From University and beyond: how MedRACE’s lived experience is shaping active bystander training

Travelling from London and Liverpool, we met in Birmingham full of excitement (and a few nerves!) for the day ahead. It was a brilliant opportunity to meet educators from across the UK who are all passionate about improving medical education. 

The day began with an inspiring symposium exploring what true inclusivity in education really looks like. It challenged us to think about whether we are genuinely creating inclusive learning environments and gave us plenty to reflect on before our own presentation.

Presenting our work was definitely the highlight of the day. It was incredibly rewarding to share how MedRACE has grown from supporting medical students to developing active bystander training shaped by the lived experiences of our alumni. 

What really stood out was the response from the audience. We had so many thoughtful questions and conversations afterwards, with people wanting to know more about how the training was developed, how it could be adapted for their own organisations and how they could get involved. Hearing that there is real interest in bringing this training to other institutions was a proud moment for both of us.

One of the biggest takeaways from the conference was that people are looking for educational approaches that feel authentic. For us, lived experience has always been at the heart of MedRACE, and seeing others recognise the value of that was incredibly encouraging.

We also had the chance to listen to some fantastic keynote speakers and learn from inspiring educational projects taking place across the country. We came away with new ideas, new connections and even more motivation to continue developing MedRACE's active bystander training.

Those conversations have also opened up some exciting possibilities for what comes next. We are exploring how the training could become a product that can be delivered on a larger scale, as well as opportunities to collaborate with other organisations. One particularly interesting conversation was with a Trust in the North of the UK that had experienced challenges implementing active bystander training and was interested in exploring a potential 'train the trainer' approach with MedRACE. 

A huge thank you to everyone who came to our presentation, asked questions and shared ideas with us. We are excited to see where these conversations lead and look forward to continuing to grow this work together.

September 2026