Abstract submissions

This theme explores innovative approaches to the selection of learners into health professions education programmes at all levels, including approaches that aim to enhance excellence in the field; and to meet societal needs attracting learners with diversity in interests, capabilities and backgrounds

This theme examines how Artificial Intelligence and technology enhance learning in health professions education, including AI’s role in personalising training and informing clinical decisions, research on AI systems themselves, and the application of AI as research tools.

It also covers technology’s broader applications, such as innovative content delivery, virtual environments and gamification.

Covers all aspects of assessment and feedback in the health professions, including written tests, clinical exams and workplace-based assessment, as well as performance appraisal. This theme also includes work in relation to Competency-Based Education in the Health Professions (CBE-HP).

This theme includes approaches to course and curriculum development, training design, topic selection, instructional design, needs assessment and any other aspects of the planning process whether at the activity, course, or curriculum level, across the continuum of learning throughout the full spectrum of professional development.

This theme covers high-level issues faced by health professional schools and other training providers where decisions are required about what type of programmes will be offered, to which types of learners, by which staff members and how these programmes are delivered, monitored and improved.

This theme covers issues such as challenging bias and stereotypes, widening participation and improving representation in health professions education.

This includes supporting groups and individuals by inducing a culture of fairness and equity.

Abstracts submitted in this theme should relate specifically to the professional development of teachers or trainers of health professionals – i.e., the education faculty – whether at the individual or organisational level.

This theme also covers topics such as professional identity formation amongst health professions educators; evaluation of teacher performance; career progression of educators; and the role of the teacher/supervisor/preceptor.

This theme explores the integration of the humanities into health professions education, for example, medical ethics and bioethics, narrative medicine and storytelling, history and philosophy of medicine, literature, poetry and drama, visual arts and film, cultural studies and anthropology.

The disciplines help to foster empathy, ethical reasoning and a holistic understanding of patient care, including the ability to navigate uncertainty and the delivery of compassionate and patient-centred care.

This theme explores formal and informal opportunities for trainees and/or members of multiple health professions or disciplines to learn from with and about one another. This includes interprofessional learning, education and collaboration during undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development opportunities in which multiple professions are actively involved.

This theme is concerned with patient safety education – for example, how patient safety can be embedded into educational programmes and practices or how health professionals learn from patient safety data.

Submissions related to quality improvement science and human factors education are also welcome in this category.

This theme is concerned with any factors that may affect how and what learners learn.

It includes topics such as student support and engagement, stress, wellbeing, and burnout, as well as studies that focus on support in the context of learning environments and the characteristics and choices of learners.

This includes remediation/support for healthcare professionals in difficulty.

This theme explores all aspects of teaching, learning, and assessment aimed at integrating sustainability and global health into health professions education.

It’s about equipping learners and teachers with the essential knowledge, skills, values, competence, and confidence they need to tackle the complex, interconnected challenges that cross national borders.

The goal is to sustainably promote the health, human rights, and well-being of current and future generations worldwide, all while protecting the health of our planet, recognizing it as fundamental to global well-being.

This theme focuses on practical and innovative educational strategies that support deeper learning across diverse modalities, such as face-to-face, online, and blended learning environments. Abstract submissions may address areas such as instructional design, active learning methodologies, classroom dynamics, integration of digital tools, group facilitation techniques, and strategies tailored to meet the needs of varied settings and learners. Contributions should emphasize how educational approaches support learning, such as cultivating engagement, knowledge application, inclusivity, critical thinking, collaboration, and learning outcomes. 

Please note that the teaching and facilitating learning theme is different from the scholarship of teaching and learning theme, which is related more to the educational research process and outcomes.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning involves “systematic inquiry into student learning which advances the practice of teaching by making inquiry findings public.

Submissions that discuss aspects of this process, such as applying for funding, research ethics, data-sharing, methodology, theory and dissemination can be submitted in this theme, along with work exploring how scholarship (including research, evaluation, innovation, knowledge synthesis and translation) is encouraged and supported in more general terms.