I. GENERAL TERMS

Societatea Studențească de Chirurgie din România (SSCR) - the Romanian Student Society of Surgery (RSSS) - is a Romanian-based and registered non-governmental organisation established in 2004 with the purpose of developing practical training methods for medical students. RSSS is the organiser of SURGICON 2022.

SURGICON is an international surgical driven congress, where medical students and young practitioners around the world have the chance to discuss with world-renowned speakers about life as a surgeon, discover the depths of surgical fields and get accustomed to surgical procedures through hands-on workshops, conferences and the student scientific competition along with other new types of events (such as Panel Discussions). SURGICON is the perfect hub for passionate future surgical residents to be guided, informed and inspired by the most successful surgeons around the globe.

The official website of SURGICON 2022 is www.surgicon.ro. The owner of the official website is the RSSS (Romanian Student Society of Surgery). By accessing or using the official website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all the terms and conditions of this agreement (set out below), the Privacy Policy and the Cancellations and Refunds Policy.

In order to participate at the congress, it is mandatory to register on the official website and to create a personal account. The accuracy of the provided data is the participant's responsibility. The data entered by the participant during the registration procedure will be used to generate the Certificate of Attendance, the personal congress badge and any other printed or electronic material needed for the purpose of the congress, as well as for contacting the participant. See more in our Privacy Policy. By registering to the congress, you give your consent for RSSS and its affiliates and/or subsidiaries to collect, process and use your personal data for any and all of the purposes of your attendance at the congress (see also Privacy Policy). This agreement is made in and shall be governed and construed by Romanian laws.

The official language of the congress is English. All the events will be held in English only, if not specifically stated otherwise. All the communication with the participants will be made in English only, if not specifically stated otherwise. By accepting these Terms & Conditions, the participant fully assumes that he/she has a good understanding and command of English. SURGICON organisers are not liable for any problems, misunderstandings, losses or damages that may appear due to participant’s lack of English skills, nor are they accountable for any problems, misunderstandings, losses or damages that may occur due to the lecturers’ and/or trainers’ lack of English skills. SURGICON will not issue any refund in this situation.

The access to all the venues and events (scientific and social) of the congress can be made only with the congress badge (in physical or digital form) containing the participant’s name for the ON-SITE events and by the page My Account, after signing in on the official website for the ONLINE events. Should the participant fail to present a valid official congress badge (regardless of the reason), he/she will not be granted access to the respective venue and/or event (scientific or social). Refunds will not be given in this situation. In case of lost or stolen official congress badge, the participant has to immediately send an email to registrations@surgicon.ro.

Any verbal or physical abuse, antisocial behaviour or unlawfully conduct towards a member of the SURGICON staff, a trainer, a speaker, other participants, partners’ or sponsors' staff will result in an immediate eviction from congress premises, a permanent ban from future SURGICON events, the cancellation of the participant’s website account and of any booking that he/she previously made. No refunds can be claimed in these situations. SURGICON 2022 organisers can and will collaborate with the accredited authorities should such situations arise.

The Terms & Conditions may suffer partial changes at any time, which will be announced by email to each registered participant. If the participant does not agree with the changes made to the Terms & Conditions, he/she can send a request in no more than 48 hours (from the time he/she received the email about the changes that were made) at registrations@surgicon.ro, demanding the termination of his/her registration at the congress. In this case the participant will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee of 15 euros in the Early Bird period, 20 euros in the Regular period and 25 euros in the Late period of registrations), only if he/she can objectively prove that the change negatively impacts his/her participation at the congress. Continued use of the website after the revision of the Terms & Conditions indicates that the participant has read, understood and agreed to the revised Terms & Conditions.

Both passive participants and presenting authors are required to respect the deadlines shown on the official website. Any changes to the deadlines will be announced on our website, on our official social media pages and by e-mail to the participants who have registered up to that moment. SURGICON 2022 organisers are entitled, at their discretion and without prior notice, to modify any deadlines, without being considered a change of the Terms & Conditions.

The Romanian laws apply. To the extent allowed by law, Romania is the place of performance and jurisdiction for all claims. The organiser is only liable for claims arising from physical injuries or from property damages due to intent or gross negligence of the organiser. Any further claims are not considered. SURGICON organisers are striving to select only the best partners. However, the organiser is not liable for claims arising from physical injuries, disease, adverse reactions or deaths caused by a third party action (including but not restricted to demonstrations, serving of food and/or beverages, special activities, workshops, tours, presentations etc.). This shall not affect further claims against third parties. The organiser is not liable for claims arising from physical injuries due to the venues of the congress. The organiser is not liable for the loss or theft of objects or motor vehicles brought along, except in cases of intent or grossly negligent causation. This shall not affect further claims against persons and/or companies charged with the excursions/events related to the congress.

II. ELIGIBILITY OF REGISTRATION

You can register at SURGICON as:

1. The Active Participant

• is the participant who is scheduled to have an Oral Presentation (during the Oral Presentation Competition), a Poster Presentation (during the Poster Presentation Competition) or a participant taking part in the Debate Competition within SURGICON congress;
• can be a medical or biomedical student;
• cannot be a graduate who is no longer enrolled in a medical/biomedical university;
• is entitled to access the congress premises and to participate in all scientific and social events for the entire duration of the congress, as long as the access regulations are respected (see III. Events);
• receives a Certificate of Attendance (digital/printed copy depending on the type of registration and selected extras of each participant) that acknowledges their participation at the Student Scientific Competition, as long as the required criteria are met.

Any participant planning to submit an abstract and/or that submits an abstract is considered to be an Active participant and has the same rights and obligations arising from this Terms & Conditions until we announce the list of accepted abstracts. His/her status can change if:

a) he/she chooses to switch his/her account to a Passive one by accessing the Extra section of their account and paying the price difference between the Active and Passive pack of his/her selected choice;

b) his/her abstract is not selected as an Oral, Poster or Debate Presentation. He/she can still participate at the congress by paying the price difference between the Active and the Passive pack before the general payment deadline mentioned on the official website (www.surgicon.ro) or he/she can ask for a full refund by contacting our team at treasurer@surgicon.ro;

c) he/she fails to submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline stated on the official website - in this case his/her account will be converted to a Passive participant account and he/she will be required to pay the price difference (according to the Late period of registrations) between the Active and Passive pack until the 2nd of October. If the participant fails to do so, their account will become inactive and the fee is non-refundable.

In order to qualify as an Active participant it is necessary to:

• register on the official SURGICON website (www.surgicon.ro);
• pay the participation fees before the payment deadlines stated on the official website;
• write and submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline (by accessing the “Submit your abstract” section from the personal SURGICON account);
• have the abstract accepted either as an Oral, Poster Presentation or in the Debate Session, upon evaluation.

2. The Passive Participant:

• can be a medical or biomedical student;
• can be a resident physician or an attending physician;
• can be a researcher of biomedical and biotechnology fields;
• can be representatives of the medical industry;
• can be members of the press;
• is entitled to access the congress premises and to participate in all scientific and social events for the entire duration of the congress, as long as the access regulations are respected (see III. Events);
• receives a Certificate of Attendance (digital/ printed copy depending on the type of registration and selected extras of each participant), as long as the required criteria are met.

In order to register as a passive participant it is necessary to:

• register on the official SURGICON website (www.surgicon.com);
• pay the participation fee for passive participants before the payment deadlines.

III. EVENTS

The congress includes two types of events:

A. Scientific Events

SURGICON 2022 includes the following types of scientific events:

1. Conferences (both ONLINE and ON-SITE);
2. Workshops;
3. Scientific Competition: Oral Presentations (on-site), Poster Presentations (on-site) and the Debate Competition (on-site & online).
4. Live surgeries (online);
5. Panel Discussions (online & on-site).

In order to attend any of the scientific events, both active and passive participants must have a personal account on the official website and must have previously paid the participation fee before the payment deadlines as stated on the official website. The following attendance rules apply:

1. Conferences – both presenting authors and passive participants are entitled to participate without paying any additional fee (apart from the participation fee), only after booking a seat from the personal account on the official website and after receiving the confirmation email.

Scientific Events Booking Procedure

Registered participants will be notified when it is time to book their events from the list of choices provided by the organisers of SURGICON 2022. The events will be presented on the official SURGICON website (www.surgicon.ro) with a short description, the date, time and location for each event. The specific details will be available approximately three weeks before the beginning of the congress.

The on-site scientific events included in the booking procedure are conferences, scientific competition (oral presentations, debate competition) and a panel discussion.

The booking procedure will last 2 consecutive days after the workshop booking procedure. During the first day, all participants will be able to book two events: one conference and one scientific competition. For participants with Premium Packs, the booking process will begin a few hours earlier, in order to book their events as a priority. During the second day, all participants will be able to book an additional event from the remaining places available at each event: conferences, scientific competition and panel discussion.

Please take into consideration that Premium Packs include priority over the other packs, and not over the other participants with Premium.

The dates and time will be announced on our official website and Facebook page. The number of participants that can attend an event is limited and preestablished, therefore the distribution is based on the order of booking the preferred events.

Please pay attention not to book two events which take place at the same time! Please allow enough time between the booked events. It is in the participant’s responsibility to make sure that his/her scientific events and workshops do not overlap and that he/she can be in time for all the events (taking into consideration the time needed for transport between locations and that he/she must be present at the location 15 minutes before the start of the event). We do not take any liability for the participant’s failure to schedule his/her events properly and we do not offer any refunds in this case.

Once the participant has booked a scientific event, he/she cannot change it. Should the participant fail to attend the booked events, the required criteria needed for the Certificate of Attendance will not be met.

In the unlikely possibility of schedule modifications (i.e. starting hour) for one of the already booked scientific events, thus overlapping with another SURGICON event and resulting in the participant no longer being able to attend the respective scientific event, organisers will contact the participant and give him/her the possibility of attending another available scientific event.

In the unlikely event of web server failure during the booking procedure, the organisers reserve the right to cancel the procedure and reschedule a new time for the scientific event booking process.

In case of forgetting to book the scientific events, the participants will be distributed in the places left available, taking into consideration not to overlap with the booked workshops.

It is in the participant’s responsibility to check for the starting hours and the location of the scientific events and to make sure he/she can be present at the time and place indicated by the organisers within 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the event. Access is strictly prohibited after the event has started.

Please note that participation in the Panel Discussion does not count as eligibility criteria for the Certificate of Attendance.

SURGICON 2022 has a “pay before you book any event” policy and all the participants must comply with the above scientific event booking procedure.

2. Workshops – both active and passive ON-SITE participants can participate without paying any additional fee to the number of workshops included in their participation pack. Participants with a physical pack can take part in extra workshops by paying a fee (see also VIII. Participation Fees). Participants with an online pack can attend workshops only by switching to a physical pack. Participating in a workshop is possible only after booking a seat from the personal account on the official website and after receiving the acceptance email.

It is in the participant’s responsibility to check for the starting hours and the location of the workshop and to make sure he/she can be present at the time and place indicated by the organisers within 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the workshop. Access to workshops is strictly prohibited after the workshop has started.

The maximum number of workshops that a participant can attend is three.

SURGICON 2022 has a “pay before you book any workshop” policy and all the participants must comply with the below workshop booking procedure.

Workshop Booking Procedure

Registered participants will be notified when it is time to book their workshops from the list of choices provided by the organisers of SURGICON 2022. The workshops will be presented on the official SURGICON website (www.surgicon.ro) with a short description, the date, time and location for each individual workshop. The specific details of the workshops will be available approximately three weeks before the beginning of the congress.

Workshops are grouped on 3 levels: basic, intermediate and advanced. Students in the first and second years of study only have access to basic and intermediate workshops, due to the level of knowledge and practical skills required in advanced workshops. Students in higher years of study (3rd to 6th) have access to all 3 levels.

The booking procedure will last 3 consecutive days. During the first day, only participants with Premium packs will be able to book 2 of their workshops, in order to have a greater chance at booking their workshop of choice. We mention that only 2 out of 3 workshops in the Premium pack have priority. During the second day, all participants will be able to book workshops, including those with Premium packs for the 3rd workshop or those who did not book their workshops during the first day. On the second day there will be open only half of the available places at each workshop. During the 3rd day, all participants have the chance to book from the other half of places available. Therefore, everyone gets two chances to book their favourite workshop.

Please take into consideration that Premium Packs include priority over the other packs, and not over the other participants with Premium.

The dates and time will be announced on our official website and Facebook page. The number of participants that can attend a workshop is limited and preestablished, therefore the distribution is based on the order of booking the preferred workshops.

Please pay attention not to book two workshops which take place at the same time! Please allow enough time between the booked workshops. It is in the participant’s responsibility to make sure that his/her workshops do not overlap and that he/she can be in time for all the workshops (taking into consideration the time needed for transport between locations and that he/she must be present at the workshop’s location 15 minutes before the start of the event). We do not take any liability for the participant’s failure to schedule his/her workshops properly and we do not offer any refunds in this case.

Once the participant has booked a workshop, he/she cannot change it. Should the participant fail to attend the booked workshops, the required criteria needed for the Certificate of Attendance will not be met. In addition, attending a workshop without actively participating (i.e. observing other participants work) is forbidden.

In the unlikely possibility of schedule modifications (i.e. starting hour) for one of the already booked workshops, thus overlapping with another SURGICON event and resulting in the participant no longer being able to attend the respective workshop, organisers will contact the participant and give him/her the possibility of attending another available workshop or, should he/she not be interested in any other available workshops, the participant will be entitled to a refund, as stated in X. Refund policy.

In the unlikely event of web server failure during the booking procedure, the organisers reserve the right to cancel the procedure and reschedule a new time for the workshop booking process.

In case of forgetting to book the workshops, the participants will be distributed in the places left available.

3. Scientific Competition – both active and passive participants are entitled to participate without paying any additional fee (apart from the participation fee), only after booking a seat from the personal account on the official website and after receiving the acceptance email.

Presentations comprise of:

• 2 Oral Presentation Competition sessions - on-site
• 1 Poster Presentation Competition session - on-site; however, the posters will also be posted in a separate section on our website, in which both passive and active participants will vote their favourite poster
• 2 Debate Competition sessions - one online and one on-site

Participation (as a presenting author or a passive participant) in either the Oral Presentation Competition or the Debate Competition is mandatory in order to receive the Certificate of Attendance.

4. Live surgeries - both active and passive participants that bought packs including the Live surgeries option are entitled to access the Live surgeries section from their account.

Live surgery is a scientific event which consists of live-streaming from the OR, available on our website during the congress. The surgeries are done during the streaming and at the end the lead surgeon or one of the assistants will answer questions from the public. The duration of this event varies depending on the type of intervention being performed, approximately between 2-5 hours.

5. Panel Discussions - one on-site and one online

Both active and passive participants are entitled to participate without any additional fee, irrespective of their packs, only after booking a seat from the personal account on the official website and after receiving the acceptance email. Please note that participation in this event does not count as an eligibility criteria for the Certificate of Attendance.

This event is a discussion between 3-5 surgeons specialised in the same field, but with different experiences. The purpose of the event is for each one of them to share their personal expertise and advice for students with an interest in a surgical technique. The structure of the event will be presented by a moderator who will also ensure a balanced discussion and at the end will be addressing the questions from the participants. Each doctor will have a short presentation of 5-10 minutes and at the end 10-15 minutes will be reserved for questions and remarks between the panellists and from the audience. The duration of this event is 60-90 minutes.

B. Social Events

SURGICON 2022 may include, according to the epidemiological and socio-political context, the following types of social events:

1. Gala Dinner;
2. Closing Ceremony;
3. Other events (parties, city tours, escape rooms, murder mystery parties, scavenger hunts, pub crawling, game nights, personal development workshops, meditation, yoga etc.)

Both passive participants and presenting authors are entitled to access to all the social events (if not specifically stated otherwise), based on prior registration. There may be events with a limited number of seats available. If this is the case, these events and the exact number of seats will be announced on the official website and the seats will be occupied according to the chronological order of the reservations, taking into account the limited number of seats available. Online events will be accessible to both passive participants and presenting authors, with prior reservation. For both online and offline events, participants will be asked to confirm their participation one day before the event. The organisers reserve their right to cancel or change the time of some social events on short notice due to the small number of participants or unforeseen or exceptional situations. Entrance conditions to social events are subject to change according to Romanian laws and regulations in place.

The Gala Dinner is a social event where speakers, organisers, partners and a limited number of participants have the opportunity to network and socialise under an art themed environment. The participants who can attend the event are those who purchase Premium packs. The number of participants is to be decided taking into account Romanian laws and regulations in place.

Participation in social events is optional and is not included in the criteria that need to be met in order to receive the Certificate of Attendance.

IV. ABSTRACTS

In order to submit an abstract, the participant must comply with the already stated conditions (as mentioned in II. Eligibility of registration). First of all, one must register and create a personal account on the official website of SURGICON 2022. The author who submits the abstract must be the one who plans to present it and must send it before the Abstract Submission deadline as listed on our website. Any abstract received after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.

The abstracts will be submitted using the abstract submission form on the SURGICON 2022 website. Any personal data of people involved in the scientific process (co-authors, scientific coordinators etc.), if collected, will be used by the organising committee and any third party involved in the organisation of SURGICON only to facilitate the events of the congress, according to our Privacy Policy. If the abstract is accepted, the names of the presenting author and coauthors will be listed in the congress abstract book and congress program in the exact form and order in which they were registered in the aforementioned form. The scientific coordinator of the study will be listed last in the congress abstract book and congress program.

The name of the presenting author (as it was entered by the participant in the registration form) will also be written on the Certificate of Attendance. The participants are responsible for entering the correct data in the abstract submission form. SURGICON is not responsible for any inaccuracies that may arise from wrongful completion of the abstract submission form and will not issue another Certificate of Attendance in this case.

There can only be one presenting author for each submitted abstract. There can be only one scientific coordinator for each submitted abstract. Any other doctors, university and medical staff and/or researchers that had any contribution to the abstract can be enlisted as co-authors. There is a limit of 4 co-authors for any submitted abstract.

A presenting author may submit a maximum number of two abstracts (one for the Oral/ Poster Competitions and one for the Debate Competition).

A presenting author may deliver a maximum number of two Presentations as follows:

• one Oral Presentation and one Debate Presentation;
• one Poster Presentation and one Debate Presentation;
• one Poster Presentation;
• one Oral Presentation;
• one Debate Presentation.

A presenting author CANNOT present two Poster Presentations/ two Oral Presentations/ Oral and Poster Presentation/ two Debate Presentations. There is no limit for the number of abstracts in which a person can be mentioned as a co-author.

Abstracts can be presented either in an Oral/ Poster Competition or Debate Competition. The presentation type should be selected during the submission process. The Scientific Department reserves the right to change the Oral Presentations to Poster Presentations, with prior notification of the presenting author according to the availability of the scientific programme, taking into consideration the evaluation of the abstract, made by an external scientific committee (see Section IV.3. Abstract Evaluation).

The abstract must be an original work of the author and co-authors (if they exist). It is strictly forbidden for two or more presenting authors and/or co-authors to submit the same or similar abstracts. In case the same/a similar abstract is submitted by different presenting authors or there is a reasonable suspicion of such a practice, the organiser reserves its right to reject the abstract/s after its own investigation into the matter. In this case no refund of previously paid fees will be offered.

SURGICON 2022 organisers have the right to disqualify abstracts if they believe that the participants are not acting in conformity with the Terms & Conditions or if the participant is otherwise unfairly influencing the development of the competition. It is strictly forbidden for a member of the SURGICON 2022 Organising Committee, as well as any volunteers directly involved in the organisation of the Scientific Competition to submit an abstract as a presenting author or to be a co-author or a scientific coordinator for a submitted abstract. It is strictly forbidden for a presenting author to submit an abstract that has a member of the aforementioned categories as a co-author or scientific coordinator. In all of the above mentioned situations the respective abstract will be disqualified and no refund of any previously paid fees will be offered.

IV.1. Abstract Guidelines

Being a surgical congress, each scientific paper must be related to the surgical field, and be included in one of the 3 main scientific categories listed below. In order to submit a scientific paper, you should be registered as an active participant, send your abstract prior to the deadline, and wait for the accepted abstracts to be announced. Each abstract can be submitted once per category (Oral/Poster or Debate) and only by one author who will register as an active participant and will be the presenting author. In the case that the registered presenting author will not be able to present during the Congress, one of his co-authors can present the paper, as long as he/she meets the eligibility criteria for active participation. It is not allowed for 2 or more participants to send the same abstract.

All accepted abstracts will be included in the Abstract Book. Scientific papers already presented during previous conferences or congresses will not be accepted. Each participant can send a maximum of 2 abstracts, one in the Debate Competition and the other one for Oral/Poster Presentation Competition.

Types of studies that are considered eligible:

• Original research/Cohort study/Clinical study
• Review/Meta-analysis
• Case report

ORIGINAL RESEARCH: it answers a wide variety of questions regarding the body's response to current or potential health problems. The purpose of this qualitative research is to describe, explore and explain the health phenomena studied. In this particular type of presentation, the introduction should explain the reason for performing this study. The Materials & Methods should present how the data about the population involved in the study (human or animal test) was obtained. In the results section, you should include the outcome and the conclusions should emphasise the particularity of this original study.

COHORT STUDY: it involves identifying a group that is already under a particular treatment or subject to certain factors, tracking them over time and then comparing the results with those of a similar group that was not affected by the treatment or exposure during the study (control group).

CLINICAL STUDY: it is a collection of reports regarding the treatment of individual patients, thus a control group is not used, resulting in a study with little statistical valability

REVIEW: it focuses on a clinical topic and answers a targeted question. An extensive search in the literature is directed at identifying articles that address the topic concerned. The studies are to be examined, evaluated based on their quality which includes or excludes them from the review and the results summarised in accordance with the initial hypothesis. In order for a review to be eligible as a scientific paper in SURGICON 2022 you must provide the references that you used (at least 10 articles published in peer-reviewed journals included in the data).

META-ANALYSIS: it is a statistical analysis that mathematically combines the results of multiple valid scientific studies on the same subject and reports their findings with a higher statistical power. In order for a meta-analysis to be eligible as a scientific paper in SURGICON 2022 you must provide the raw data and proof of the statistical work behind your paper.

CASE REPORT: it is a descriptive study where the observation of one or more patients allows the discussion of some interesting aspects of pathogenesis, diagnosis or treatment. The objective of the presentation is not to test a hypothesis, but to assert qualities of clinical research and to provide some useful data to peers. It should describe a particular case that encourages further research on the matter discussed and should include a short introduction, patient data, symptoms and diagnosis (both presumptive and definitive), treatment plans (components, administration, results/prognosis) and a conclusion.

IV.2. Abstract Structure

All abstracts must have up to 300 words (the only exception being the abstracts for the Debate Competition, which have a limit of 600 words) and respect one of the following structures:

CASE REPORT

• Introduction: this includes the purpose of the presentation and general data about the patient's pathology: informative data aiming at reminding the notions of embryology, anatomy, physiology;
• Case Presentation: case presentation, differential diagnosis, presumptive and definitive diagnosis, pathophysiology, treatment/ management and the patient’s evolution;
• Conclusion: the conclusion should emphasise the learning points and particularities of the case;
• Keywords

ORIGINAL STUDY/COHORT STUDY/CLINICAL STUDY

• Introduction: it should present the background of the work that has been carried out and should lead to a clearly stated hypothesis or set of objectives;
• Materials & Methods: the researcher should specify exactly what was done experimentally and what experimental techniques were used;
• Results: authors should consider how to present their data. There should be sufficient information for the reader to understand the obtained results, but they should be summarised;
• Limitations: in this section, you should present the eventual shortcomings of your study and how they can be improved in the future;
• Conclusion: has to be based on the presented facts and should be limited to minimal speculation about the significance of the work;
• Keywords

REVIEW/META-ANALYSIS

• Introduction: a brief presentation of what is known about the subject under discussion and what is the primary aim of the review/meta-analysis;
• Materials & Methods:
  • Review: you should specify information related to the sources you used, search terms, inclusion criteria for articles, the period from the oldest study to the most recent one and other information related to data selection;
  • Meta-analysis: you should specify information related to the sources you used, inclusion/ exclusion criteria for patients, distribution in subgroups, the period from the oldest study to the most recent one, variables taken into account and how the raw data was processed and interpreted;
• Results: include the number of articles analysed in the paper and the number of articles selected. Each of the ideas presented in the "Results" section must be consistent with those in "Materials and Methods". The actual real data collected from the articles that are linked to the conclusions are summarised here. Present the assessment of risk of bias for each included study. Also, this section of the abstract should not contain tables or diagrams;
• Conclusion: the conclusions have to be based on the presented facts and should be limited to minimal speculation about the significance of the work;
• Keywords
• References (only for reviews): in order for a review to be eligible as a scientific paper in SURGICON 2022 Congress you must provide the references that you used (at least 10 articles published in peer-reviewed journals included in the data).

For the SCIENTIFIC DEBATE

An abstract comprising no more than 600 words, describing the arguments and ideas you are going to present. In the abstract submission form, both teammates must be mentioned by their full-name, e-mail and in the order in which they will be presenting. In the abstract you must present the technique you chose and the 2 arguments that will be the basis of your presentation. Your abstract must respect the following structure:

• Introduction: A general presentation of the subject of debate and stating the 2 arguments of your team and the methods you used to research them.
• Argument 1 and 2: You must present each argument, outlining the most important points, the details remaining to be discussed during your presentation.
• Conclusion: A summary of the most important point in both arguments and your general view on the technique that you are trying to convey as a team.
• Keywords

The Abstract title must be written in English, with capital letters, without a limit as to the number of words or characters. All names must be entered without diacritics. The presenting author must be first in order within the abstract submission form and the scientific coordinator is mentioned last. The order in which the authors are listed in the abstract submission form will be exactly transferred in the congress abstract book and congress program.

With the above rules will result in the rejection of the abstract irrespective of its scientific content. The presenting author is the only one responsible for the content of the abstract and must read and agree with the terms and conditions of this congress before submitting it. SURGICON organisers are not liable for any copyright infringement due to the presenting author’s fault. All penalties that may result are entirely in the presenting author’s responsibility. Each abstract can only be submitted once.

IV.3. Abstract Evaluation

Upon submitting an abstract, all authors will receive an appropriate confirmation email. The acceptance or rejection of the abstract will be announced on the official website and an email will be sent only to the presenting author. Therefore, it is his/her responsibility to announce the co-authors. Privacy policy applies.

The abstracts will be evaluated by a scientific committee, corresponding to each of the listed categories by using a blind review method. The evaluation will be made based on the registration number and the name of the authors will be revealed only after the completion of the evaluation. Upon evaluation, the submitted abstract may be considered:

• Accepted:
  • As Oral Presentation
  • As Poster Presentation
  • As Debate Competition
• Rejected

The decision will be communicated to each presenting author on the email address provided in the abstract submission form. We are not liable for any losses or damages that may occur for the presenting author and/or any co-authors in case the provided presenting author’s email is not correct or is not working. If accepted, the email will also inform about the form of delivery (Oral or Poster or Debate Presentation) for the submitted abstract, based upon the decision of the scientific committee, according to the results of the anonymous evaluation of the abstract. If a participant wants to get feedback for their abstract, according to the criteria on which the selection was made, he/she can send an email to scientific@surgicon.ro and he/she will receive the points obtained on every criterion. Please note that a participant can only receive the results of the abstract they submitted in their account. SURGICON organisers will not accept any request made by the presenting author and/ or co-authors to change the form of delivery that was already decided by the scientific committee.

V. ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS

1) For Oral Presentations:

The oral presentation should be: clear, concise, coherent (following a logical line of presentation), non-redundant, non-contradictory. Each session has a jury, consisting of acknowledged physicians in the specific field.

Rules

• Presenting time: 7 minutes with 3 minutes of questions and discussions; any extension beyond this time limit will result in a subtraction of points from the final score;
• Compatibility: The presentation must be compatible with at least Microsoft PowerPoint 2007.
• Template: All active participants are required to use the template given by the SURGICON Scientific Department via email.
• Labeling: Images and graphs have to be clear, with labels explaining each item in the graph. Each image and graph will have a number and title, centered and placed below that figure.
• Tables: If used they should have a centered title placed either above or below the table.
• Personal data protection: It is widely accepted that the identity of the patient or the information that allows his/her identification should not be disclosed. The most frequent ways to avoid disclosure of personal data is to cover the name, address or distinctive characters with a black band or blur effect. For pictures showing the face of the patient, cover the eyes with a black band or use a blur effect.
• The active participant will deliver the presentation during the scientific competition in accordance to the official schedule;
• The active participant must be present at the site of the oral presentations competition at least 30 minutes before the start of the competition (as established in the congress program). Access will not be permitted after the start of the presentation competition;
• The presenting author must speak freely and any written support except the actual presentation is forbidden;
• The presenting author must deliver his/her Oral Presentation in English; no other language is accepted;
• If one of the members of our evaluating committees is registered as a scientific coordinator, co-author or presenting author of one of the accepted abstracts, the presenting author may still present his work at our Presentations, but will not enter the competition.

If the presenting author can no longer deliver the Oral Presentation, after its acceptance and after payment of the registration fee, he/she:

• has the right to designate one of the co-authors for substitution in order to deliver the speech, but only if the respective co-author is already registered as a passive participant and meets the eligibility criteria for active participation;
• has the obligation of announcing the congress organisers at least 24 hours before the established date and time of the Scientific Competition. He/ she must also announce the name of the co-author who will deliver the presentation.

Failure to comply with the above rules will result in the rejection of the presentation. With regard to the changes in registration fees in this case. If the original presenting author can no longer participate as an Active Participant, there are the following options:

• if she/he still wants to attend the congress as an on-site Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), managing the fee difference between the original presenting author and the designated co-author is their responsibility and SURGICON will not be responsible for remedying this situation;
• he/she can downgrade to an online pack and still attend the congress as a Passive participant and receive a voucher for the price difference;
• if he/she cannot attend the congress at all and informs the organisers by the 1st of October 2022, he/she will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee see X. Refund policy );

2) For Poster Presentations:

A poster is a document which can synthetically communicate the results of one’s scientific work. Participants should keep in mind that they have 5 minutes for presenting their posters, so it is recommended to make presentations as synthetic as possible.

In order to register for the Poster Presentation Section, the participant must:

1. Send his/her abstract and select your preference for the Poster Competition of the Scientific Competition (see Section IV.1 Abstract Guidelines)
2. After he/she receives an email that the abstract has been accepted for the Poster Competition, the participant must send the e-poster in .jpeg, .jpg, .pdf format to scientific@surgicon.ro until 20th of October and a video presentation of the poster in .mp4, .mpv, .mov, .avi format with a duration of up to 5 minutes.

The posters will be displayed at the main scientific venue and in the designated section of our website the entire duration of our congress. A scientific committee of physicians will evaluate the posters and decide the three winners of the jury’s awards. The participants will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite presenting author, deciding the winner of the public’s award of this section.

Rules

• Presentation time: 5 minutes.
• Labelling: images and graphs have to be clear, with labels explaining each item in the graph. Each image and graph will have a number and title, centered and placed under that figure.
• Tables: if used they should have a centered title placed either above or below the table.
• Personal data protection: it is widely accepted that the identity of the patient or the information that allows his/ her identification should not be disclosed. The most frequent ways to avoid disclosure of personal data is to cover the name, address or distinctive characters with a black band or blur effect. For pictures showing the face of the patient, cover the eyes with a black band or use a blur effect.
• All posters must have one page only.

If a presenting author in Poster section can no longer participate as an Active Participant, there are the following options:

• if she/he still wants to attend the congress as an on-site Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), managing the fee difference between the original presenting author and the designated co-author is their responsibility and SURGICON will not be responsible for remedying this situation;
• he/she can downgrade to an online pack and still attend the congress as a Passive participant and receive a voucher for the price difference;
• if he/she cannot attend the congress at all and informs the organisers by the 1st of October 2022, he/she will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee see X. Refund policy)

If a participant fails to comply with any of the previous options, her/his account will be deleted and will not be eligible for a refund.

3) For Debate Competition:

We are hosting two scientific Debate Competitions during our congress: one online and one on-site. This section presents the opportunity to compare two different techniques in terms and advantages and disadvantages of a surgical treatment.

There will be a moderator who will host the event and give the participants the right to speak. The moderator is also going to present a background story, an introduction or a short description of what is going to be discussed in order to set the status quo.

There will be 4 active participants, grouped into 2 teams - each team presenting arguments for a different side.

They will take turns presenting their arguments (technique A – B – A – B). Each participant has 7 minutes to present their idea/ argument and 3 more minutes to answer questions from the public and the opposing team. After all the participants present their arguments there will be a general round of questions that members from both teams will have to answer, regarding comparisons between the 2 presented techniques and particular situations in which one of them can prove to be more or less beneficial than the other.

At the end, one team will be selected as the winner by the jury and the public will vote for the best speaker who will be awarded a separate prize.

• Presentation:  All active participants are required to have a PowerPoint presentation (Microsoft Office 2007 or newer versions) to enhance their speech or to better highlight their data.
• Duration:  Each participant has 7 minutes for their speech; if the participant passes the allocated time with more than 30 seconds, the moderator will stop the presentation.
• Questions:  All questions addressed by an active participant should be related to the medical data and should not be considered by any member of the jury or the moderator a direct attack to another active participant. If so, the organisers reserve the right to act accordingly and apply whatever penalisations they see fit.
• Template:  All active participants in the Debate Competition are required to use the template given by the SURGICON Scientific Department via email.

If after their abstract being accepted for the Debate Section one of the teams can no longer attend the congress, they must announce the organisers by 1st of October 2022, and they will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee see X. Refund policy).

For the Scientific Debate Competition that will be held on-site, the participants are required to announce as soon as possible if they can not attend the event. In this case, there are the following options:

• If just one of the members of the team isn’t able to attend, the other one can present both arguments or they can find a replacement and manage the fee between them. Also, in this case the one that cannot attend must downgrade his pack to an online pack (see Pack switching fees).
• If none of the members can attend the on-site event, they can still present using our virtual live-streaming platform. In this case both participants must downgrade their packs from on-site to online (see Pack switching fees)

VI. EVALUATION AND AWARDS

1) For Oral Presentations:

Each presentation will be evaluated during one of the Scientific Competition sessions by the same designated scientific committee. If one of the members of our evaluating committee is registered as a presenting author, scientific coordinator or co-author of one of the accepted abstracts, the presenting author may still present his/her work at our Presentations, but will not enter the scientific competition. Each presentation will be evaluated based on a specific set of criteria which will be disclosed to the presenting author before the Scientific Competition. The final score will be the arithmetic mean of the scores given by each member of the scientific committee. In case of equal scores between participants, the committee will resolve the draw by taking into consideration the presentation skills criterion. The final rankings will be done according to the arithmetic mean following a descending order (from the highest to the lowest score). The final rankings including all oral presentations will be published on the official website and will be sent to the presenting authors by email after the Closing Ceremony.

2) For Poster Presentations

Each presentation will be evaluated during the Poster Competition held on-site by the members of the scientific committee. Each member of the audience (passive participants, presenting authors, medical specialists attending the respective poster presentation) is able to vote his/her favourite poster presentations. The voting procedure and the scoring system will be announced no later than 2 weeks before the beginning of the congress on the official SURGICON website (www.surgicon.ro) and on the official SURGICON social pages. The final rankings including all poster presentations will be published on the official website and will be sent to the presenting authors by e-mail after the Closing Ceremony.

3) For the Debate Competition:

The winning team is going to be selected based on criteria that are going to be announced on the official website, by calculating the sum of all points of the two teammates. The points are awarded by the scientific moderator of the Debate Competition.

In this section of the Scientific Competition we encourage questions both from the public and the opposing team, in order to have a broad understanding of each team’s view and the use of the technique they chose to present.

The final rankings including all Debate Presentations will be published on the official website and will be sent to the presenting authors by email after the Closing Ceremony.

The prizes will be awarded as it follows:

• Oral Presentations – for each one of the two Oral Presentation Competition sessions - there will be three scientific prizes awarded by the scientific committee: 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place. Accordingly, there will be a total of three scientific prizes awarded by our scientific committees.
• Poster Presentations – there will be three prizes awarded by the scientific committee who is present at the time of the on-site Poster Presentation Competition, as well as one prize awarded by the public through voting.
• Debate Competition - there will be four prizes, one for each member of the winning teams, awarded by the scientific moderator.

Awards for the winners of the Scientific Competition will be given only to presenting authors.

The awarding ceremony will take place on Sunday, if not specifically stated otherwise, in the official SURGICON 2022 final programme.

VII. CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE

Certificates of Attendance will be available to download for both Passive and Active participants from their personal account on the official SURGICON 2022 website in no more than two weeks time after the end of the congress (provided that they comply with the below participation rules). Digital Certificates of Attendance bear the same legal validity as the printed versions. Digital Certificates of Attendance will be available to download for a maximum of 6 (six) months from the time the participant receives it. After this, no further access can be guaranteed by the organisers and no refunds will be issued for the failure of downloading the digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance. If a non-Premium physical participant requires a hardcopy of his/her Certificate of Attendance he/she can request one ONLY by paying a special fee stated on the official website.

The Certificate of Attendance hardcopy will be handed during the check-out procedure to the participants with Premium pack and to those who have paid the extra fee for the hardcopy. For participants from Bucharest who are unable to come to the check-out, the printed copy will be stored for 6 months and they must contact us at registrations@surgicon.ro in order to take possession of it. For national and international participants who cannot perform their check-out, the copies will be sent to the addresses provided by the participants upon registration (the address can be changed from the personal account on the official SURGICON website any time before the end of the congress). SURGICON 2022 cannot guarantee the timely delivery of the hardcopy. It is in the responsibility of the participant (either passive or active) to make sure that he/she provides a full and accurate address. SURGICON organisers are not liable for the failure of delivery in case of an incorrect or incomplete address. If the Certificate of Attendance hardcopy fails to arrive at the paying participant (either passive or active) due to incorrect or incomplete address, due to postal services problems or if it was damaged during the transport, SURGICON organisers do not take any responsibility. For every request after this first delivery you will be charged additional fees. No refund of the hardcopy fee will be issued in this case.

The Certificates of Attendance will be awarded to all participants who met the required criteria, which are the following:

• for on-site participants:
  • active on-site participants: attending all of their booked workshops, the Scientific Competition to which they have been accepted, one on-site conference of their choice, vote at the Poster Presentation and at least one live surgery (if the chosen pack includes access to Live Surgeries);
  • passive on-site participants: attending all of their booked workshops, one conference of their choice on-site and at least one online (with the exception of Keynote lectures), one of the Scientific Competition events (Oral Presentation Competition or Debate Competition), vote at the Poster Presentation and at least one live surgery (if the chosen pack includes access to Live Surgeries);
• for online participants:
  • active online participants:
    • The CASABLANCA pack: attending the Scientific Competition to which they have been accepted and three conferences of their choice;
    • The pack LIKE THE WIND: attending the Scientific Competition to which they have been accepted, three conferences of their choice and at least one live surgery;
  • passive online participants:
    • The HASTA LA VISTA pack: attending two Scientific Competition events and three conferences of their choice;
    • The DANNY AND SANDY pack: attending two Scientific Competitions, three conferences of their choice and at least one live surgery.

Participants’ online activity will be verified at the end of the congress through the official SURGICON website. On-site participants will have their badges scanned before attending their booked workshops and scientific events. It is within the participant’s responsibility to have his/her badge scanned before every event attended.

Failure to comply with all of the above rules results in not receiving the Certificate of Attendance. The same rules apply also for the Certificate of Attendance hardcopy.

No further claims will be considered and no refunds will be issued if the participant does not meet the participation criteria due to the badge not being scanned.

Due to the Romanian College of Physicians’ governing rules, all potential CME points (attributed to SURGICON 2022) will be received only by doctors (junior doctors or senior doctors) irrespective of their status (passive participant or presenting author) providing that they comply to the above rules. No CME points can be granted to students.

VIII. FEES

There are three main fee categories:

A. Participation fees:

There are two different categories of participants attending SURGICON 2022: On-site participants and Online participants. Each type of participant may choose to attend either as an Active participant or as a Passive participant.

On-site participant – this type of participant will attend scientific events in person, go through check-in and receive a welcome bag.

1. Active ON-SITE Participant: this fee will be paid by a participant who plans to submit an abstract and be a presenting author of a scientific paper (Oral or Poster Presentation) or a participant in the Debate Competition.

• The participant who pays the Active participation fee takes the responsibility of submitting an abstract before the abstract submission deadline (stated on the official website).
• In case the participant fails to submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline, his/her account will be converted to a Passive Physical participant account and he/she will be required to pay the price difference between the Active and Passive pack until the 2nd of October. If the participant fails to do so, their account will become inactive and the fee is non-refundable.
• If the participant abstract does not get accepted, he/she has to pay the Regular Fee for passive participants before the payment deadlines (stated on the official website) or he/she can ask for a full refund by contacting our team at the email address: treasurer@surgicon.ro.

There are three packs available for the Active ONSITE Participant:

• The PRECIOUS pack, which includes the following: 1 workshop, access to booked conference, online and on-site Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance, welcome bag, abstract published in the Abstract Book.
• The MAMMA MIA pack, which includes the following: 2 workshops, access to the booked conference, online and on-site Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to all streamed Live Surgeries, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the Social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance, welcome bag, abstract published in the Abstract Book.
• The WALK OF FAME Pack, which includes the following: 3 workshops, priority to workshop selection for 2 of the workshops, free access to all online and on-site conferences, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to all streamed Live Surgeries, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the social programme, Gala Dinner, extra items in the welcome bag, printed copy of the Certificate of Attendance, abstract published in the Abstract Book.

2. Passive ONSITE participant: this fee will be paid by every participant that attends the congress but does not wish to engage actively in the Scientific Competition.

There are three packs available for the Passive Physical Participant:

• The INGLORIOUS BASTERDS pack, which includes the following: 1 workshop,access to the booked conference, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance, welcome bag.
• The pack YOU CAN’T REFUSE, which includes the following: 2 workshops, free access to all conferences, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to all streamed Live Surgeries, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the Social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance, welcome bag.
• The INTERSTELLAR pack, which includes the following: 3 workshops, priority to workshop selection for 2 of the workshops, free access to all conferences, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to all streamed Live Surgeries, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the social programme, extra items in the welcome bag, printed copy of the Certificate of Attendance.

ONLINE participant – this type of participant will have access only to online events; they will NOT be able to attend the workshops.

1. Active ONLINE Participant: this fee will be paid by a participant who plans to submit an abstract and be a presenting author of a scientific paper (Oral or Poster Presentation) or a participant in the Debate Competition.

• The participant who pays the Active participation fee takes the responsibility of submitting an abstract before the abstract submission deadline (stated on the official website).
• In case the participant fails to submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline his/her account will be converted to a Passive Physical participant account and he/she will be required to pay the price difference between the Active and Passive pack until the 2nd of October. If the participant fails to do so, their account will become inactive and the fee is non-refundable.
• If the participant abstract does not get accepted, he/she has to pay the Regular Fee for passive participants before the payment deadlines (stated on the official website) or he/she can ask for a full refund by contacting our team at the email address: treasurer@surgicon.ro.

There are two packs available for the Active ONLINE Participant:

• The CASABLANCA, which includes the following: free access to all online conferences, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the online social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance.
• The pack LIKE THE WIND, which includes the following: free access to all online conferences, Scientific Events and Scientific Competition, access to all streamed Live Surgeries, access to the Opening Ceremony, access to the online social programme, digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance.

The fees for the Passive participation will change with each time period of registration. There is an early, a regular and a late period of registration and their deadlines are clearly stated on the SURGICON official website (www.surgicon.ro):

• early bird fee for passive participants* – this is the participation fee paid by a passive participant who registers before the early bird fee deadline;
• regular fee for passive participants – this is the participation fee paid by a passive participant who registers before the regular fee deadline;
• late fee for passive participants – this is the participation fee paid by a passive participant who registers after the regular fee deadline and before the late fee (general payment) deadline.

*First-year medical students who wish to attend the congress as Passive Participants will receive a discount code that will allow them to register by paying the Early bird fee, disregarding the period in which they create their account.

B. Special fees include:

1. Certificate of Attendance hardcopy fee – this is the fee paid by non-Premium physical participants in order to receive a hardcopy of the Certificate of Attendance. The digital copy of the Certificate of Attendance is free, being included in the participation fee. No refunds will be issued by the SURGICON 2022 organisers for the Certificate of Attendance hardcopy fee regardless of the reason and/or situation.
2. Other fees – this refers to any other fees in connection with the congress (included, but not restricted to social events, parties, expositions, tours, services offered by third parties etc.). These fees are non-refundable except otherwise stated.

C. Pack switching fees

ONLINE pack to ON-SITE pack

Switching from an ONLINE pack to an ON-SITE one requires the participant to pay the price difference between the online pack fee and the on-site pack fee of their choice, corresponding to the time of switching (i.e early/regular/late fee). No additional handling fee will have to be paid.

ON-SITE pack to ONLINE pack

When choosing to downgrade their physical pack to the corresponding online pack, participants will receive the price difference between the two packs minus a handling fee of 15€ in the early fee period, 20€ in the regular fee period, 25€ in the late fee period respectively. After the registration period is closed, participants will not be able to switch their pack to online, nor be eligible for a refund.

To a different online pack/physical pack

Conversion between packs, whether they are on-site or online, is possible only if the participant wishes to switch to a higher value pack. Participants are required to pay the price difference between their original pack fee and the pack fee they wish to change to, corresponding to the time of switching (i.e early/regular/late fee).

Discount codes

Participants may receive discount codes through our ambassador programme, if they are a first-year medical student, they are a part of any partnership & sponsorship agreement SURGICON makes or they are volunteers in the congress organisation. All discount codes are single-use.

1. Ambassadors

Participants that wish to take part in this programme will have to register using the contact form available on the SURGICON website. They will be provided with a unique referral code that must be used upon registration by the international students that the ambassador has prior convinced to participate at SURGICON 2022. The ambassadors will have until the deadline date stated on the website to gather as many international students as possible. Our team will verify the number of registrations using the referral code and, if everything is in order, the ambassador will be provided with the discount code.

For each international student that registers as an Online Participant with the referral code, the ambassador will receive a 10% discount, and for each international student that registers as a Physical Participant with the referral code the ambassador will receive a 30% discount. The discounts are cumulative and they may be used on any non-Premium available pack. If the Ambassador fails to convince any student to register using their code they can choose to register at the congress by paying the regular fee. If by the deadline the ambassador does not contact the SURGICON team, all data will be automatically collected and he/she will be contacted and provided with the voucher code.

If the participant that registered with the referral code is enrolled in a Romanian university (i.e. is not an international student), the ambassador that provided him/her with it will lose their status and will no longer be allowed to participate at the congress as an ambassador.

If the ambassador does not register as a participant at Surgicon, then he loses his status as an ambassador.

2. First-year medical students

First-year medical students who wish to attend the congress as passive participants will receive a discount code that will allow them to register by paying the Early bird fee, disregarding the period in which they create their account.

Freshers who were admitted this year (2022) within the first 30 ranked or olympics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” will receive a free online pass at SURGICON 2022. To receive the free pass they must contact our volunteers via e-mail: registrations@surgicon.ro or through our official Facebook page.

3. Volunteers

Volunteers of SURGICON will have free access to all of the online events of the congress, including conferences, Scientific Competition (as both passive participants and presenting authors), live surgeries and online Social events.

They will be granted voucher codes, that will represent a discount of 100% for online participation packs and, in case a volunteer will choose a physical participation pack, the voucher will represent a discount corresponding to the price of the online participation depending upon the registration period (25€ in the early registration period, 30€ in the regular registration period, 35€ in the late registration period). To receive the voucher, they must contact their Department Coordinator.

The exact fees can be found on the official website, in the “Packs & Participation fees” section and within the “Payment” section of each personal account.

The payment must be made taking into account the deadlines stated on the official website. The fees paid after the deadline or incomplete payments will not be taken into account, will not be refunded and will not grant entrance to the congress. Co-authors that register at the congress will pay the same fees as passive participants according to the timeline listed under “Participation fees’’ on the official website.

The participation fees include, according to the selected pack:

• For onsite packs: entrance to all scientific events during the official period of the congress (and for a limited period of time after the congress) according to III. Events listed in Terms & Conditions above, coffee breaks, official congress bag with official congress materials, digital abstract book, digital Certificate of Attendance, entrance to all social events that do not have a special participation fee (as listed on the official website).
• For online packs: access to all scientific events during the official period of the congress (and for a limited period of time after the congress) according to III. Events, listed in Terms & Conditions, except for workshops, digital abstract book, digital Certificates of Attendance, access to all online social events, if not specified otherwise.

The participation fees do not include: participation in special social events that require payment of any tax (as stated on the website), transportation, any visa application related costs and accommodation.

In order to pay, all participants must register on the official website and follow the steps of the registration process (payment is completed after the third step of the process).

Payments can be made online only with a debit or credit card. There is no bank commission for the online payment on our website with a debit/credit card.

Confirmation of all payments and activation of the SURGICON 2022 account will happen immediately for all online payments.

SURGICON 2022 organisers do not take any responsibility for any delays in the payment processing, caused by events that are out of the sphere of responsibility of the RSSS (e.g. weekends, bank holidays, strikes, downtime of the banks or internet provider, downtime of the online payment provider).

SURGICON 2022 organisers are entitled, whenever they consider necessary and without prior notice, to change or alter any participation or special fee and/or any fee deadline. Any changes to the fees and/or fees deadlines will be announced on the official website and on the official social media pages of the congress and these changes do not affect the participants who already paid and received their payment confirmation, nor will they be considered changes to the current Terms & Conditions.

One of the main priorities considered by SURGICON 2022 is the safety of all transactions. As a result, any fraud, suspicion of fraud by stolen bank credentials, stolen credit or debit cards, stolen identity, fake bank accounts or any other unlawful attempt will result in the inactivation of the responsible accounts without any further explanation, the cancellation of any previously booked workshop or submitted abstract and the permanent ban of the respective individuals from any event organised by the Romanian Student Society of Surgery (RSSS). In this case, the Romanian authorities will be notified by the organisers and we will be forced to disclose at their request (according to the Romanian law) any personal data they may need to solve the legal case. No participant suspected to have commited fraud is entitled to a refund.

All the online payments made with a debit/credit card are processed outside of our website, through the online payment solutions offered by the authorised payment provider – Netopia Sistem SRL. As a result the SURGICON 2022 organisers will not come into possession of any of the bank card data (i.e. card type, card number, expiration date, CVV2 etc.). Once on the payment provider platform, the provider’s own Terms & Conditions will apply and these may differ from ours. We do not take any responsibility for any losses (personal data, credit/debit card data, money etc.) caused by the authorised payment provider’s fault. No fees or other penalties can be claimed in this situation from us.

Netopia Sistem SRL guarantees the security of the IT systems. If the card has been issued by a bank certified in the 3D Secure System, the card owner will be asked to complete an additional verification step with the card issuer when paying. Typically, the customer is directed to an authentication page on their bank’s website, and they enter a password associated with the card or a code sent to their phone.

IX. VISA

SURGICON 2022 organisers will do everything in their power to help the participants with the visa application.

The organisers will assist the participant with a visa invitation letter to support their visa application, only after the participant has registered and paid the congress fee. Once the payment has been confirmed, the participant can request a visa invitation letter by sending an email to visas@surgicon.ro with the data required by their authorities.

Please note that as per current legislation, holding a visa (in the case of third country nationals who require a visa to enter Romania) does not guarantee entrance to Romania. In order to be allowed entry into Romania, upon checks conducted at the border crossing points, you must be able to prove that you meet the proper entry conditions (e.g. to provide information as regards the amount of time you intend to spend in Romania and/or the purpose of your stay. In some cases, the result of such checks can result in a person not being allowed entrance into Romania. It is advisable that you carry on you copies of the documents submitted when applying for your visa - invitation letter, trip confirmation or other documents attesting to the purpose of your stay in Romania). (As cited on http://www.mae.ro/en/node/30320)

The travel document must be valid for the entire duration of your visit (it will not expire sooner than your intended date of departure). The validity shall extend at least 3 months after the intended date of departure from the territory of Romania and it shall have been issued within the previous 10 years. The valid travel document must be recognised by the state of Romania.

Visa invitation letter

• When requesting a visa invitation letter, the participant consents to the processing of personal data regarding the visa application by the Secretary General of the current edition. The organiser reserves the right to disclose the participant’s data to the relevant authorities in order to process the visa invitation letter, should this be necessary.
• Visa invitation letter requests are processed in 10 working days after the participant has submitted his/her request and has correctly provided all personal information - some exceptions may apply. The letter will be submitted to the participant via the email address provided at registration and, if requested, also to relevant authorities.
• The organisers will issue visa invitation letters only for the period of the event and for entry into Romania. No other date and / or country requests will be supported.
• Applying for a Romanian visa and visa issuance is beyond our control. We are not liable for visa costs, shipping, processing and/or issuance.
• Should a participant require a hard copy of the visa invitation letter, any additional delivery cost has to be covered and arranged by the applicant. We cannot guarantee its proper delivery. In case the letter gets lost, we will send it again only once.
• SURGICON 2022 organisers are not accountable for any mistake made in the completion of the visa request, nor for any damages and losses that may occur in this situation. SURGICON organisers will not answer to any claims that may arise due to this. Any additional cost to repair (regarding, but not limited to shipping another visa invitation letter, international calls etc.) will be the participant’s responsibility.
• No visa invitation letter requests will be processed after the 15th of September 2022.
• SURGICON 2022 organisers are not responsible for any costs resulting from the refusal of the visa application by the Romanian authorities (referring to, but not restricted to accommodation costs, visa application costs, travel costs, insurance costs, medical costs etc.). Should the visa application be refused, we will grant you a partial refund as stated in X. Refunds.

Providing any reasonable suspicion of a fraudulent attempt (referring to, but not limited to using a false identity, providing false personal details, paying with stolen or false debit/credit card etc.) to obtain a visa arises, the SURGICON 2022 organisers are entitled to refuse the visa invitation letter. Should we detect such attempts, the participant’s account will be closed and he/she will not be able to get any refund or participate at SURGICON 2022.

SURGICON organisers are entitled to modify or add at any time and without prior notice any visa Terms & Conditions for specific situations, countries and/or regions (regardless of the reason).

Should a participant refuse to provide the SURGICON 2022 organisers with the information requested in order to fully establish his/her identity and to provide the details needed to issue a visa invitation letter, the organisers are entitled to refuse the issue of the visa invitation letter. In this situation, no refund of any previously paid fee will be given.

If after receiving the Romanian visa, a participant decides to cancel his/her participation to SURGICON 2022, the Romanian authorities will be immediately informed, the visa may be withdrawn and/or they may be forced to leave Romania by the relevant Romanian authorities. SURGICON 2022 is not responsible for any claims and/or costs arising from this situation.

X. REFUND POLICY

We are reserving our rights to refunds that are only stated in the “Refund Policy” section. Any other claims for a refund will not be accepted.

Claims for a refund that comply with the refunds rules will be made through an email at treasurer@surgicon.ro, along with the full name of the participant and the bank account details in which the fee will be transferred. Refunds will be made by online bank transfer only, and no other forms of refunding will be allowed (cash, for example). We must mention that in the case of several specific countries (Kosovo, Eswatini, South Sudan etc.), a bank transfer from Romania to an account established in any of the aforementioned countries is not possible, therefore we can consider transfers through online banking platforms such as Revolut.

We will accept refund requests that are made online before the congress. No refund requests can be received during the congress days, except for a cancellation of a specific event due to the organisers’ liability.

After the refund is completed, the participant will lose the possibility to participate at SURGICON 2022 and will not be able to attend any of its events.

Refund conditions

1. If a participant registers as a Passive participant and decides to submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline, he/she can upgrade his/her account to an Active account and will be entitled to a refund of the difference between a passive fee and the presenting author fee (according to the type of participation they have: online or physical), only in the situation in which his/her abstract is accepted for the Scientific Competition.

2. If a participant registers as an Active participant, submits an abstract within the deadline, but is not accepted as a Presenting Author, he/she can either receive a full refund by contacting treasurer@surgicon.ro until the 2nd of October, or become a Passive participant by paying the difference between the presenting Author fee and the passive fee within the official registration deadlines stated on the website. No refunds will be allowed if the participant who submitted an abstract that did not get accepted in the Scientific Competition did not request a refund and failed to pay the additional fee for the Passive participation before the announced deadlines.

3. If a presenting author in the Oral Presentation section can no longer deliver his/her presentation after its acceptance, he/she can designate one of the co-authors to substitute him as a presenting author. The fee differences between the presenting author and the co-author (who must also be registered as a Passive participant) will be a responsibility of the two involved participants. With regard to the changes in registration fees in this case, there are 2 main possibilities:

• if the original presenting author has an online pack and still wants to attend the congress as a Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), managing the fee difference between the original presenting author and the designated co-author is their responsibility and SURGICON will not be responsible for remedying this situation;
• if the original presenting author has a physical pack, there are the following options:
  • if she/he still wants to attend the congress as a Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), managing the fee difference between the original presenting author and the designated co-author is their responsibility and SURGICON will not be responsible for remedying this situation;
  • he/she can downgrade to an online pack and still attend the congress as a Passive participant;
  • if he/she cannot attend the congress at all and informs the organisers by the 1st of October 2022, he/she will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee of 25 euros);

4. If a presenting author in Poster section can no longer deliver his/her presentation after its acceptance, there are 2 main possibilities:

• if the presenting author still wants to attend the congress as a Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), he/she will need to pay the difference between the presenting Author fee and the passive fee within the official deadlines stated on the website;
• if the participant cannot attend the congress at all and informs the organisers by the 1st of October 2022, he/she will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee of 25 euros);

5. If a presenting author in Debate section can no longer deliver his/her presentation after its acceptance, there are 2 main possibilities:

• if the presenting author still wants to attend the congress as a Passive participant (thus withdrawing only from the Scientific Competition), he/she will need to pay the difference between the presenting Author fee and the passive fee within the official deadlines stated on the website;
• if the participant cannot attend the congress at all and informs the organisers by the 1st of October 2022, he/she will be entitled to a refund (minus a handling fee of 25 euros for an on-site package and 10 euros for an online package);

6. When choosing to downgrade their physical pack to the corresponding online pack participants will receive the price difference between the two packs minus a handling fee of 15€ in the early fee period, 20€ in the regular fee period, 25€ in the late fee period respectively.

7. If a participant cannot attend SURGICON 2022 due to family or medical reasons overlapping the event, he/she can be entitled to a refund only if a request is made before the 1st of October. In this case, a handling fee of 15 euros in the Early Bird period, 20 euros in the Regular period and 25 euros in the Late period of registrations will be deducted from the registration fee.

8. All the events and activities related to SURGICON 2022 will be organised according to in-place laws and regulations at the time of the congress. In case of a change in laws and regulations that may affect participation, all registered participants will be notified via email and those unable to participate in the respective conditions may ask for a refund in the first 48 hours after receiving the email by sending an email to treasurer@surgicon.ro

9. If a participant is confronting a positive test for a communicable disease a week before SURGICON 2022, there are following the possibilities:

• If the participant has a on-site pack,
  • he/she can downgrade to an online pack by sending an email at registrations@surgicon.ro accompanied by a proof of their unique situation (such as positive test, quarantine decision, etc.) and a short description of his/her situation. Thus, he/she can continue to participate to the online events of this edition;
  • he/she is entitled to receive a voucher for the amount paid which can be used for the next edition of SURGICON by sending an email at registrations@surgicon.ro;
• If the participant has an online pack, no refunds will be allowed;

10. If a participant books an event that:

• cancels due to a situation that implies the SURGICON 2022 organisers;
• has a change in location or time and overlaps another booked SURGICON event (due to the aforementioned changes)

In the aforementioned situation, they will receive help from the organising team in order to choose one of the other available events which still has free spots after the booking procedures.

11. Should the visa application be refused, we will grant you a refund, minus a handling fee of 15 euros in the Early Bird period, 20 euros in the Regular period and 25 euros in the Late period of registrations.

12. In case the event cannot be organised or is subject to change as a whole due to reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of the RSSS (e.g. natural catastrophe, state of emergency or alert, war, nuclear, chemical or biological war, venue closing without the possibility to move to another venue, interdictions by national/local authorities or force majeure etc.), students who are in their final year of study would be entitled to a full refund minus a handling fee of 5 euros (for full details, see XIII. Event Cancellation and Force Majeure).

13. If the participant does not agree with the changes made to the Terms & Conditions, he/she can send a request in no more than 24 hours (from the time he/she received the email about the changes that were made) at registrations@surgicon.ro, demanding the termination of his/her registration at the congress. In this case the participant will be entitled to a refund minus a handling fee of 15 euros in the Early Bird period, 20 euros in the Regular period and 25 euros in the Late period of registrations, only if he/she can objectively prove that the change negatively impacts his/her participation at the congress.

14. NO refunds will be allowed for:

• any claims arising from delayed confirmation of payment and activation of personal account due to reasons that involve a third party (downtime of payment provider, downtime of the official website, cyber attacks etc.);
• any server issues that arise during the booking procedure;
• failing to pay the price difference between the Active and Passive pack within the official deadlines stated on the website, should the participant fail to submit an abstract before the abstract submission deadline;
• submitting the same/a similar abstract by different presenting authors or there is a reasonable suspicion of such a practice;
• a member of the SURGICON 2022 Organizing Committee, as well as any volunteers directly involved in the organisation of the Scientific competition, that submit an abstract as a presenting author or that is a co-author or a scientific coordinator for a submitted abstract;
• any malfunctioning of the presentation as a result of the failure to check the presentation with a scientific volunteer before the oral presentation session;
• participants who pay the registration fee after the official deadlines/ pay the Early/Regular fee during the Regular/Late period, respectively;
• failure of downloading the digital copy within the first 3 months after the congress;
• failure of retrieving the hardcopy of the certificate of attendance (that was priorly paid for); for national and international participants who cannot perform their check-out, the copies will be sent to the addresses provided by the participants upon registration ( SURGICON is not responsible for the payment of the shipping fee, that will be paid by the participant upon arrival). SURGICON 2022 cannot guarantee the timely delivery of the hardcopy and will not offer refunds in case of mishandling the delivery by third-parties (postal providers). Please check VII. Certificate of Attendance for more information;
• participants who pay for the hard copy of the certificate of attendance and do not wish to receive it anymore;
• failure of booking Workshops in the official period of time dedicated to booking procedures for any reasons outside the sphere of responsibility of the organisers;
• failure of personal scheduling of workshops in a manner in which they do not overlap with other activities/ workshops and prevents them from meeting the criteria for obtaining a certificate of attendance;
• not receiving a Certificate of Attendance due to mandatory criteria not being met (see VII. Certificate of Attendance);
• participants who apply for a visa under reasonable surmise (by the authorities and the organising team) of attempting to receive an entry visa in the country with other purposes than strictly participating in the event;
• any request of a visa invitation letter after the official deadline;
• any charges arising from visa application with/without refusal by the Romanian authorities (travel, accommodation, insurance, medical costs etc.);
• failure of providing full information on the identity of a participant and other details needed in order to issue a visa invitation letter;
• any fraud, suspicion of fraud by stolen bank credentials, stolen credit or debit cards, stolen identity, fake bank accounts or any other unlawful attempt;
• any travel and accommodation expenses of participants with the purpose of attending the event;
• any changes that occur in the scientific programme (conferences/keynotes, scientific competition), opening and closing ceremonies, social events with respect to content, venues or period of time;
• any cancellations in scientific or social events or changes of the congress as a whole that arise due to exceptional situations (see XIII. Event Cancellation and Force Majeure);
• participants who have online packs, with the exception of Active online participants whose abstract were not accepted in the Scientific Competition;
• any differences in content or description of any presentations within workshops and conferences in official informative channels vs. at the time of the event;
• participants who are excluded from the event due to major breeches of the Terms & Conditions, as well as any damage to the organisers, partners & sponsors, other participants, speakers and trainers/teachers, website;
• for the money value of the prizes won in a contest or promotion organized by SURGICON
• any unpleasant situation that may occur to participants by third parties responsibility (catering services, bank services, official partners & sponsors etc.);
• any unpleasant situation, physical or moral, that may occur due to the speakers’ and/or trainers’ behaviour or actions (including, but not limited to poor use of English);
• any other fees in connection with the congress (included, but not restricted to social events, parties, expositions, tours, services offered by third parties etc.).

XI. CONTEST AND PROMOTIONS

SURGICON 2022 organisers reserve the right to hold promotions, giveaways or contests addressed to participants and volunteers alike and taking place before, during and after SURGICON 2022.

An exemption to this rule is constituted by the Scientific Competition held for the active participants of SURGICON 2022. Excluded from participation are the board of SURGICON 2022, as well as any volunteers directly involved in the organisation of said competition, in order to maintain a high level of equity and equality.

The participant must provide accurate, current and complete information when participating in any competition organised within SURGICON 2022. The organisers may request that a winner provide proof of their identity and enrolment in a medical school before presenting the award or prize. When submitting an abstract for the Scientific Competition, active participants are required to disclose whether their paper has been presented before at a medical student event, either by them or by one of the co-authors.

The decision of SURGICON 2022 organisers is final and no third party will interfere with the results and the awarding of the prize. The prize is personal and is registered in the name of the winner.

The prize is not transferable, exchangeable or payable in cash or other products or services. In case of refusal or non-acceptance of the prize or conditions that are inherent to the competition, the prize will not be awarded. In that case, SURGICON 2022 organisers are entitled to choose another winner. No refunds can be given for prizes won in a contest or promotion organised by SURGICON even if that prize refers to, but is not restricted to, free places at SURGICON 2022, free extra workshops, reductions of the participating fees or similar.

Any prize not claimed in person becomes void and the winner loses all potential claims related to said prize. The prize is awarded in its current state. SURGICON 2022 organisers are not responsible for any visible or hidden defects in the prize, nor for any damage suffered after the awarding ceremony.

SURGICON 2022 organisers are in no way responsible for any damages arising from participation in the competition or for any technical malfunctions, failures or delays with respect to participation in the competition or the appointment of the winner.

SURGICON 2022 organisers have the right to disqualify participants if they have a reasonable belief that the participants are not acting in conformity with the Terms & Conditions or if the participant is otherwise fraudulently accessing the competition or unfairly influencing the course of the competition.

XII. PRIVACY POLICY

The protection of the participant’s privacy at SURGICON 2022 has maximum priority, in particular pertaining to the participant’s personal data. Please read carefully and agree to our Privacy Policy.

Use of photos, image rights – The participants are herewith informed that photos, videos and audio recording of the attendees are being created at the event. This material will be published on the internet, official social media pages, professional journals and/or other publications during and after the congress, either by the SURGICON 2022 organisers or by the sponsors and partners of the event. By participating at this congress and accepting these Terms & Conditions you agree with the publishing of the photos, videos and audio recordings made during the congress. If you do not wish to appear in any photos, videos or audio recordings made during the congress you have to send a special request to communications.vp@surgicon.ro or using the contact form on the official website at least 20 days before the start of the congress. Any request after the aforementioned deadline will not be taken into consideration and no compensation will be offered for the use of the recorded material.

XIII. EVENT CANCELLATION AND FORCE MAJEURE

In case the event cannot be organised or is subject to change as a whole due to reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of the RSSS (e.g. natural catastrophe, state of emergency or alert, war, nuclear, chemical or biological war, venue closing without the possibility to move to another venue, interdictions by national/local authorities or force majeure etc.), the participant has the right to keep his/her participation pack for future use, without any additional cost, as follows:

• on-site participants who are students in their final year of study would be entitled to a full refund minus a handling fee of 5 euros;

• students (on-site active or passive participants) who are NOT in their final year of study and every other category of participant (active or passive) would be able to use their the value of their participation pack as a voucher for any of the 2023-2025 editions of SURGICON, irrespective of the fees for the chosen edition; more detailed information regarding the specifics (how to choose the future edition you want, changes of the participation pack type, submitting another abstract etc.) would be sent via email to participants who choose this option and posted on the official website of the congress.

The SURGICON organisers are not responsible for any change of scientific events due to speakers’ or partners’ faults, including cancellations, and no fees or other penalties can be claimed.

The organisers reserve the right to cancel any scientific event at short notice, if there are less than 5 participants attending the respective event. We reserve the right to cancel any social event at short notice, if a certain number (preestablished by the Social Department and adapted for each social activity) of participants is not reached. Should these be the cases, no refund can be claimed.

The organisers reserve the right to cancel any specific scientific or social event during the congress at short notice, should any reasons outside of the sphere of responsibility of the RSSS (e.g. natural catastrophe, state of emergency or alert, war, nuclear, chemical or biological war, venue closing without the possibility to move to another venue, interdictions by authorities or force majeure etc.) occur. No fees or other penalties can be claimed in this situation, unless stated otherwise.

Any change or cancellation of any of the SURGICON events will be announced on the official social media pages and through the email addresses provided at registration.

XIV. SAFETY INFORMATION

Romania at this time complies with the decisions of the authorities with regard to access of people coming from outside the country. These conditions might suffer modifications according to the enforced law on the territory of Romania without further notice and it is within the participant’s responsibility to check the entry conditions before travelling to Romania for the event.

XV. PARTNERSHIPS

SURGICON establishes partnerships with other congresses and conferences. The Partners voluntarily associate themselves together for the purpose of popularising each other’s materials and promotions, in order to aid in the development of an international identity for them each.

A Partnership becomes available from the moment it is signed by the two parties and until the next edition of each event is finished. The Partnership may be terminated at any time if both partners agree. The Partnership is agreed upon in order to benefit both sides through promotion of each organisation.

The terms, benefits and duties shall be discussed between the partners and shall be modified so that it is beneficial for both sides.

Partners shall not receive payment for their services rendered to the partnership

Neither partner shall, on behalf of the partnership, post or solicit information from individuals or organisations, without the consent of the other partner.

Partners will share each other’s posts and announcements on Facebook and Instagram whenever notified, limited to 4 social media posts. After the 4th post, additional shares may be discussed when necessary.

Partners will place each other’s logos in the Abstract book and on the website or other promotional products with a “Partners” section.

Participation Packages may be offered for free for delegates of both Partners, as discussed between the two parties, so delegates from both Partners will have a similar experience.

Partners benefiting from ON-SITE invitations may organise a promotional stand at SURGICON 2022, as long as it is announced by September 1st, 2022.