Group run by academics from University of Bristol Medical School with an interest in Medical Education Research. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not of Bristol Medical School or the University.
In this week’s blog, Sally Dowling reports on attendance at the International Assessment in Higher Education conference, held in Manchester in June. She also shares the call for contributions for next year’s conference.
Image by Oleg Ivanov for Unsplash.com
The Assessment in Higher Education (AHE) network is ‘an independent network focused on developing research-informed practice in assessment and feedback in higher education’ (About AHE). Through the AHE network and events, academics are brought together, representing a range of subject disciplines and professional fields. They have in common that they are ‘evaluating, researching and developing theory, research, policy and practice in assessment and feedback’. The focus isn’t medical education, but the issues discussed are of direct relevance to members of BMERG.
Each June, the University of Cumbria hosts the International AHE conference. The conference is held in Manchester and attracts academics from all over the world, interested in coming together to discuss aspects of assessment in higher education. This year the conference was held on the 19th– 20th June, with over 285 delegates attending from 20 countries. Highlights from the conference can be found here.
On the recommendation of Dave Gattrell from BILT, three of us attended this year, presenting four papers in total. The presenters (Sally Dowling, Nicola Rooney and student partner, Tirion Cobby) are from the Medical and Vet Schools but represent a multi-disciplinary team with other members from the Vet School (Julie Dickson), Library Services (Bogdan Florea), School of Modern Languages (Christophe Fricker) and the School of Psychological Science (Craig Gunn). Together we have worked, from 2023-2025, on a BILT-funded project ‘Designing for all – research, report and academic guidance’. Our papers presented the findings from the four sub-projects we had worked on:
1) a scoping review of inclusive assessment in the UK
2) focus groups with students and staff exploring perceived inclusivity of assignments at our university
3) a student survey investigating how students perceive different types of assessments in terms of authenticity, inclusivity, and ability to demonstrate performance
4) a mixed-method discourse analysis of student views on assessment.
Our papers were well-received, and we had some interesting discussions with those who attended our sessions. We are working on finalising and submitting our papers for publication now and giving a final report to BILT later this month.
There were two great keynote speakers, Professor Sam Elkington, Teesside University and Associate Professor Alex Buckley, Heriot-Watt University; more information on their presentations and the rest of the programme can be found here. Between us we went to a range of interesting presentations and workshops, including some specifically from those working in medical education. We’d really recommend the conference to all working in HE and I’d specifically recommend it to BMERG members. It’s good to hear what those in other disciplines are doing around assessment issues and to discuss experiences, innovations and developments in this area with a wide group of academics. The call for contributions is open now, with a deadline of 19 January 2026. The organisers say that ‘the conference is aimed at those working in all contexts where higher education is delivered who have an interest in the practice and research of assessment’. It will be in Manchester again, at the Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly on the 18th and 19th June, 2026. The call for contributions, including information on the presentation formats, can be found here.
Author Biography
Dr Sally Dowling is a Senior Lecturer in Bristol Medical School. She teaches on the Health Professions Education programme, is Student Choice Year 1 Academic Lead for the MBChB programme and Co-Programme Director for the MSc Reproduction and Development. She has many years’ experience in teaching health professionals, of qualitative research, writing for publication and journal reviewing/editing. She has particular interests in teaching research methods and supporting others, including students, to publish.
In the second of our BMERG Committee profiles, we asked Ed Luff to tell us a bit about himself.
Ed is a Bristol Medical School graduate, working as a Clinical Lecturer at Bristol Medical School and a Speciality Teaching Fellow and Tutor at South Bristol Academy, based in the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
He is currently finishing his MSc dissertation exploring students’ experiences and perceptions of using simulation to teach human factors and non-technical skills, as part of his studies on the Health Professionals Education (TLHP) course.
What was your first role or job as an educator?
When I was a medical student at Bristol, I was involved with a peer teaching scheme, educating other healthcare students, including pharmacy and nursing students, and in my later clinical years I also helped to mentor and teach more junior medical students on placements. I then went on to mentor final-year students placed on the same wards as me when I was working as a Foundation Doctor, as well as helping to teach in tutorials and at the bedside.
My first formal role was working as a Clinical Teaching Fellow in Swindon, where I spent 50% of my time teaching medical students from Bristol, Oxford and Kings College London, at The Great Western Hospital, and the other half of my time working clinically in Emergency Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
What inspired you to become an educator and/or education researcher?
I was really inspired by all of the amazing teachers and educators that I met on my journey through medical school at Bristol. This included many extremely enthusiastic and gifted Clinical Teaching Fellows, who I saw as wonderful role models. I aspired to be like them in my future career, and planned to work as a Clinical Teaching Fellow after completing my Foundation Training.
I was fortunate to get a job as a CTF, and during this, I was encouraged to pursue some small medical educational research projects, I was supported by some excellent seniors, including some more experienced CTFs, who allowed me to start exploring the world of education research. After this, I was hooked and was determined to incorporate education research into my educational career!
Alongside my CTF job, I was able to complete my PG Cert in Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals (TLHP, now HPE), which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then went on to complete the PG Dip, including a module on Research Methods, which I found fascinating. This gave me the final push to go on and complete my MSc dissertation, continuing my journey in medical education research, alongside my teaching and clinical commitments.
What challenges have you faced in your journey as a medical education researcher and how have you overcome these?
Finding time to complete research, alongside other teaching and educational responsibilities, supporting students, clinical duties, further study and everything else outside of work is always challenging. I’m currently in the process of completing my MSc dissertation, and at times, finding the motivation to sit down and do some reading, or write some words can be challenging.
Having supervisors and others to keep me motivated and working as part of a team has always really helped me. Seeking the advice, guidance and support of more experienced people is invaluable and bouncing ideas around with someone else, as well as working collaboratively, is extremely important to me. I strongly believe that research should never be conducted in isolation.
What is your current medical education research project on?
I’m currently writing my dissertation for my MSc in Health Professionals Education (previously Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals/ TLHP). I chose to explore students’ experiences and perceptions of using simulation as a method to teach human factors and non-technical skills. These are two areas that I’m really passionate about, using simulation as a teaching and learning tool, and the interplay of humans, communication, environment, and everything else that forms human factors and non-technical skills. I’m relatively new to qualitative research but I’ve thrown myself into it and am really enjoying all the new skills I’m learning along the way.
Who are your medical education/education research role models?
I’ve been privileged enough to be taught by and now work with many amazing individuals at Bristol Medical School. These include Professor Karen Forbes, Professor Andrew Blythe and Dr Sarah Allsop. All of whom have provided advice and guidance as I develop my academic and educational career. I also admire and looked up to many of my former CTFs who inspired me to apply for the roles that opened many doors to get me to where I am today.
What would you consider your greatest academic success?
Helping to support all the students I have worked with, through various challenges, to achieve their academic potential. Many of them have now graduated and started working as doctors, and some of whom I have since met as colleagues! I now also have a leadership role within the medical school assessments team, which is equally exciting as it is daunting.
Have you ever had a piece of work go wrong and how did you deal with this?
Many! Ask for help. Find someone who can support you. See if there are any solutions that you might not have thought about initially and don’t give up at the first hurdle. But also reflect on what went wrong and where things didn’t work out as expected. And know when it is a better use of your time to let this one go, learn from it and put your time into something more productive. Sometimes it’s a tricky balance to strike.
What helps you to maintain your work life balance as a medical educator/researcher?
I think this is something that I struggle with generally. My family are amazingly supportive of all of my endeavours, both work-related and outside of work. I like to set myself challenges and have completed a few triathlons, including an Ironman distance event. My 2 young sons keep me busy at home and seeing friends and family is extremely important to me and keeps me grounded. I enjoy playing hockey for a local team and try to get outside as much as possible. I think that trying to carve out time to focus on things away from work is important, and something I am trying to do more of.
What do you think will be the greatest change to medical education over the next decade?
The ever-increasing demands placed on the national health service, from all angles, is a huge challenge. I see this especially, in my clinical work as an Emergency Medicine Doctor. This will require more health professionals to be employed, meaning increases in education, both undergraduate and postgraduate, increases in student numbers, and changes in the ways we plan and deliver teaching, requiring innovation across the board, as well as more inter-professional and cross-institution collaboration.
What book are you reading at the moment?
I’m not a big reader, so I often start something and never quite finish it…but the books that I really got into were all from Atul Gawande. He captivated me and I couldn’t put them down.
What is your favourite quote?
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” – Albert Einstein
If something doesn’t work, give it a couple of goes, but don’t keep ploughing on with it. You never know what trying something else might lead to!
What job would you do if you were not a medical educator/researcher?
I spent a season working in the French Alps before starting medical school, and then also worked as a SCUBA diving instructor. My youthful dream would be to work as a skiing instructor in the winter and teach people to SCUBA dive in the summer. Or, working as a barista in a speciality coffee shop somewhere, as my other hobby is trying to perfect making and then drinking delicious coffee.
What three top tips would you give to new medical education researchers?
Research things that interest you
Make contacts near and far and collaborate with others
Find a supervisor and value their experience
Where is your favourite place in the world and why?
I love being in the mountains, surrounded by the beautiful scenery and the fresh mountain air. I enjoy skiing and snowboarding, as well as the hearty apline food and warm fires at the end of the day.
In this week’s blog, Dr Andy Bond reflects on how to get started in pedagogical research, especially when coming from a non-teaching background, highlighting some insights from experienced members of BMERG.
I am a scientific researcher! This is ingrained into me as it was my career for over 20 years since starting out on my PhD ‘journey’ in 2003. It therefore came as a bit of a shock to the system to become a Pathway 3 member of the teaching staff at the University of Bristol, and feel like I had left basic science research behind. Yes, there is the chance to supervise student projects and live research vicariously through them, however it isn’t quite the same as being hands on, actually doing experiments for hours on end in the lab, with varying degrees of success. As teaching staff, we are required to complete our Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP). This introduced me to pedagogy and opened my eyes to a very different way of working, thinking and writing; pedagogical research values people’s opinions just as, if not more, importantly than “hard evidence”. Having purely been in the quantitative, basic science, school of research, I found the academic papers to be written in a very different style and tone that felt very alien, and not quite right to me!! This is where the dreaded imposter syndrome starts to creep in, and that sense you’re not doing things correctly, and you don’t quite know how to get started.
Colleagues introduced me to BMERG, and in particular the Journal Club. If I’m being honest, the imposter syndrome still continued for a while, with unfamiliar terms, phrases and methodologies being common place, however as with many things, learning through immersion fosters deeper understanding. I am now finding that pedagogical research (as a branch of social science) and basic science research share many similarities – forming research questions, gathering data (quantitative or qualitative), using reasoning, analysing results, and (hopefully) publishing the findings. Ultimately, both with the aim to advance knowledge.
To gain further insight for this blog, I asked some members of BMERG for their top tips for getting started, and have tried to summarise their insights below.
Collaboration
A common theme that emerged was that collaboration is key, especially when starting out, but also for the more experienced pedagogical researcher. In the early stages, teaming up with someone with experience, ideally that shares your interests, enables you to get feedback and validation for your ideas, but also to take on more ambitious projects, and increase chances of funding. Collaboration can also give you access to a wider group of students e.g. you may teach to postgraduates, but have an idea also relevant to undergraduate students, and need collaborators to help facilitate the transition.
Plan upfront
Another key theme was planning. All projects need to be carefully planned out in advance to focus the investigation, and start with a clear aim (the simpler the better) for what you want to achieve. Knowing the focus is vital, whether looking at teaching innovation (designing new methods of teaching to help students learn) or educational research (investigating an issue or challenge discovered when teaching). Both are equally valid, but require different approaches. Engaging with the ethics process early on helps to clarify your study design, and check the data you will receive is robust and reliable. It’s much harder to start with the methodology and work backwards. To prevent unintentionally marginalizing participants, it is vital at the research design stage to put the learners first; knowing who you are researching (considering inclusivity), and modifying research practices accordingly, rather than just accepting standard methods. Caution should be exercised at all stages of the project, from planning through to interpretation and analysis of results, considering the researchers beliefs or world view (paradigm), and their positionality (acknowledging how a researcher’s identity influences their research).
Use the resources available to you
In addition to the people within your network, and communities such as BMERG with its aforementioned Journal Club, there are a number of other Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) resources available to the new pedagogical researcher within the University of Bristol, under the Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching (BILT) umbrella (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning | Bristol Institute For Learning and Teaching | University of Bristol) e.g. Show, Tell and Talk Workshops, and the BILT Annual conference. Attending these events helps to widen your network, see what other research is taking place, helps to validate your own ideas, and gain confidence to undertake your own projects. Previous examples of published pedagogical research are an excellent resource, enabling you to see how other people structure their projects, and also their writing.
A final point suggested that has helped adjust my way of thinking, especially coming from a basic science research background, is to try to think of it not just as pedagogical research (studying something and trying to discover facts), but pedagogical insight (deep understanding). Put another way, research tells us what is happening, but we also need insight to understand why it is happening and what we can do about it. Looking at teaching practices through the insight lens can give a different perspective, and can open up alternative avenues for consideration.
So to sum up how you get started in pedagogical research, you just go for it, and you will find an extremely friendly and helpful community of like-minded people, that will support you, and help you build the confidence needed to do great things for the benefit of students. If anyone has further insights into how to get started on the pedagogical research journey then I would welcome your input via a comment below.
With thanks to Sarah Allsop, Sarah Mclaughlin, Fiona Holmes, Claire Hudson and Sally Dowling for their insights.
Author Biography
Dr Andrew Bond is a Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine, in Bristol Medical School, and Co-Director of MSc Cardiovascular Perfusion. In 2023 he switched to the Teaching and Scholarship Pathway at the University of Bristol, and his teaching role predominantly involves developing and delivering content on the MSc Translational Cardiovascular Medicine, MSc Clinical Perfusion Science and MSc Cardiovascular Perfusion. Andy recently joined the BMERG Committee, and sees it as the beginning of his pursuit of pedagogical research, and the chance to better understand how students learn and thrive. His hope is to integrate insights from this research into his own teaching practice, so that research and practice continually inform one another.
In the first of our BMERG Committee profiles, we shine the spotlight on Fiona Holmes, our School Education Director.
Fiona is Associate Professor in Health Science Education and School Education Director. She is Programme Director of MSc Clinical Perfusion Science and Co-Director of MRes Health Sciences Research. During her long career as a neuroscientist she enjoyed combining research with teaching, aiming to inspire the next generation of biomedical and clinical researchers. She has a particular interest in students’ academic and research skills development.
What was your first role or job as an educator?
I have been involved in teaching and supervising students for many years but my first formal role was as Co-Director of MRes Health Sciences Research over 10 years ago.
What inspired you to become an educator and/or education researcher?
I want to encourage and support the medical researchers of the future and hopefully instill a curiosity and passion for discovery science. I love working with students and see them achieve their full potential.
What challenges have you faced in your journey as a medical education researcher and how have you overcome these?
Making the switch from biomedical research (PhD and 20+ years of experience) to pedagogical research (starting from scratch, learning to appreciate qualitative research, developing more of a ‘social sciences head’ and finding my niche).
What is your current medical education research project on?
I am working with a colleague (Jody Stafford) on using desk-based simulation to support cardiopulmonary bypass training. With Gemma Ford and BMERG Committee members, we are piloting a project to embed the Bristol Skills Profile into academic personal tutoring.
Who are your medical education/education research role models?
My mum worked as a school lab technician and was full of ideas to add interest to the classroom (many projects were tried out at home from stick insects to eyeballs to hatching chicks). The school and university lecturers who stick in my mind (along with what they taught) were really enthusiastic and committed to our learning, with a bit of showmanship and eccentricity thrown in!
What would you consider your greatest academic success?
My first, first author paper – perhaps not my greatest academic success but it felt like it at the time.
Have you ever had a piece of work go wrong and how did you deal with this?
Yes! Who hasn’t?! This is particularly true of biomedical research which can be a roller coaster of highs and lows – you need patience and resilience and to try and let the highs carry you through the lows. You learn more from work not going the way you expect / hope – problem solving, criticality, insight. The important thing is that you do learn and don’t – to misquote Einstein – do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. I bang on about this a lot to my students!
What helps you to maintain your work life balance as a medical educator/researcher?
A nagging husband who thinks I love the University of Bristol more than him! To be more serious, work can be such a big part of your identity so it’s important to be doing something that you really care about. Prioritising family (I am bonus mum to 2 step-daughters – a primary school teacher and a nurse), friends and outside interests (travel, gardening and running) can enhance your A game at work.
What do you think will be the greatest change to medical education over the next decade?
At the moment I’m grappling with artificial intelligence (AI) and the challenges and opportunites it brings to teaching and learning per se. Besides this, it is essential to integrate understanding of the potential (and pitfalls) of AI to transform medical practice into medical education curricula.
What book are you reading at the moment?
I have recently read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – after being fired from her job as a lab tech, chemist Elizabeth Zott uses her new job hosting a 1950s television cooking show titled Supper at Six to educate housewives on scientific topics.
What job would you do if you were not a medical educator/researcher?
I probably would have done something clinical / patient-focussed. My retirement job idea is to be a florist.
What three top tips would you give to new medical education researchers?
Collaborate: 2+ heads are better than one, there’s shared expertise and work-load and you are accountable to others which helps keeps you on track.
Just do it: Make a start – fail, flounder – but do something. If you don’t start you will never have the opportunity to finish.
Be a lifelong learner: Stay curious and open-minded, and being a student helps you put yourself in the shoes of your own students and be reminded of their perspective.
Where is your favourite place in the world and why?
Difficult to choose one favourite – lots of places hold special memories for all sorts of reasons – but I got engaged on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand which was pretty cool (literally!).
The latest blog is a conference report from Dr Shiras Patel, reflecting on the Teaching, Innovation, and Collaboration for CTFs (TICC) Conference, held in Bristol in April this year.
The Warm Welcome
On Friday 25th April 2025, the halls of the Wills Memorial Building at the University of Bristol were buzzing with activity—not only from students preparing for their final examinations, but also from the Teaching, Innovation, and Collaboration for CTFs (TICC) Conference. This year’s event was bigger than ever, building on last year’s regional success to welcome over 120 attendees from across the UK.
Even before the official welcome, the atmosphere was lively, with Clinical Teaching Fellows (CTFs) from various institutions exchanging ideas about their innovative teaching methods and the challenges they had overcome.
The conference began with a warm welcome from Dr David Rogers, Programme Co-director at the Bristol Medical School, and Dr Sam Chumbley, TICC Director.
This was followed by a captivating keynote delivered by Dr SanYuMay Tan (University of Oxford), focusing on sustainability in medical education. Her thought-provoking talk highlighted the crucial need to prepare medical students to be sustainable clinicians, capable of navigating the healthcare challenges of the future.
A New Addition for 2025
Inspired by their ASME sponsors, the conference introduced short communication presentations, providing CTFs with a platform to showcase their research and innovation projects. Topics ranged from gamification in learning to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), simulation-based education, and pastoral care. The impressive volume of submissions led to a four-room parallel session format, allowing attendees to curate their own experience based on individual interests.
Lunch and Networking
Over lunch, the energy remained high as attendees engaged in enthusiastic discussions about the morning’s presentations and how the ideas could be implemented within their own institutions. The high-quality catering certainly helped, but it was the lively, academic conversations that seem to fuel the room.
Afternoon Workshops
Three concurrent workshops kicked off the afternoon sessions:
Dr David Rogers and Eliza Burdass (University of Bristol) led an insightful workshop on practical strategies for effective teaching amidst busy clinical schedules. The dual perspectives of a curriculum designer and a medical student offered a complementary and holistic view.
Dr SanYuMay Tan returned with Dr Theresa Martin (University of Portsmouth) to run a workshop on integrating sustainability into OSCE station design, extending the themes from the morning keynote.
Dr Ourania Varsou (University of Glasgow) delivered a hands-on, forward-looking session on AI in medical education, exploring its practical applications in everyday teaching.
Oral Presentations and Final Sessions
In the late afternoon, additional oral presentations highlighted outstanding work being done by CTFs nationwide, addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges in medical education.
The day concluded with two final parallel sessions:
A powerful workshop on Teaching in Low Resource Settings led by Dr Julie Thacker and Dr Ian Fussell (University of Exeter), sharing inspirational insights into delivering medical education without the typical technological support many rely on.
A popular Q&A panel featuring experienced educators who discussed career pathways in medical education, offering candid reflections on balancing academic and personal commitments.
Closing Moments
The conference wrapped up with a prize ceremony celebrating outstanding presentations, followed by closing remarks that set sights on the future—namely, the ambition to make TICC 2026 an international event, a goal that was met with great enthusiasm. A post-conference social offered a relaxed space for continued networking and reflection.
Final Thoughts
TICC 2025 was an overwhelming success. It showcased the strength, creativity, and dedication of the CTF community and left many—including myself—energised and inspired for the year ahead. I eagerly look forward to seeing how the conference evolves in 2026 and beyond.
The mission and aim of the ClinEdR Incubator is to support and promote careers in clinical education research through building a multi-professional community of practice. It extends across all health professions and aims to bring people together to develop their ideas, build collaborations and provide a network of developing experience in the field.
What is Clinical Education Research?
This is one of the most fundamental questions and tends to have a myriad of different definitions and terms including clinical, medical, and healthcare professionals education research to name just a few. Often the word ‘clinical’ can drive the idea that this sort of research must have a direct impact in clinical practice and thus can seem to exclude certain areas of research in education.
The team at the Incubator have tried to broaden this idea, embracing all sorts of different research that can and does have an impact on societal health needs by “enhancing the education, training and development of health and social care practitioners, and the organisations within which they work and learn“. They highlight a number of different areas in which individuals and teams may be undertaking clinical education research such as:
Pedagogical research
Planning and design of educational programmes
Regulation processes
Organisation context of learning, such as learning environments and workforce inclusivity
Learner experience and careers
They also consider that this whilst this type of research may have a direct clinical impact for patients it may achieve impact in other ways such as benefiting clinicians in their training, influencing health and education systems and through challenging and developing standards.
How can the Incubator help those who want to engage in Clinical Education Research?
The incubator is a fantastic place to start regardless of where you are in your ClinEdR journey. It offers a variety of resource and links via it’s website such as:
In BMERG’s latest report from 2023 conferences, Dr David Hettle reviews the Developing Medical Educators Group (DMEG) Annual Conference which was held online in October 2023.
The DMEG* conference provides a great opportunity for early-years educators (students, CTFs, or anyone else beginning their medical education journey) to meet others, feel inspired by a conference and presenters looking out for those at the early stage of their educator career and hear about the work of the Academy of Medical Educators and its Developing Medical Educators’ Group.
This year, the DMEG Annual Conference 2023 once again took place online, to promote access to such a conference to developing educators from across the UK and further afield. While the conference’s focus is primarily at developing medical educators and those in parallel training (medical, dental, veterinary or other healthcare science), everyone in medical education continues to develop and so there was something for everybody.
This year, keynote speakers included Dr Phil Xiu and Dr Linda Prescott-Clements, sharing their stories and journeys through healthcare education They inspired attendees to consider their next steps and all the different avenues to pursue this through, as well as recognising that medical educators are the “bridge between skill and passion” in delivering education to students, colleagues and patients.
There were also a number of excellent workshops, focussing on multiple aspects of medical education, such as clinical education scholarship, tips and tricks of teaching critical appraisal as well as developing and delivering workshops, and considering developing your career as a medical educator. View the DMEG 2023 conference programme here and the DMEG 2023 abstract book here.
DMEG also hosts both oral presentations and video pitches during their conferences, sharing novel work and innovations from participating medical educators. This year, the University of Bristol was well represented.
Last year’s University of Bristol lead Clinical Teaching Fellows (CTFs) Dr Alice Middleton (in collaboration Dr Gabriella Agathangelou), gave an oral presentation discussing their new role as lead CTFs and the wins and challenges of building a community of practice amongst CTFs, ‘Herding Cats’. They were highly commended in the oral presentation category.
Former Clinical Teaching Fellows, Dr Jacqueline Roy and Dr Tirion Swart from the North Bristol University of Bristol Teaching Academy were awarded first prize in the Video Pitch category for their work on development of a podcast to support clinical years’ medical student learning on ‘Geri-Pods’, using Podcasts to Broaden Learning on the MDT’s Role in Practice for Medical Students. You can view Jacky and Tirion’s winning pitch on Twitter(X).
Screenshot from Jacky and Tirion’s DMEG video pitch presentation
Well done to Alice, Gabby, Jacky and Tirion!
It is expected that DMEG 2024 will again be hosted online, and would be a great opportunity for anyone from the University of Bristol or further afield to meet with other beginning educators looking out for what they’re interested in, seeing what is out there in medical education and look to meet some like-minded individuals from across the world. It is anticipated that the conference will be held early October next year again, but keep an eye on the links above nearer to the time for information and abstract calls.
* The Developing Medical Educators Group (DMEG) is a subgroup of the Academy of Medical Educators and aims to promote the development of early career educators including doctors, medical students, dentists, physician associates and veterinary educators. It is open to all early career educators who are Student, Associate or Full Members of AoME.
This blog focuses on the Qualitative Research Forum (QRF) led by Sabi Redwood, Jo Kesten and Heather Brant (L-R) from the Social Sciences and Health Team from Bristol Medical School. This informal group offers friendly support for anyone using qualitative methodology working in health research.
Starting to research in the qualitative space can be a challenge for healthcare educators, as many of us have come from an environment more heavily weighted in qualitative research training. The QRF serves as an opportunity for individuals to discuss specific methodological issues or work-in-progress with peers. The forum aims to be a supportive and friendly environment for individuals to present their work and obtain feedback. It also provides an email network as a resource for members to connect with each other.
The lunchtime meetings are relaxed and usually have a methodological slant. They provide an opportunity to discuss common issues and challenges in the application of qualitative methods and health-related research concepts, to develop collaboration and to foster new ideas. Examples of previous topics for discussion include: online data collection, data sharing, working with large qualitative datasets, process evaluation and rapid qualitative research.
The current conveners of the forum are Sabi Redwood, Jo Kesten and Heather Brant. Please contact us if you would like to talk to the group. If you wish to join the QRF, please contact Sabi Redwood. The email address for current members of the Qualitative Research Forum mailing list is grp-phs-qrf@groups.bristol.ac.uk. Resources for members can be found in the UoB QRF SharePoint site (UoB staff and PGR only).
The QRF meets between 12.30-13.30 once every two months, with the day of the week alternating to account for part time staff/students. More information and dates can be found on the QRF website.
In this blog Sarah Allsop, a Senior Lecturer at Bristol Medical School, shares a short 5-point top tip guide to getting started in medical education research.
It was great today to be able to extend a warm welcome to the new intake of Clinical Teaching Fellows (CTFs) working across the NHS Trusts linked to the University of Bristol Medical School, and introduce them to the work of BMERG.
CTFs are not only fantastic teachers and innovators, but also undertake some amazing medical education research projects. Bristol’s recent posters and oral presentations at both AoME and ASME is testament to this, with AMEE still to come at the end of August.
For new CTFs, and in fact anyone starting out undertaking research projects in education, this may be a new task and one which can seem quite daunting. Developing skills in educational research is a journey.
Here is a short 5-point ABCDE guide of top tips for getting started in Education Research – a place to start when you are not sure where to start.
A is for Aim: What are you trying to achieve? What problem are you trying to solve? What is the VALUE of your project? All research projects should start with an aim. Having a clear aim will then help to guide your next steps, study design and methods.
B is for Blueprint: How are you going to blueprint / plan your study? What research paradigm will you use? How will you use educational THEORY to aid the design of your project? What methodology aligns with your research question(s)? What do you need to prepare for your ethical review? Planning your project carefully and considering the alignment of the different elements of your study will ultimately lead to a better quality research project.
C is for Collaborate: Can you work collaboratively to build a stronger, more powerful project? Are there already projects in motion that you can join or build on? How can you work and support each other better? What interdisciplinary angles might be possible? We are stronger together. Talk to your peers and seniors about research projects. You may have ideas of your own that you wish to progress and that is fine, but if these align with the ideas of others, or you can build on previous studies, or try innovations across multiple sites or cohorts, this will improve the POWER and transferability of your work.
D is for Disseminate: How would you like to present or publish your work? Do you want to attend an international medical education or discipline specific conference or publish in a peer-reviewed journal? Would you like to be able to showcase your work across the wider local medical school community? One of the key principle aims of all research is to further knowledge and this means that we need to share our findings. Think about your REACH and influence – where, when and how you might like to share your educational research project results.
E is for Endpoint: What is the potential IMPACT of your study? Who might benefit from learning about your results? What are your personal goals? It may sound counter-intuitive to think about the end-point at the start of your journey, but this will help you to plan and develop a timeline. You will always have finite time to work on a particular project and so understanding your goals and being mindful about what is possible will help you to create the deadlines you need to keep your project on track.
Over the coming months BMERG will be sharing more top tips on undertaking educational research, as well as offering events such as journal clubs, writing groups and more. Subscribe to the blog to get all the latest BMERG news direct to your inbox.
Read more about Bristol conference work this summer at AoME 2023 and ASME 2023
Continuing our conference report theme, Dr Ed Luff reflects on the Association for the Study of Medical Education Conference recently held in Birmingham, UK.
The Eastside Rooms Conference Centre, Birmingham UK
The 12th-14th of July brought the return of the Annual Scholarship Meeting (ASM) of the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME), which took place at the Eastside Rooms conference centre in Birmingham. The three-day programme of events saw representation from a wide range of attendees from Bristol Medical School and the Academies, presenting work at a national-level medical education conference. Presenters came from all areas within the school, from professors and lecturers to medical students and clinical teaching fellows (CTFs) to MSc and PhD students, showcasing the wide range of work conducted around medical education within Bristol Medical School.
Once again, this year Bristol was extremely well represented at the conference, with contributions comprising 2 workshops, 15 oral presentations and 29 poster presentations, which exceeded the high bar set at last year’s conference. Huge congratulations to all those who were involved in presenting, authoring, and contributing to the work that was presented, it really highlights the excellent and high-quality work that is being conducted both locally and regionally. Work was presented by academics from within the medical school, those based at academies around the region, including both North and South Bristol, Bath, Gloucester & Cheltenham, and Swindon, as well as current undergraduate medical students and doctors completing their MSc in Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals (TLHP) and PhD.
The range of topics and areas of the curriculum covered by presenters from Bristol ranged from paediatrics to palliative care, professionalism to research paradigms, interprofessional learning and simulations on Boeing 747’s, transgender and non-binary healthcare, and gamification of sexual health. Many presentations highlighted collaboration both within the medical school, across different academies and hospital sites, as well as with outside organisations and other institutions and healthcare professionals.
This year also saw the inclusion of a new presentation format at the conference, the ‘What’s Your Point?’ sessions, where presenters were invited to start a conversation and present on a topic of interest or debate. We had a thought-provoking oral presentation on the future of medical educators, and poster presentations on classical cases/ typical presentations, promoting interprofessional education, a professionalism reporting system and engagement with teaching innovations.
ASME as a conference provides a wonderfully welcoming and inclusive environment to inspire, engage and network. It is friendly and accessible, with sessions covering the full spectrum of medical education, from admissions and widening access, through undergraduate, foundation years, and postgraduate training. There really is something for everyone and the wide range of parallel ‘pre-conference’ and ‘intra-conference’ sessions, symposia and workshops provide an opportunity for attendees to build skills and develop in areas of personal interest.
Dr Alice Middleton, CTF co-lead, based at Gloucester Academy, reflected on her experiences from the conference:
“I presented about using virtual patients to teach clinical reasoning, and was encouraged by queries and enthusiasm about the project from members of the Technology Enhanced Learning ‘TEL’ special interest group of ASME – I have joined them! I also attended the TASME prize presentation session and talked to one of the presenters after the session, we have since been emailing about potentially collaborating on a project about teaching clinical reasoning which is exciting; it was a great opportunity to link up and learn from people doing similar-but-different things in other medical schools in the UK.”
Dr Sam Chumbley, a CTF based at South Bristol Academy commented:
“This was my first ever conference, and who knew they could be so fun?! I met so many like-minded people, and everyone commented on how approachable everyone is it ASME. You can be asking a presenter a question after their talk, and then sharing a meal with them later that day. The talks were fascinating, with a heavy focus on EDI topics this year, which has empowered me to speak up when seeing colleagues or patients being discriminated. Other talks focused on topics like innovation in education, which is always exciting to hear about, and has made me less terrified of the advent of AI in education. Ultimately, ASME has set the bar very high for future conferences I will attend!”
To showcase the amazing contributions made by those within the medical school, we have created a Sway which contains information about all the work presented by those associated with Bristol Medical School.* You can view summaries of the two workshops, copies of the abstracts for the oral and poster presentations and electronic versions of all the posters too. Access the sway via this link: BRMS at ASME 2023. A collated Bristol abstracts booklet can be viewed here:
The full ASME 2023 conference brochure can be downloaded here: ASME 2023 brochure. The conference brochure contains detailed information on keynote speakers, pre and intra-conference sessions including symposia and pop-up events, parallel sessions and oral presentations. The abstracts book can be downloaded here: ASME 2023 Abstracts book. The abstracts book contains details of all abstracts included at the ASM 2023. Each individual abstract has its own page including information on the authors and presenters. This includes submissions for e-Posters, oral presentations, relevant awards, and What’s Your Point? sessions. For information about joining ASME visit: www.asme.org.uk/membership/.
Next year’s ASM will be held in Warwick, from the 10th-12th of July 2024, with the theme ‘Maximising Potential’. We hope that next year will bring further success for Bristol Medical School at ASME. We are also looking forward to the AMEE conference, which this year is being held in Glasgow from the 26th to the 30th of August. The best of luck to everyone who is presenting.
* We have done our best to ensure that all work presented at this event has been included here, but if you think we have missed yours and you would like it added, please get in touch.
