Dr Claire Hudson
In the third of our BMERG Committee profiles, we asked Claire Hudson to tell us a bit about herself.
Dr Claire Hudson is a Lecturer on the Teaching and Scholarship Pathway within the Bristol Medical School. Claire’s early research career was in biomedical sciences, with a recent transition to pedagogic research. She has a special interest in self-regulated learning and the use of reflective practice in developing academic and feedback literacy skills.
What was your first role or job as an educator?
I have been delivering lectures and tutorials at the University of Bristol for many years, but took my first full-time teaching-focused role within the Bristol Medical School in 2019, becoming Programme Director of the MSc in Translational Cardiovascular Medicine in 2023.
What inspired you to become an educator and/or education researcher?
I feel like my transition into teaching was quite organic, I can’t pretend that it was a life-long ambition. However, I experienced some good, and less good, lecturers during my undergraduate studies, and always thought there must be more compelling ways to deliver complex information. Therefore, I think I was driven to be an engaging educator who values active learning, in response to several less-engaging lecturers!
What challenges have you faced in your journey as a medical education researcher and how have you overcome these?
Definitely imposter syndrome. Although maybe the imposter syndrome was justified, since after many years of lab-based research, the methodologies used in educational research were very different, so I genuinely was an imposter at the start! I gained support to grow as an educational researcher from colleagues in the Bristol Medical School, and also took some leaps of faith, giving things a go even if they were out of my comfort zone. Another ‘challenge’ is my struggle to finish projects, even though I love conceiving and starting them! I still struggle with this, but collaborating with colleagues to hold you accountable is a good strategy.
What is your current education research project on?
I have just started a project on motivations and expectations of students studying on the PGT programmes in the Medical School and the wider Faculty, and I am finishing a project on ‘Structured Feedback Reflection Tutorials’ to enhance students’ feedback literacy. It’s very frustrating as an educator when students don’t read or act on your feedback, so this intervention helps them engage in this process.
What would you consider your greatest academic success?
I have just had my first pedagogic paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: “Closing the Feedback Loop: Using Assignment Coversheets to Foster Self-Assessment, Feedforward, and Feedback-Seeking.” After lots of scientific publications, this one feels like a different sort of success, like I’ve ‘broken the seal’ of pedagogic publication!
What helps you to maintain your work life balance as a medical educator/researcher?
Sometimes balance is hard at the University, I work full-time and have two kids; plus I am someone who tends to say ‘Yes’! I try to switch off in the evenings and spend time with my children, and I enjoy jogging at the weekend, nothing beats exercise-induced endorphins!
What do you think will be the greatest change to medical education over the next decade?
The impact of generative AI on learning and assessment. The impact on the higher education sector overall will be huge.
What book are you reading at the moment?
Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver.
What is your favourite quote?
This is to do with accountability (I listen to a lot of mental health podcasts), and is by an unknown author: “None of us is responsible for all the things that happen to us, but we are responsible for the way we react to them.”
What job would you do if you were not a medical educator/researcher?
I don’t feel like I tap into my creative side enough, but not sure I have the talent for something truly creative….!
What three top tips would you give to new medical education researchers?
- Think of an area of pedagogy that interests you or you are passionate about; it is useful to find ‘your thing’, to help build your educator profile.
- Start with a small case study, like evaluating a teaching intervention. Planning and delivering all stages of the project will give you confidence to undertake further research.
- Collaborate. Planning and delivering projects with others shares expertise, reduces workload, and increases output as there is shared accountability.
Great profile really enjoyed reading about Dr Claire Hudson’s journey into medical education and how she’s using reflective practice to improve feedback literacy. Thanks for sharing! I also used resources like https://www.studyinuk.com/ to explore UK study-opportunities and found them very useful.