Do you have a vascular research project you’d like to bring to life?
Submit a 300 word project proposal to [email protected]
All shortlisted candidates must be present at the Vascular Society Annual Scientific Meeting in Liverpool. New this year, the Dragon’s Den winner will also have the opportunity to be invited to join the VERN national Committee.
Abstract Deadline 4th September 2026
Since 2016, VERN has hosted the annual Dragons’ Den competition at the Vascular Society Annual Scientific Meeting. The session gives trainees and early-career researchers the opportunity to pitch their project proposals to a panel of expert “dragons” and a live audience. The winning project receives both financial support and VERN mentorship, helping to kick-start high-quality collaborative vascular research across the UK.
So far, Dragons’ Den has awarded nearly £30,000 in prizes, generously supported by a range of stakeholders, and has launched multiple impactful trainee-led studies.
The VERN Dragons’ Den returned to the Vascular Societies’ Annual Scientific Meeting in Hull 2025, showcasing innovative trainee-led research proposals from across the UK. This year’s winning project was CALM (Consensus for Acute Limb Ischaemia Medical Management), presented by Aidan Lindsey, with finalists including Wen Lim (lipid monitoring and adherence to guidelines), Hayat Nadama (Mesenteric Ischaemia Delay Audit), and Jasmine (AMP-ED). Delegates also received an update from Hayley Daysley, winner of the previous VERN Dragons’ Den, on the progress of her funded research exploring carbon emissions associated with lower limb bypass surgery.
At Vascular Society’s ASM 2024 in Brighton, VERN once again hosted the Dragon’s Den competition. The panel – Phil Stather, Ankur Thapar, Mark Popplewell, Tristan Lane, and Ian Hunter – brought a wealth of expertise from across the specialty.
The competition showcased the breadth and quality of ideas put forward by trainees, ranging from adherence to vascular guidelines to refining definitions in peripheral vascular disease. We also heard an excellent update from Joseph Cutteridge on his ongoing work following his winning project on surgical site infections.
The 2024 winning proposal was awarded to Hayley Daysley for her project on carbon emissions in lower limb bypass. With VERN’s support, this project will now benefit from mentorship, practical guidance, and access to our national collaborative research network to help take it forward.
This event was a great success with four high-quality presentations providing exciting competition for the £3000 prize available. Ultimately, the prize winner was
For another year this event was a success with five high-quality presentations of proposed vascular research projects to be supported by VERN.
The winner of the £3000 prize was Mr Ross Lathan for his project “Prevention of Surgical Site Infection: A Global Pan-Surgical Survey of Practice”.
We would like to thank the dragons: Rachel Bell, Matt Bown, Dan Carradice, Ian Chetter, Gail Curran, and Joe Shalhoub for their thought-provoking questions, as well as the audience and competitors for their participation.
This event was a great success with four high-quality presentations providing exciting competition for the £3000 prize available. Ultimately, the prize winner was
The £3000 prize was supported by Circulation Foundation.
We would like to extend our thanks to our panel of feisty dragons (Ian Chetter, Leanne Atkin, Julie Brittenden, Athanasios Saratzis, Louise Hitchman (VERN Rep). We also want to thank all audience and competitors for their participation.
VISTA has now been published in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (EJVES). 📖
VISTA highlights important themes in UK vascular trauma care, including:
Congratulations to Katherine Hurndall and thank you to all the contributors and collaborating sites who made this project possible.
The winners of the 2019 Dragon’s Den (Manchester VSGBI meeting) were:
The winners of the most recent 2018 Dragons’ Den (Glasgow VSGBI meeting) were:
Each prize was £3,000 (a general vascular research prize supported by AMGEN Inc. & a medical technology prize supported by the NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-operative)