All UK medical schools are required to have at least one outreach scheme that widens access to medicine. However, the programmes offered by each university are variable and the majority of schemes are specific to applying to medical school in your local area. We want anyone with the ability and desire to study medicine to have the opportunity to go to any medical school without barriers. However, widening participation is not restricted to gaining a place at university. Once studying at medical school, barriers are still faced by students from underrepresented groups in comparison to their peers. We want to support medical students to overcome these barriers, but we need your help to identify specific issues. As you identify issues, we will help you to reach a solution with your medical school and nationally.

What will the role of WPMN Medical School Representative involve?
• Engaging with medical students from a widening participation background at your university to identify ways to improve their university experience. You will work with members of the WPMN national committee to contact relevant people within the medical school to make these changes happen.
• Representing the views of students from a widening participation background from your medical school at the national WPMN meetings. This information will be used by WPMN to advocate for national resources and changes.
• Liaising with your Medical School’s outreach team to reach out to aspiring medical students who would benefit from WPMN’s support and resources. This will include contacting local sixth forms and colleges to share the work of WPMN and feeding back to our Communications Officer in order to grow the Network.
• Contributing to the website in the forums by sharing your advice and experience. If you are interested in developing videos/webinars or other resources we are keen to hear your ideas!
• Sharing WPMN blog posts and events on your Medsoc page
• Time commitment of 1 hour per week plus an additional hour each month to attend the national committee meeting

Which skills do I need as a WPMN Medical School Representative?
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Organisation
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
- Leadership

What will I gain from being a WPMN Medical School Representative?
• The opportunity to make meaningful local and national changes to improve the experience of medical students from widening participation backgrounds and help aspiring medicine students enter the profession.
• The ability to network, work with and learn from colleagues in the fields of medical education and widening participation
• Local, regional and potentially national leadership experience
• Portfolio certificate and letter of recognition at the end of the role

Who is eligible to apply?
All current medical students from the following medical schools:
• Aston
• Cambridge
• St Andrews
 
This role will run until 1st October 2021 and you will have the opportunity to re-apply at the end of the year if you would like to. It is a new role which will be evolving as our community grows. You can find out more about the work of WPMN using the link below:

https://wpmedicsnetwork.wixsite.com/website

If you any questions, please email: WPMedicsNetwork@gmail.com