Abstract:

Student co-creation of learning in higher education (HE) is widely recognised as a valuable approach, fostering a more inclusive and collaborative learning environment for all stakeholders. Identified benefits include enhanced learning experiences and outcomes for students, the promotion of inclusivity, recognition of diverse perspectives, and ensuring that students’ voices are heard (Carle et. al, 2021). This case study focuses on the co-creation of an inaugural Inter-professional (IPL) Conference for healthcare students, where learners were full partners in the development and delivery of the event during September 2025 at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK). It is widely recognised that inter-professional collaboration is fundamental to effective and safe healthcare delivery in the modern UK healthcare system. National healthcare policy (NHS England 2019) emphasises integrated care and teamwork as critical to meeting the needs of complex patient populations, consequently it is important that learners are engaged in inter-professional activity at an early stage of their educational journey, so that they develop into fully collaborative registered practitioners.

Students from the Allied Health Professions, Nursing, Medicine, Veterinary Science, Dentistry and Dental Therapy were co-opted to plan and develop the conference aims, content and delivery model alongside faculty members. During this process, students were seen as equals, where faculty and students learned from each other by working together to create an environment where students flourish and learning is enhanced. Regular planning sessions were established on days and times which were mutually convenient for both students and faculty to meet, and these were well attended. Collaborative decisions were made regarding the conference sessions focussing on areas of learner interest. These included a key note debate from experts on the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence (AI) use followed by audience questions; a virtual reality bomb disposal activity which promoted critical thinking, a session on the ethics of AI chatbots, cognitive bias within healthcare and education, student proffered papers, and a session on belonging. As this conference was a new event, a collaborative decision was made to undertake a full evaluation using survey and focus group methodologies. Ethical approval was sought and granted to explore the impact of this co-created IPL conference on the student experience. Research results highlight that the IPL Conference had a significant, multi-level impact on the student experience, clearly aligning with the University of Liverpool Curriculum Framework’s values of inclusivity, active learning, and research-connected teaching. The primary aim of this work was to provide students with an enjoyable, engaging and useful experience of IPL and the evaluation data from our survey demonstrated good impact in relation to this with 93% of respondents enjoying the conference, 98% finding the activities engaging and interesting, 77% felt they learned more about other professional roles, and 70% expressed interest in more IPL activities. Qualitative data triangulated well with these findings with students emphasising the engagement and fun aspects to the IPL Conference. The ambition is to transfer key learning from this co-created event across to other areas of faculty activity.

Keywords:

Student co-creation, inter-professional learning.