Workshops: Tuesday 17 November

Tuesday 17:35 – Research workshop

How to approach student research in WP?

The effectiveness of widening participation activities is by nature difficult to evaluate and even more difficult to research. This session invites you to consider some of the challenges you may face and help you network with others to form national research project teams.

Mohammed Sahir

Mohammed is a final year student, the current President of the BME student network and President of Warwick WHAM society. Mohammed qualified as a secondary teacher before joining medical school and has an interest in widening participation in medicine. As a teacher, Mohammed worked with WP students to help widen access to medicine and is now working on initiatives to continue this work.

Emily Roisin Reed

Emily is Director of Student Experience, Employability and Progression for Warwick Medical School and leads Widening Participation at WMS. Her research interests are in medical careers, social justice and widening participation. She takes pride in supporting many student outreach initiatives which have reached over 9000 local WP school pupils across the last four years.

Sylva Adeeko

Sylva is Academic FY1 and founder of Warwick WHAM Soc. Sylva was involved in widening participation and the ‘Horizons’ outreach programme at Warwick for four years. She completed a systematic review which she presented at the BMJ Leadership Conference and is undergoing publication. She is passionate about widening participation in medicine.

Tuesday 18:20 – WAMS

AspireMEd

AspireMEd is a national organisation run by medical students with a passion to inspire and empower aspiring doctors to fulfil their dreams of becoming a doctor. It was founded by three medical students, Jun Yu Chen, Wentin Chen, and Luke Yanyang Zhu, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown which saw the subsequent postponement and cancellation of many outreach activities. Recognising an inherent and distinct scarcity of information on medical careers, AspireMEd hopes to deliver free high-quality information, resources and support for medicine applicants from all backgrounds, particularly students from widening participation backgrounds. Their work extends over several social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In just over four months, AspireMEd amassed over 1,300 followers on Instagram and 500 on Twitter. On Instagram, they post under daily themes to target all aspects of the application process. This includes UCAT/BMAT questions, medical interview tips, work experience opportunities and online courses, and personal statement advice. They also discuss recent developments in medicine and health news to engage and inspire aspiring medical students.

In this session, AspireMEd will discuss the idea, planning, and delivering of the AspireMEd Medicine Applicants Virtual Conference. Recognising the immediate and overwhelming need to support aspiring medical students through the lockdown and share critical applicant information, particularly regarding changes to the application process, AspireMEd held their inaugural conference on 8 August 2020. With 1,500 attendees the conference was received with great interest from secondary school and university graduate students, parents, schools, teachers and educators, representative bodies, widening participation champions, and medical education organisations. With unparalleled support from the NMSWP Forum, AspireMEd held a free one-day all-inclusive conference spanning 8 hours of live content. This included inspiring talks, informative sessions from the Medical Schools Council and UCAT/BMAT about changes due to Covid-19, and interactive workshop sessions covering various aspects of the application process. AspireMEd were also grateful to have received the support of national and international organisations including the General Medical Council, AMEE, IAMSE, BOA, GPs at the Deep End, the University of Birmingham, and the Royal Benevolent Medical Fund, among others. They also collaborated with over 50 widening participation societies and organisations around the UK, showcasing two minute videos of their work and the support and resources they offer medical applicants.

Follow AspireMEd on social media

Twitter: @aspiremeduk

Instagram: @aspiremeduk

Facebook: @aspiremeduk

Website: http://www.aspiremed.uk

Tuesday 18:30

A practical guide to using social media for digital outreach

To empower WAMS societies to effectively use social media to reach
young people in their communities considering a career in healthcare.

Kirsty Morrisson

Kirsty is a fifth-year undergraduate medical student at the University of Birmingham who has been actively involved in WP work throughout her time there. She set up her medical school’s first full-day access conference (Dr.eam) in 2018 and was President of the WAMS society in 2019/20. She is a founding member of the National Medical Students Widening Participation Group, and also helped create the online widening access organisation ‘We Are Medics’ during COVID lockdown.

@kirstymorrisn