The AMEE Research Grants programme recognises the importance of research in Health Professions Education and aims to promote excellence in research among AMEE members.
We are excited to announce the winners of the AMEE Research Grant 2026
Congratulations to Dr Van Nguyen who has received funding for the project ‘Evaluating community-based mental health placements in urban and rural settings: A realist economic evaluation.’
Dr Van Nguyen will lead on this project along with associated investigators:
- Dr Jonathan Foo
- Emiliana Guerra
- Associate Professor Danielle Najm
- Professor Terry Haines
- Associate Professor Luke Robinson
- Professor Charlotte Rees
The project aims to identify optimal cost-effectiveness models for mental health placements, thereby improving sustainable placement programs and, ultimately, encouraging more healthcare students enrolled in pre-registration programs to pursue mental health careers.
This project challenges the use of traditional mental health placements in high-acuity care settings by providing evidence on the cost-efficiency of these placements compared with a possible alternative in low-acuity settings across different geographical areas.
The team will attempt to answer the question about the outcome (e.g. “which type of mental health placement is better”) and also articulate how the outcome may differ in different care settings due to different mechanisms from diverse stakeholder perspectives.
Congratulations to Dr Van Nguyen and her team. We wish them all the best with this piece of research.
