INSPIRE

Are you a medical or dental student and looking to gain experience and understanding of research careers? Then take a look at INSPIRE

The Faculty of Health and University of Exeter Medical School are running a joint project as part of INSPIRE.

As a current Plymouth student, you'll be able to access information about the opportunities available in research through:

conferences showcasing the research of junior doctors and students for years one and two in the autumn
taster days with research teams
summer research studentships that any student can apply for.

Our taster days are planned in conjunction with Cardiff, Bristol and Exeter medical schools and we’ll support studentships outside the parent medical school if the application justifies it.

Find out more about the scheme on the INSPIRE website.

Future Event: 3rd INSPIRE Student Magazine is currently being planned/developed with a student-led Editorial Team with members from the Faculty of Health, as well as the other companion Universities’

Students launch new research journal

Students from the medical and dental schools of Plymouth, Cardiff, Exeter and Bristol have joined forces to launch a new journal that showcases original research undertaken in world-class laboratories and clinics by fellow students.

The ‘INSPIRE Student Health Sciences Research Journal’ is produced by a team of student editors from the four universities. It is a key part of a collaborative project funded through the national INSPIRE scheme funded by the Wellcome Trust and administered by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Learn more about the journal and view the first issue

Peer-reviewed publications

From diabetes prevention to telephone-delivered interventions for HIV, our students have developed specialisms and areas of expertise recognised in publications and at conferences, meetings and symposia around the world.

Read more about the Plymouth students who’ve achieved this and their areas of study.

INSPIRE Interdisciplinary Meeting Programme

6 April 2019, Sherwell Centre, University of Plymouth

UoP Medical Student Alex Gordon attended this meeting and reports here:

INSPIRE is designed to engage medical, dental and veterinary undergraduates with research. To do this funding is offered to relevant schools across the country, which allows them to deliver locally and nationally designed activities aimed at informing and motivating students about the benefits and potential of a career in research.

A meeting encompassing a range of expertise from Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth Universities was convened to inspire undergraduates to discover, pursue and develop their research ideas and interests. The meeting centred on the use of technology, mathematics, robotics, biomaterials and app-based diagnosis in healthcare with talks including themes of nanotechnology, robots and their use in surgery, technology for self-management of long term conditions, cognitive neuroscience – modelling child psychology, neuromodulation of cortical networks and decision making.

A successful day was enjoyed by approximately 50 delegates including visiting students and speakers representing all four main universities. There was an excellent mix of topics and over luncheon, delegates were able to interact with live demonstrations of robots, Virtual Reality and further displays of the various research themes highlighted in the presentations. The poster prize went to Cardiff University and the feedback from delegates was very good, suggesting that this format should continue for future events (pending funding).

This meeting was hosted by the Faculty of Health, UoP, and was organised by the INSPIRE Leads Professor David Parkinson (Medicine) and Dr Vehid Salih (Dentistry) with many thanks to Leon Thompson from the UoP Events Team.