices, vulnerabilities, and the unexpected moments that shaped both life and career. Panellists will also share their own rough proportions of Choice, Change, and Chance in their professional paths, offering a rare window into how careers truly evolve. Designed as an interactive conversation rather than a formal lecture, this session brings together an extensive representation of surgical consultants for open discussion, career insights, and meaningful dialogue with the audience.

Major trauma provokes an overwhelming inflammatory and haemorrhagic response that challenges both patients and the systems designed to care for them. This session explores the science of trauma inflammation and its translation into surgical practice, while also examining the toll trauma takes on surgeons and services themselves. Presentations will cover the biology of trauma-induced immune dysfunction, advances in translational research that are reshaping resuscitation and operative strategies, and the practical application of coagulation science to modern haemorrhage control. The session also considers how teams and systems behave under pressure — with lessons drawn from both biology and clinical experience — and concludes with a panel discussion on integrating scientific discovery, clinical practice, and surgeon wellbeing. Designed to bridge laboratory insights, operative decision-making, and the human factors of trauma surgery, this program will appeal to scientists, academic surgeons, and practising clinicians alike.