£12.21 per hour + £1.47 holiday pay
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30 Jun 2025
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  • Medical School Summer Research Internship – Integrating AI Competencies in the Medical Curriculum

Role & Department Overview

Please note: these internships are only available to current undergraduate students in Lancaster University Medical School.

This internship is offered as part of an exciting pilot of research opportunities for Medical School undergraduate students (MBChBand SaES). Each internship will be supervised by an academic member of staff. These opportunities are designed to give students experience of contributing to university research. These internships would be ideal for students considering postgraduate study, intercalated degrees or specialised foundation programmes.

Project Summary:

This project seeks to employ an intern to undertake the initial aspects of a larger curriculum development project. Their role will be to review current AI (artificial intelligence) and data science teaching approaches used in medical schools across the UK, and synthesise these findings, to support the initial design of an AI-focused curriculum at Lancaster Medical School (LMS).

There are currently no specific GMC outcomes for graduates that give clarity on exactly what the expectation should be on medical schools to educate students on responsible AI use. Our project seeks to better understand what medical educators see as the priorities in this area.

This activity builds on recent curriculum review initiatives at LMS, where faculty members have identified the need to integrate AI, data science, and digital health competencies more formally. Preliminary discussions with local experts in Data Science, Philosophy, and Sociology have highlighted the complexity of AI ethics, algorithmic bias, and the potential for augmented healthcare delivery, all of which underscore the necessity for a dedicated, evidence-informed AI curriculum.

Interview date: TBC, early July after exams
Start Date: 21 July 2025
End Date: 29 August 2025
Working Pattern: Up to 20 hours per week
Duration:4 weeks (there is some flexibility over the summer vacation period)
Location: Work from home, the campus library, or use the hot desk space in Health Innovation One. Meetings with supervisor will be remote via Microsoft Teams.

Job Description

Major Duties:

·    The student will form part of the team who will undertake and support screening for data, data extraction and writing short synopses for relevant material that will form part of at least one published manuscript.

·    The student will develop understanding of the scoping review methodology. This will include writing skills, synthesising information from multiple sources into short concise summaries, as well as helping to write some of the findings into a manuscript, or part of a manuscript – depending on rate of progress across the course of their involvement.

·    The student will develop skills in information synthesis from diverse sources, including grey literature and survey data, critical appraisal of educational approaches and pedagogical frameworks, academic writing and report generation, time management and independent project planning, experience working in an interdisciplinary academic environment & being part of a project team, communication skills, engagement with themes of digital health, data science, and the ethics of AI in healthcare.

Person Specification

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

·       You must be a current student registered on BSc Sports and Exercise Science, MBChB Surgery, Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year and in Years 2-5 of study.

·      Strong interest in undertaking research. Previous research experience is not essential as support will be provided, but a willingness to learn is essential.

·      Basic Word and Excel proficiency.

·      The ability to perform a basic searching search engines such as “PubMed”, “Google Scholar” and other health related databases.

·      The ability to read and understand scientific articles and summarise them in a concise and simple manner.

Applicants should have good organisational skills, and academic experience in the following:

·              Attend supervisory meetings

·              Develop a plan of work

·              Devise search terms and complete literature review

·              Record and present findings clearly

·              Scope to develop written review


Please apply through ERS with:

  1. A CV including your education history and any work experience (maximum of two full pages) and,
  2. A cover letter that explains your interest in research, why you would like to be involved in this particular research internship, and how you meet the criteria outlined in the person specification.

For any informal information about this role please contact Dr Wesley Hutchinson ([email protected])

 

 

 

 

 

You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note: Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours, however hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

Apply

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.

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