Research and Scholarship Activities - September/October 2025

Come along and discover the research and scholarship activities on offer in the Department of Medical Education (DME) in September and October 2025.  Where session recordings are available you can access them on our DME Research and Scholarship Training Hub.

Recordings of previous seminars are available here

Thursday 4 September (1-2pm)

Session type: Research Focus Roundtable
Title: Pathways and Perspectives: Exploring the Impact of Rural Medical Training on Graduate Workforce Outcomes and Career Intentions
Presenter: Miss Zahra Ali, Dr Will Harvey, Dr Lachlan Van Schaik, Dr Tamekha Develyn (Department of Rural Health)
Overview: This session will explore two interrelated projects examining the influence of rural medical training on graduate practice locations and professional identity formation. The first project presents findings from a retrospective cohort study of University of Melbourne Rural Clinical School graduates, highlighting how the duration of rural immersion during medical training influences eventual rural workforce outcomes. Results support the value of extended rural immersion, with three-year participants significantly more likely to practise in regional and rural areas compared to their one-year counterparts. The second project builds on this work through a qualitative lens, investigating the lived experiences of final-year students in the MD Rural Pathway. Through in-depth interviews, this study explores how students’ motivations, professional identities, and career intentions evolve over time. It seeks to uncover the personal, educational, and systemic factors that shape their decisions to pursue rural practice.

Thursday 11 September (1-2pm)

(Please note that this Roundtable has been cancelled, as speakers are unwell)

Session Type: Scholarship Focus Roundtable
Title: Learning Together Through the Ways Curriculum
Presenters: Dr Kim Allison, Dr Charlotte Denniston and A/Prof. Viv Mak (Collaborative Practice Centre)
Overview: Building a shared curriculum across 14 health and social care programs demands more than alignment; it requires a commitment to shared educational values. This session introduces the Ways Curriculum, the CPC's interprofessional education curriculum. The team will share insights from co-design to implementation, highlighting what worked, what challenged them, and how a values-driven teaching philosophy continues to shape what, how, and why they teach.

Thursday 18 September (1-2pm)

Session Type: ANZAHPE Professional Development Program
Title: How do I…Improve my writing for publication success
Presenters: Simone Gibson, Andy Wearn, Di Eley, and Mahbub Sarkar
Register at this link

Thursday 25 September (1.00-2.30pm)

Session Type: Research Training Focus Roundtable
Title: MD/Master of Public Health presentations
Presenters: Various Internship Students
Topic: Students will present on their internship experiences from a range of public health settings.

Thursday 2 October (1-2pm)

Session Type: Research Focus Roundtable
Title: 'Suffering or a superhero’ – representation, creation and impact of spinal cord injury (SCI)
Presenter: Dr Leanne Rees (MCRI/ RMH)
Overview: Investigating media portrayal of SCI provides an opportunity to understand systemic and social constructs that shape the experience of SCI and disability. My thesis found limited media portrayals of SCI have a negative impact on people with SCI, and news work practices make it hard for alternate stories to be told. Findings provide insight to how our internal biases of SCI and disability may be formed yet also illuminate the role we (healthcare professionals and educators) have in countering dominant narratives. A novel strategy is the collaboration with an artist to turn key thesis findings into an illustration to help get the conversation started.

Thursday 9 October (1-2pm)

Session Type: Research Focus Roundtable
Title: Research Works in Progress
Presenters: Prof Robyn Woodward-Kron, Dr Louise Allen, Dr Julia Paxino and Dr Charlotte Denniston (Department of Medical Education and Collaborative Practice Centre)
Overview: The intention of this session is for the presenters to give a short presentation on some research they are currently working on and to foster a discussion about their work. Topics include patient and public involvement in HPE, consumer leadership development in the cancer sector, IMG doctor language and communication in general practice, and the impacts of the new professional development standards for doctors.

Thursday 16 October (1-2pm)

Session Type: ANZAHPE Professional Development
Title: How do I... amplify community perspectives to develop LGBTIQA+ inclusive case-based learning?Presenters: Dr Helen Wilcox and Dr Ness Vaughan
Register at this link

Thursday 23 October (1.00-2.30pm)

Session Type: Research Training Focus Roundtable
Title: MD/Master of Public Health presentations
Presenters: Various Internship Students
Topic: Students will present on their internship experiences from a range of public health settings.

Wednesday 29 October (1-2pm)

Session Type: Visiting Academics Seminar
Location: Sanderson Room, W206, level 2, Medical Building or Via Zoom: Click here to join the meeting. If prompted for a password, please enter: 029199 (meeting ID: 872 7547 8561 if required)
Title: Approaches to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the Health Sciences
Presenters: Prof Denise Stockley (Queen's University), A/Prof Melanie Kotowich-Hamilton (University of Saskatchewan), Prof Kim Sears (Queen's University)
Overview: This seminar will explore scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) within the health sciences. Each presenter will provide their personal and professional insights into structures that motivate clinical educators and those involved in continuous professional development to attain training and competence in SoTL. They will highlight how specific applications of SoTL for health professions contributes to enhancing the quality and impact of teaching across the education-to-practice continuum. They will also discuss how to use SOTL to build professional relationships across the higher education spectrum, and support innovations required for changing academic environment and learner profiles.

Thursday 30 October (1-2 pm) – online only

Session Type: Research Training Focus Roundtable
Title: Disrupting the status quo: Critical inquiry approaches in health professions education research
Presenter: Dr Julia McCartan (Monash University)
Overview: If you are a health professional educator and researcher who is passionate about addressing health inequities, then critical inquiry approaches are for you. You would use critical inquiry if you want to: examine and expose inequities that impact education, better understand power imbalances that benefit some but unfairly impact others, and/or shine a light on and act upon issues to create educational change. You would also use critical inquiry when you want to examine health education from the perspective of a marginalised group, particularly if the goal is to achieve greater equity for this group in education. Until now, critical inquiry has been less common than other research paradigms in health professions education research, partially due to limited guidance available for educators. After attending this workshop, you will hopefully gain inspiration to engage in this rewarding area of health education research.

For further information, please contact Ms Andrea Meyer:  andrea.meyer@unimelb.edu.au