A student initiative to improve exposure in research – Dual benefit?

PURPOSE: Despite the recent implementation of research-focused activities into undergraduate education, there is still a universal lack of offered exposure experienced by medical students. We organised an undergraduate research conference to explore students' views on research and evaluate the impact of the conference on participants' and organisers’ research skills and non-technical skills respectively. METHODS: The conference was a student-led initiative which took place at a London medical school. Feedback from delegates was collected before and after the conference and aimed to evaluate previous experience and views in research, subjective assessment of relevant skills and the overall quality of the conference. Subjective change in organisers’ non-technical skill performance was also evaluated using an online questionnaire following the conference. RESULTS: Forty-four students attended the conference, out of which only 3 (7.7%) have published in an international peer-reviewed journal. Finding a project supervisor was reported by most delegates as the biggest barrier in becoming involved in research. Delegates' study design (p = 0.041) and oral/poster presentation skills (p = 0.041) showed a statistically significant subjective improvement. A clear benefit in organisers’ subjective improvement in non-technical skill performance has been demonstrated. The conference was evaluated highly. CONCLUSION: There is need to address the barriers that medical and dental students face in the path to get involved in research. Our conference framework has demonstrated benefit to both delegates and organisers in improving their research skills and non-technical skills respectively. The conference, being highly appraised, lays the ground for such initiatives to be integrated in undergraduate medical and dental curricula.