Gender and the Impulse to Innovate: an Exploration of Female and Male Surgeons’ Motivations and Experiences in Surgical Innovation and Research.

This is an application for a British Academy Visiting Fellowship to spend two months at the University of Bristol hosted by Professor Jane Blazeby in Population Health Sciences. While there I will undertake a qualitative interview study exploring the affect of gender biases on surgical innovation. I will interview approximately 20 UK surgeons with a past or current interest in surgical innovation and/or surgical research (male and female) about their motivations in this aspect of their careers and their experiences as an innovative surgeon or surgeon researcher. The study will test the hypotheses that (1) women surgeons tend to have different motivation for engaging in surgical innovation and research than do men, and (2) gender differences in motivation and experiences of surgical innovation and research can be explained by Miranda Fricker's theory of epistemic injustice. The findings of this study will shed light on the "glass ceiling" phenomenon as it arises in surgery, and it is expected that these findings will also have applicability to other careers.