Medical Electives Scheme
RCPath/Specialist Society Medical Elective small grant scheme
The RCPath/Specialist Society Medical Elective small grant scheme was a new scheme launched to mark the College’s Diamond Jubilee in 2022.
The scheme is joint funded by RCPath and partner Societies from the different disciplines and will offer small grants of value up to £1,000, to help support undergraduate medical and veterinary students who wish to undertake electives in pathology disciplines.
Electives may be clinical or research-based and may be undertaken in any part of the world.
A minimum of £500 must be used for student travel and subsistence with the remaining amount being spent flexibly for project-related costs such as consumables, or for student costs, as appropriate for the project.
Six awards will be made annually:
RCPath/Association for Clinical Biochemistry elective award: to support an elective relevant to clinical biochemistry
RCPath/ British Society for Haematology elective award: to support an elective relevant to haematology
RCPath/British Society for Immunology elective award: to support an elective relevant to immunology
RCPath/ British Society for Veterinary Pathology elective award: to support an elective for a veterinary student, in any pathology discipline
RCPath/Microbiology Society* elective award: to support an elective relevant to infection, microbiology, or virology
RCPath/Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland* elective award: to support an elective relevant to cellular pathology
*In these schemes, the partner Society can assist you in finding a short research project and project supervisor, if you so wish. If you would like to take this up, please email [email protected] to discuss further, at least 2 months before the application deadline.
Applications for this year's RCPath/Specialist Society Medical Elective small grant scheme are now closed.
When the application timeframe opens, please apply by completing the webform on this page, indicating which award you are applying for, and submitting the documents requested to [email protected].
Previous RCPath/Specialist Society Medical Elective small grant scheme recipient's experiences
Lucie Williamson – Forensic Pathology Elective at the University of Glasgow
How did you feel about winning the RCPath and the Pathological Society Medical Elective small grant scheme?
I was very honoured and proud to have received the RCPath and the Pathological Society Medical Elective small grant scheme bursary. The combined support assisted me to undertake a 6-week elective observing forensic pathologists in the University of Glasgow.
I was fortunate to also have been offered an elective shadowing the coroner in my local area, Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, but the bursary enabled me to travel further afield to gain wider experience. This proved to be invaluable, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.
What made you decide to do an elective in cellular pathology?
Prior to medical school I have always been interested in becoming a forensic pathologist and throughout my medical school journey I have taken part in events that will help me achieve this goal. I have attended a seminar by a retired forensic pathologist to gain a greater understanding of what this career entailed. During my first year of university, I attended the Royal College of Pathologists' summer school. The summer school provided me with the knowledge of the pathway involved to pursue this career. I was fortunate enough to regularly shadow a consultant histopathologist during my second year of medical school. I learnt how tissue samples were dissected, interpretation of cell slides under microscopes and watched hospital post mortems. All this has confirmed that this is the route I am keen to go down.
I attended the presentations by forensic pathologists at the Royal College of Pathologists Summer Meeting 2023. From the insight provided by these talks I had questions of my own about the future of forensic pathology which could only be answered by the pathologists whom I would meet on my elective.
What do you hope to do in the future?
As mentioned in my report, I will be entering The British Association in Forensic Medicine Undergraduate Prize on ‘Injury Patterns of Road Traffic Fatalities in Car Occupants in Glasgow in 2022: An Autopsy Based Report’. This could hopefully provide the opportunity to be published for future development with my career path.
I have also signed up for the PathSoc Undergraduate Mentorship Programme. This programme provides a mentor who can provide advice, guidance and requirements, to enable me to achieve a career in pathology.
Read Lucie's full report:
Murray Burns, Mina Lee and Michael K. Ghebremariam – Quantifying Tissue Shrinkage Throughout Histological Processing for Cutaneous, Parenchymal and Luminal Tissues
How did you feel about winning the RCPath and the Pathological Society Medical Elective small grant scheme?
It was very exciting to have won the small grant scheme funding. This gave us certainty we would be able to complete our research while also having financial support throughout the period of our project.
What made you decide to do an elective in veterinary pathology?
I really enjoyed learning about anatomy during my pre-clinical years, which then translated into enjoying learning about anatomic pathology. After my second year of veterinary school, I did an anatomic pathology placement at the University post-mortem facility, which I really enjoyed. This helped me gain a much greater appreciation for the pathogenesis of disease, which now helps me a lot with my understanding of diagnostic imaging and treatments for diseases. Because of these experiences, when the opportunity came for a project in veterinary pathology came up, I was very keen to get involved.
I have also been broadly interested in research for a long time and felt that doing a project while still at university would help me get involved in future research projects after I graduate.
What do you hope to do in the future?
Our initial hopes are to send our full research paper for peer review and then to publish it. Beyond this, my hopes are to work as a vet in general practice initially after I graduate. I am very interested in applying for specialist training later in my career and getting further involved in veterinary research. I am sure this research project has provided me skills that will help in these goals.
Read the full report: