Clinical Research Grant

ABOUT THE CLINICAL RESEARCH GRANT

The grant aims to encourage clinical research projectsin the field of hand surgery. All clinical projects that are directed towards outcomes or assessment of treatment modalities in hand surgery related topics are welcome to apply. Well-designed prospective trials will be promoted.

AWARD

€10,000 award for a one-year grant.

The deadline to apply for a Research Grant is 15 February 2026

ELIGIBILITY

Applicant must be an active member of a FESSH affiliated national organization
Residents, fellows and consultants may apply, however in the selection process a focus will be on promoting younger applicants with strong and promising projects.
Members of the Research Committee cannot apply for funding either as a principal investigator, co-investigator, or sponsor.
There is no limit on the number of applications submitted from each institution
Re-submissions are allowed.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

The FESSH research grant application is for a one-year €10,000 award. Start date should be listed no earlier than 1st December 2025 and must begin by 31st March 2026.

Download the FESSH Research Grant Application Template, fill out and save as a PDF (name your file: lastname_grant_year.pdf) and submit to researchgrant@fessh.com. Make sure that all requirements are fulfilled and that supporting documents are attached to the submission in the same PDF file as the grant application (only submit one PDF file per application).

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Letter of Support from your Department Chair or Division Head. The purpose of this letter is to verify that the researcher will have time and resources to complete the project in a timely fashion.

Documentation that confirms that the proposed project has been approved by regional Ethical Boards and/or Animal Care Committee.

CV (max 4 pages) including up to 20 most important publications, relevant to the project.

Submit any questions by email to researchgrant@fessh.com. Applicants will be informed of their application status by 2nd March 2026.

FOLLOW-UP REPORTING

Investigators receiving grants are expected to make a progress report by 30 September 2026 in addition to a final report once the one-year term of the grant has expired. A final report including a listing of all presentations and publications resulting from the project must be submitted no later than 31 May 2027. All funds not used in the study should be returned to FESSH.

Progress Report Outline

Grant name and year awarded
Project Title and date of the grant period
PI Name
Summary of specific aims and progress made so far

Please also include the following:

List of publications originating from the grant (include date and name of publication)
List of presentations resulting from this study (name of organization, date, type [oral/poster])
Additional funding received or applied for, related to this study (include funding source and total amount)

PUBLICATION AND FURTHER FUNDING

We encourage the awardees to present their results at the FESSH Annual Meeting the year after the grant was awarded. In the case of publication presenting or citing research funding credit is to be noted by footnote that the project was supported totally or partially by funds from FESSH.

PAYMENT OF THE GRANT

The amount of the FESSH Grant will be paid to the winner at the beginning of the research right after the Research Grant Acceptance Letter has been signed by the winner. Here you can read the Acceptance Letter.

WINNERS

Title: Hyperextension injuries of the proximal INterphalangeal (PIP) joinT, strapping immobilization or early active motion? Cost effectiveness and functional outcome of a transition in healthcare. The HINT study.

Winner: Gerald A. Kraan, the Netherlands

The aim of this study fits in well with the aim to avoid overtreatment, promote early active motion, and it serves sustainability well also. Good basis, well chosen common problem. Sound methodology. The impact of this study may effect not only a large number of patients, but have positive effects regarding cost effectivity, but also helps rationalize patient treatment pathways.

Title: Comparison of the anatomical-functional state of the cerebral cortex before and after treatment of congenital pathology of the pediatric upper extremity.

Winner: Laura M. Perez-Lopez, University of Barcelona, Spain

Dr Perez-Lopez studies the changes in the primary motor and somatosensory cortexes of the brain before and after treatment of congenital pathologies of the upper limbs as an indirect objective method to analyze outcome, primarily after pollicization procedures and toe-to-hand transfers. Using state of the art MRI and neurophysiological techniques her studies will shed new light on what happens in the child’s brain after reconstructive surgery.

Winner: Dr Michiel Zuidam, the Netherlands

Dr Michiel Zuidam’s project is directed towards studies on surgical management of painful neuromas in the upper extremity. Patients with extremity neuromas often suffer from a pain that is highly debilitating with a reduced quality of life and long-term pain medication use, resulting in a substantial socioeconomic burden. Dr Michiel Zuidam’s research is focused on evaluating methods that permanently and cost effectively provide good results for these patients. His studies will be directed towards determining if Targeted Muscles Reinnervation (TMR) is more effective in treating these patients, compared to simple neuroma excision or burying of the nerve in muscle. The project is a collaboration between the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Birmingham, UK. Altogether, Dr Zuidam has documented sincere interest in hand surgery and clinical research, why we believe that he is a excellent candidate for this grant. Colleagues of dr Zuidam were Caroline Hundepool as senior researcher and Mirte Langeveld as junior researcher.

Clinical Grant_ Dr. J. Michiel Zuidam_2022_Targeted Muscle Reinnervation_final report

Winner: Jeremy Rodrigues, UK

Dr Rodrigues’ project is on a novel way to collect patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) continuously, by implementing a new platform called Ecological Momentary Computerised Adaptive Testing (EMCAT). With this new innovative approach the team hopes to get deeper insights in hand surgery outcomes, and possibly create a platform that can be applied to a large variety of Hand Surgery PROMs in the future. Dr Rodrigues strong CV, where he has proven to be a dedicated clinician-scientist makes him a good candidate for the FESSH clinical research grant.

Clinical Grant_Jeremy_Rodrigues_2021_final report_article

Clinical Grant_Jeremy_Rodrigues_2021_publication

Winner: Thorsten Schriever, Sweden

Congratulation to the FESSH Clinical Grant winner: dr Schriever and team from the Department of Handsurgery at Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Thorsten Schriever´s project addresses two common treatment options; lunocapitate fusion versus four-corner fusion, for scaphoid non-union advanced collapse (SNAC) and scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) arthritis. It is a well-designed randomized prospective clinical trial which will hopefully give the hand surgery community insights in how to improve the way we treat these relatively common patient groups.

Clinical Grant _Thorsten Schriever_2020_Final report Clinical Grant_ Dr. J. Michiel Zuidam_2022_Targeted Muscle Reinnervation_final report Clinical Grant_Jeremy_Rodrigues_2021_final report_article Clinical Grant_Jeremy_Rodrigues_2021_publication