The 17th annual scientific meeting of the Irish Network of Healthcare Educators (INHED) was held on January 24th and 25th 2024 in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

This year’s theme was Building Relationships in Health Professions Education and we were delighted to welcome almost 200 delegates who contributed to a packed programme exploring themes including Collaboration, Teamwork, Interprofessional Education, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Technology-Enhanced Learning, Public & Patient Involvement and Professional Development.

We were also excited to host three special keynote addresses delivered by the following guest presenters:

Relationships and Communications: Beyond the Doctor-Patient Relationship by Dr. David Sklar, University of Arizona
Harnessing the Power of Community to Empower Education through Lived Experience by Ms. Siobhán Freeney, Patient Educator & Advocate; Founder of BeingDense
Collaboration to support Collaborative Training and Learning by Dr. Hamde Nazar, University of Newcastle

Following a busy two days, the conference judging committee announced the recipients of prizes for best presentation as follows:

Best Education Presentation: Michelle Scott (RCSI) – The LIBRA project: “I feel like there was a door that just opened up in my head today…” Creating a simulation-based education programme to empower student leaders with skills to enhance gender equality.

Best Research Presentation (Joint Recipients): Nora McCarthy (UCC) – “All I was thinking about was my Education”: Lived experiences of medical students displaced by the war in Ukraine.
Adam Roche (RCSI) – Can remote expert feedback in endovascular simulation training segment learning opportunities for trainees in vascular surgery?

Best Student Presentation: Anne Murray (UCC) – Journal Clubs and Postgraduate Trainee Learning: A Qualitative Analysis.

Finally, we also had the pleasure of announcing the grant recipients under INHED’s two funded award schemes in order to develop research in Health Professions Education.

This year’s recipients of the INHED-Irish Medical Council Research in Medical Education (RIME) awards are:

Mary Higgins (UCD) – Exploring the experiences of medical doctors transitioning to research and then back to clinical practice: a qualitative study.
Lucie Pollard (UL) – Student co-created initiative to enhance well-being within a medical school.
Audrey Rice (TCD) – A Pilot Programme to support Professional Identity Formation in students using an ePortfolio and Mentorship Programme.

This year’s recipients of the INHED Health Professions Education & Research Grant (HPERG) awards are:

Maeve Kearney (TCD) – Promoting feedback literacy among students using an e-learning innovation: an interdisciplinary study.
Marie O’Donnell (UL) – Implementing stakeholder-informed priorities to enhance the assessment process of physiotherapy students in the workplace; an investigation of the psychometric and edumetric properties of a revised Common Assessment Form.