Dear all
I write on behalf of London Medicine, which represents the five medical schools in London, who are seeking to better understand the experiences of individuals from under-represented groups when they attend medical school. The phrase ‘under-represented groups’ can mean different things to different people, but you could consider yourself from this group if:
- You are the first in your family to attend university
- You are from a BME background
- You are from an under-represented group not specified above
If you consider yourself to be part of this group, please read on to find out how you can participate in this research. If you do not consider yourself to be part of this group, we will be in touch at a later time with other research requests.
We now want to explore the experiences of students from under-represented backgrounds once they are at medical school. If you feel that you fit this criteria, i.e. you fall into one or more of the categories above, we would love to hear from you.
We plan to hold five focus groups in February/March 2019 (one at each of London’s five medical schools). If you would be happy to take part in one of these sessions, or alternatively in a 1:1 conversation/phonecall with myself or a colleague, please fill out your details here.
Through carrying out this research we hope to find out more on the challenges facing different groups of students, to explore how medical schools could best meet the needs of all students, and to share best practice across London’s five medical schools. This will be a large-scale pan-London study, and any reports produced following the focus groups will be fully anonymized. These reports will then be shared with the members of London Medicine, including the Heads of London’s five medical schools, and the findings will be used to drive improvements across London.
London Medicine is a group that consists of the Heads of schools of medicine, dentistry and associated clinical academic institutions in London. All of the five London medical schools are members of London Medicine. We carry out work on the key issues that affect medical schools and their students, and our work includes aspects such as research, organising meetings/workshops and producing reports and policy papers. If you would like more information on London Medicine please see our website here. (London Medicine is a division of a larger organisation called London Higher, which represents universities across London.)
I look forward to hearing from you.