Liverpool vet student wins at International VetEd Symposium

Posted on: 22 August 2022 by Alison Reid and Emma Ormandy in August 2022 posts

A month ago a group of vet students and researchers headed to Nottingham for the annual International Veterinary Education Symposium (VetEd) for the first time in person since 2019. Alison Reid and Emma Ormandy wrote about their time at the symposium as well as the successes that UoL had during the event.

The annual International Veterinary Education Symposium (VetEd) brought together veterinary educators, practitioners and students from across the world, in person for the first time since 2019.

Nottingham’s beautiful Sutton Bonnington campus provided an inspiring backdrop for a vibrant and exciting conference.

Two thought-provoking keynote addresses brought delegates together to start each day. Our very own University of Liverpool veterinary student and president of the Association of Veterinary Students, Charlotte Tobin-Williams, sparked lively discussion with her interactive keynote about life as a veterinary student, and Professor John Tegzes captured the zeitgeist with his speech on interprofessional practice, framing this as going beyond the concept of One Health and potentially holding the key to meeting the educational needs of future veterinarians.

Research and innovation in education took centre stage for the pre-conference and two main conference days, with posters, short communications and workshops galore, exploring everything from equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI), through professional development to robot hearts and making rubber testicles!

The delegation from the University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science made our best showing in the history of VetEd, with staff from all SVS departments as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students involved work in all conference themes: preclinical teaching, development of clinical and non-clinical competences, clinical skills, diversity in the veterinary profession, student support and wellbeing and admissions and widening participation.

Photo: Team photo. Credit: Rosie MacDiarmid

We were particularly proud to share our innovation in student-led academic support which was launched in February 2022. This short communication, co-authored with the students involved, described the birth and progress of our Peer Academic Mentoring system, and initial insights into the experiences of our mentors. An example quote is below:

"I feel honoured to be a part of the first cohort of PAMs….. I feel that the PAM scheme has so much to offer and is a very valuable resource to all vet students.  For me, being a mentor has allowed for personal growth and a huge sense of achievement when I have been responsible for helping someone.  I can't wait to see where it goes next!"

We were also delighted to see our first pedagogic research Master’s student sharing her research and fielding questions from eminent educators with ease.

Liverpool hats were thrown in the air in celebration of Rita Papoula Pereira’s involvement in a large piece of collaborative work on a virtual abattoir, which deservedly won best poster prize. A feather in Rita’s cap!

Our proudest moment, however, was seeing our Liverpool Veterinary Anatomy Society and its outgoing and incoming presidents, Hannah Seymour and Carol Bell, rewarded for Hannah’s incredible work in developing games to support learning in anatomy, when they won the conference prize for the best student poster!  What an achievement!

The next symposium will take us north to the University of Edinburgh in July 2023 and the Liverpool Educational Research group (LiVERG) would welcome new members who wish to get involved in educational research and sharing innovations, so we can continue to go from strength to strength!