What is STOTS?
Founded in 2016 by Miss Vittoria Bucknall, the Scottish Trauma & Orthopaedic Trainees Symposium (STOTS) is a national teaching event for trainees in Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery based in Scotland. The symposium aims to aid speciality trainees in preparing for their Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) Trauma & Orthopaedic (T&O) exams, focusing on a sub-speciality theme each year.
STOTS invites attendees from all four deaneries across Scotland and the event welcomes a large number of trainees each year. Faculty consists of specialist consultants in the subspeciality theme of the year. Additionally, a Keynote Speaker is invited each year to share their experiences and journey with our trainee attendees.
STOTS consists of a set of morning lecture-based sessions from specialist consultants in the sub-speciality theme of the year. The afternoon consists of small-group break-out sessions which include:
A Mock VIVA session, facilitated by consultant trainers across Scotland
A Case Based Discussion of interesting cases
A Practical Saw-Bone Workshop, supported and facilitated by our sponsors from industry
A Pre-Consultant workshop, aimed at trainees who have completed their FRCS exams to guide them through the transition between trainee to consultant
STOTS hosts a gala dinner to conclude the educational day. This is a popular networking evening where consultants, trainees, and representatives from our sponsors are invited to attend. It is during the gala dinner when we announce the winner of the ‘Bon Oeuf Award’.
Since 2016, STOTS has worked closely with the Scottish Committee for Trauma & Orthopaedics (SCOT) who have played a crucial role in the development of STOTS. We would like to thank the SCOT committee for their ongoing support in STOTS.
About the Founder
Miss Vittoria Bucknall is a consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon working in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. She has as specialist interest in paediatric hip surgery from birth to adolescence.
Miss Bucknall trained in Birmingham before graduating from the University of Dundee with honours in Orthopaedic Sciences. Following this, she joined the Edinburgh Orthopaedic Programme where she completed her higher surgical training – during which she founded STOTS.
Miss Bucknall is passionate about surgical education and continues to deliver teaching in national conferences and educational events. She has been awarded a number of prizes for research and education, including the “Scottish National Prize for Best Trainee”. Miss Bucknall also served as the President of the British Orthopaedic Trainees’ Association (BOTA) in 2017. She currently sits on the SAC, is the regional representative for the Royal College of Surgeons and continues to teach internationally.
Current Organisers
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![Mr Donald Campbell]()
Mr Donald Campbell
MBChB, FRCS Ed (T&O)
Mr Campbell has been the Consultant Lead Organiser for STOTS since 2024.
He is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in NHS Tayside, appointed in 2007. After finishing his higher surgical training in the East of Scotland Deanery, he completed a National fellowship in Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
His main subspecialty interests are children’s orthopaedics and foot and ankle surgery.
Mr Campbell has remained actively involved in research activities within his main field of paediatric orthopaedics, with a particular focus on paediatric gait analysis.
Mr Campbell also has a keen interest in training. He was the East of Scotland T&O Training Programme Director (TPD) for 6 years. He was a FRCS T&O Examiner for 11 years and is currently the TPD Forum Chair for the UK and Ireland. He is also a SAC liaison member for the JCST and sits on the BOA education committee.
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![Miss Elizabeth Dominguez]()
Miss Elizabeth Dominguez
MBChB, MRes
Miss Dominguez is the Specialist Trainee Organiser for STOTS 2025.
She is a speciality trainee (ST3) in Trauma & Orthopaedics in the East of Scotland Deanery. She moved to the UK from the Philippines to complete her undergraduate medical training at the University of Bristol. She completed her T&O-themed Core Surgical Training in Severn Deanery, and has since embarked on higher speciality training in Scotland.
Miss Dominguez has a keen interest in education, leadership and management. Motivated to bridge the gap between student and surgeon, she was elected as the first Medical Student Representative at the British Orthopaedic Trainees’ Association (BOTA) in 2017.. As the current Scotland Representative for BOTA, she continues to engage in issues related to training, with a special focus on the continued development of STOTS.
Past Organisers
Traditionally, STOTS is organised by an elected consultant lead, and the year’s elected Scotland Representative of the British Orthopaedic Trainees’ Association (BOTA).
We would like to take this opportunity to thank several of our past organisers on their hard work and support.
As previously stated, STOTS would not exist today without the support of SCOT and we would like to thank the committee again for their support for this event.
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Consultant Lead Organiser
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Trainee Organiser and Scotland Representative for BOTA 2023-2024
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Trainee Organiser
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Trainee Organiser
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Trainee Organiser
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Trainee Organiser
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