Chandigarh: The Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, PGIMER, held a *one-day Research Methodology Bootcamp at Lecture Theatre 3, Nehru Hospital, as part of the 22nd NZ-ISACON 2026* . The programme ran from 9 am to 5 pm for undergraduate and postgraduate students and residents, taking a vague idea to a publishable paper in a single day.
Delegates were split into five groups a week earlier, and each received a crude research idea. During the workshop, the groups turned these ideas into complete protocols covering the question, design, criteria, statistical test and sample size. Each presented its protocol in six minutes, then wrote a 300-word structured abstract with six keywords. Groups also peer-reviewed each other’s work and received faculty feedback. Pre- and post-workshop MCQ tests measured learning gain.
Sessions covered framing a research question, interpreting SD, standard error and confidence intervals, bias, sample size, ethics and CTRI registration, data visualisation, reporting guidelines, plagiarism and salami-slicing, and converting a thesis into a manuscript. Faculty came from PGIMER, AIIMS New Delhi and RML Hospital, New Delhi.
*Prof. Kajal Jain* , Head of the Department and Organising Chairperson, said: “Good research habits begin early. By taking students from an idea to a protocol and an abstract in one day, we hope to give them the confidence to start and complete their own studies.”
*Prof. Madhuri S Kurdi,* Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, said: “A thesis shows you did the work, but a paper makes others care. I am delighted to see young medical professionals learning to write and review with rigour, and the journal looks forward to their contributions.”
