September 2024

we are pleased to announce the winners of the AMEE Grant for Medical Educators working in Resource Constrained Settings (MERCS Grant) for 2023. This prestigious grant provides financial support to health professions education (HPE) scholars working in emerging, disadvantaged, and resource-constrained settings, fostering opportunities for impactful research in regions affected by conflict, poverty, and limited access to healthcare. This grant has been awarded to an outstanding project titled “Leadership development in medical students through self-sustainable Collaborative Network of Student (NEST) Leaders”. Led by Principal Investigator Sumita Sethi, with Co-Investigators Renu Garg and Ruchi Agarwal, the research team from BPS Government Medical College for Women in Sonepat, Haryana, India. The research team plans to address the emerging need for an effective and sustainable leadership development model for medical students by creating a collaborative learning NEtwork of STudent (NEST) leaders. Their vision is leadership training and development in medical students through an integrated three-tier extracurricular approach. With time, as the NEST evolves and the student leadership executive team takes over the administration, a systematic, iterative cycle of learning-performing-networking will be developed by building peer and mentor relationships around shared learning experiences. Congratulations to the winners for their dedication and commitment to enhancing medical education in resource-constrained environments. Their work exemplifies the spirit of the MERCS Grant, contributing to the advancement of health professions education globally. For more information about the MERCS Grant please visit our website​​​​​.

Celebrating Excellence in Health Professions Education Research: Announcing the Winners of the AMEE Research Grant 2023  The AMEE Research Grants programme, dedicated to fostering innovative research in health professions education (HPE), proudly announces the winners of the 2023 grant. This prestigious programme, offering financial support of up to £10,000 for groundbreaking educational research projects, aims to promote excellence and scholarship among AMEE members.  Winning Project: “Where there’s fear, there is power”: Exploring medical trainees’ concerns around consultant-mediated consequences of their own actions   Principal Investigator: Beatrice Preti, Emory University (Atlanta, USA) and Western University (London, ON)  Associated Investigators: Michael Sanatani, Western University (London, ON) and Luxshikka Canthiya, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University (London, ON)  Project Summary: This project seeks to better understand the trainee views of consultant power in response to trainee actions (i.e. repercussions or retribution), the origins and perpetuation of these views, and how these views impact trainee actions. This project uses multi-site, international recruitment to gain a variety of perspectives through vignette-style semi-structured interviews. Funds will be used for recruitment/participant compensation, project activities including analysis, and publication costs.    Runner-Up Project: Decolonising and enabling anatomy education: Sociocultural determinants and psychosocial implications of cadaveric dissection in medical schools  Principal Investigator: Suhad Daher-Nashif, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele University, UK.  Associated Investigator: Luke Welsh, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele University, UK.  Project Summary: This study explores medical students’ experiences during cadaveric dissection, focusing on how demographic and sociocultural backgrounds shape these experiences. Utilising ethnographic qualitative methods, the research will examine the influence of factors such as gender, ethnicity, religion, and personal experiences with death on students’ psychological, spiritual, and professional development. Conducted across four UK medical schools, the study will begin with a scoping review to map existing research globally, followed by in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The findings aim to enhance equality, diversity, and inclusion in anatomy education, providing recommendations for improving educational practices in dissection rooms.  Both projects exemplify the innovative and impactful research that the AMEE Research Grants programme seeks to support. Congratulations to the winning and runner-up teams for their outstanding contributions to the field of health professions education.  For more information about the AMEE Research Grants programme and how to apply, please visit AMEE Research Grants.