The role of student social capital in opportunity gaps and awarding gaps in healthcare education

About the Project

Social capital in educational settings often refers to the network of relationships and shared norms between groups of students which can lead to positive educational outcomes. For example, high social capital can allow individuals to access support, information, and collaboration opportunities, ultimately enhancing their learning. In healthcare educational settings a large proportion of learning is practical, collaborative and often involves interprofessional learning. This may lead to healthcare students needing to employ higher levels of social capital to maximise the utility of learning opportunities available.

Social capital may also influence the way that healthcare students (from a range of backgrounds) approach interprofessional learning sessions, interactive simulation session and role-play communications sessions. The impact that social capital may play in these learning scenarios is unclear, and the extent to which it may influence student outcomes is unknown. Furthermore, healthcare programmes often use flipped learning pedagogy, problem-based learning, which require high levels of social learning which may be challenging for students with lower social capital. Equally social learning opportunities may be influenced by social exclusion, personality types and other factors and therefore, a critical approach is required.

A PhD student working in this area may choose to take a critical approach to investigating the role of social capital in any of the following areas (including their outcomes):

1. Interprofessional learning opportunities between groups of healthcare students
2. Flipped learning curricular (particularly problem-based learning) in healthcare education
3. Simulation and skills-based learning; (4) work-based learning (placements) or
4. Informal opportunities students use to preparation for assessments.

Supervisory team

• Director of Studies: Professor Rebecca Stack
• Supervisors: Professor Sandra Nicholson
• Research Group: Health Professions Education and Practice

Application Process

To begin the application process please go to: https://www.worc.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/applying-for-a-phd/.

The Interview

All successful applicants will be offered an interview with the proposed Supervisory Team. You will be contacted by a member of the Doctoral School Team to find a suitable date. Interviews can be conducted in person or over Microsoft Teams.

Funding your PhD

For information about Doctoral Loans please visit: https://www.worc.ac.uk/study/fees-and-finance/doctoral-loans.aspx

During your PhD you can access the Research Conference Support Scheme to support the costs of presenting your research at an external conference.

For further information or an informal discussion on this project, please contact Professor Rebecca Stack r.stack@worc.ac.uk