INSPIRE

These are half day visits to a research provider’s lab or group to see and hear first-hand from clinical academics and other researchers about what they do and why. Research Taster Days are offered across a large range of topic areas in Exeter, Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth Medical Schools. These are advertised in October/November, students apply for their chosen Taster Day and then visit the research groups usually on a Wednesday afternoon sometime between late November and the end of January. The costs of travel to other medical schools, or between Truro and Exeter, can be reimbursed on submission of receipts.

Examples of recent Taster Days held at the University of Exeter include:

• Primary care research in the Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx)
• Research in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research Collaboration (ChYMe)
• Clinical research in diabetes and related long-term conditions in the Clinical Diabetes Research Group
• Research in Digital rehabilitation within the Interdisciplinary Translational Rehabilitation Research Centre (INTERSECT)
• Research in the School for Public Health Environments Research at Exeter (SPHERE)
• Clinical Mycology Research within the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
• Research in the Children’s Health and Exercise and Research Centre (CHERC)
• Research in the Ageing and long-term conditions, Genetics and Epidemiology (AGE) Research Group
• Research undertaken at the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre (MGNC)
• Research undertaken as part of the Genetics and Genomics theme within the Exeter Biomedical Research Centre (Exeter BRC)

Attending a Taster Day is a good way to make links with potential research supervisors that could support you in applying for a funded research studentship (see below) later in the year to gain further research experience.

INSPIRE summer research studentships are open to medical students from their first until penultimate year of study. These provide funding to work with research teams, with awards selected by a local panel including previous student studentship holders on the basis of an application form covering:

• a description of plans for the research studentship;
• details of student’s experience of research to date and how the studentship will support their career plans; and
• a statement from the research supervisor/host, outlining how the student will be involved and supervised, and confirming their agreement to host the student.

Our 2025 INSPIRE summer studentship scheme is now open for applications.

• Exeter medical students in Years 1-4 are invited to apply to work with research teams locally or at other universities over the summer.
• Download the application form here and see info document here for further details.
• Develop your application with a supervisor and submit by 9am Tuesday 22nd April 2025 to: UEMS-adminsupport@exeter.ac.uk. Applications will then be considered by a panel of academics and students previously awarded INSPIRE studentships.
• The studentships offer funding of £1000 for projects in Exeter, or £1250 for projects based elsewhere (to cover expenses), to provide a living wage salary for up to 4 weeks full-time or on a part-time/ad hoc basis for up to 140 hours as agreed with supervisors, so the projects need to be achievable within this timeframe (though you are welcome to continue working with the teams beyond that if you wish!). 
• The studentships can follow on from INSPIRE Taster Days you may have attended or research-focussed SSUs you may have undertaken, and although you don’t need to link to these you will need to make contact with research teams ASAP if you haven’t previously discussed with a supervisor. 
• Supervisors may be able to link you in with work on existing projects, help you come up with ideas in their areas of research and can support you with the application - just make sure to allow time for the supervisor to complete their section of the form.

Funding opportunities for other studentships/internships to work in specific areas of research are also available and will be advertised as they arise, for example:

• Research studentships in the University of Exeter Centre for Medical Mycology, contact mrccmm@exeter.ac.uk for details.
• Undergraduate internships offered through the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, including in the Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) - more info here. 
• Internships offered within the research themes of the Exeter Biomedical Research Centre - more info here.
• University Access to Internships (A2I) may also be available to work with research teams for students who meet widening participation criteria - more info here. 

See also further research related opportunities, prizes and funding that may be offered, for example through Royal Colleges or other professional organisations, that are advertised on the UEMS student opportunities webpages.

Mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience in relation to work, career or professional development (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less experience (the mentee). If you are interested in a career that incorporates research and would benefit from a mentor we may be able to help you identify a local clinical academic in a relevant field. Please email Jane Smith (jane.smith@exeter.ac.uk) providing some information on who you are, your stage of training, clinical area of interest, any research interests and experience and what you would hope to get out of mentorship.

Cardiff 2023

The first in-person INSPIRE research conference since the pandemic, attended by nearly 130 students from across the GW4 universities and beyond, was held in Cardiff on 18th November 2023. Over 30 students from Exeter got on a coach at 7am on the Saturday morning to attend, many presented posters, and Courtney West won the Jo Tarr Memorial prize for the best oral presentation. A 12-strong team of Exeter students also narrowly defeated runners-up Plymouth to win the prize for their presentation addressing a Hackathon challenge (see below).

A report and pictures from the conference, including a piece on the Exeter Hackathon team can be seen in the Winter 2023-24 issue of the INSPIRE journal here.

Plymouth 2024

On Saturday 23^rd November 2024, over 50 Exeter students made their way to Plymouth for the INSPIRE conference, despite a blustery early start on the coach from Exeter and travel problems from Cornwall amidst Storm Bert. Exeter was really well-represented amongst the 150+students attending from the four main Universities involved.

Out of eight oral presentations, three were by Exeter students (Agung Bate, Sareena Khan and Katie Aries), with particular congratulations to Agung for being awarded the runners up prize for his presentation. Another two oral presentations were by students from Plymouth (Cameron) and Cardiff (Nada) who had undertaken INSPIRE summer studentships with Exeter research teams, with Nada from Cardiff winning the prize for best oral presentation given in memory of Exeter’s founding INSPIRE lead Jo Tarr.

Eighteen of around 40 poster presentations were also from Exeter students, with special mention to Mason Hook for his runners up poster prize, Rhys David for his three posters and first year Aanya Gaur for managing to get a poster there despite battling printing problems, delivery failures due to snow and the wind and rain almost destroying the stand in poster on the day! It was also great to see several other first years attending and/or engaging with the Hackathon led by Ethan Pritchard, Rose Simpson and Shloka Doshi presenting on the day. They gave a great pitch and were unlucky not to win but it was always going to be a tall order to get the audience vote 2 years in a row!. Well done to all who gave oral presentations, prepared and presented posters, participated in the Hackathon team and attended, doing the University proud!

A write up about the conference by Exeter students Victoria Bak and Shloka Doshi and featuring photos of some of the Exeter Hackathon team and posters can be seen in the Winter 2024-25 issue of the INSPIRE Journal here.

Hackathon 2023

An INSPIRE big data Hackathon challenge addressing a One Health problem ran for the first time between October and November 2023. Teams from each of the four universities involved in the GW4 INSPIRE programme signed up to work on the challenge in the month leading up to the INSPIRE conference and, led by some of our previous and current intercalating medical students undertaking a MSc in Data Science, prepared a prize-winning presentation at the conference.

Hackathon 2024

The 2024 INSPIRE Hackathon focussed on developing innovative solutions for tackling mental ill-health amongst healthcare professionals, such as highlighted in reports from the British Medical, Dental and Veterinary Associations. A team of seven Exeter medical students across Years 1-3 worked on the problem over pizza and refreshments on Saturday 9^th November and prepared a presentation to give at the INSPIRE conference (see above), outlining the issues, offering practical but innovative solutions and suggesting strategies for implementing their ideas.

Learn 2 Innovate is a student healthcare innovation programme run by Cardiff University that aims to encourage students to participate in health innovation through a series of workshops, mentorship and a cross-university collaborative innovation task. The goal is to inspire and support students to become future innovators in healthcare. Further details are available here. 

The INSPIRE Journal is produced by a team of student editors from across the four GW4 universities and includes articles written and chosen by students, ranging from news articles and interviews to original student research reports. The current and previous issues of the journal are available here. Have a look at articles by Exeter students Lucas Gadaleta on Type 1 diabetes, Duvindi Kularatne on COVID-19 and Laura Munn on art completed as part of her Medical Humanities SSU, as well as a write up of the recent INSPIRE conference by Victoria Bak and Shloka Doshi (see above), featured in the Winter 2024 issue.

Exeter students have joined medical, dental and veterinary students from across the GW4 INSPIRE Universities to serve as editors and reviewers for the INSPIRE Journal, gaining insight into the publication process and developing skills related to academic writing, peer review, team working and working to tight deadlines. Some have also got involved in website development, social media promotion and producing blogs and podcasts on featured articles. Opportunities to get involved will be advertised on the journal website and circulated to Exeter students when they arise, or enquire at inspirestudentjournal@gmail.com.