Dr Jenny Moffett, educationalist at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been shortlisted for the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year award in the 2024 Times Higher Education Awards.

Dr Moffett, based in RCSI’s Health Professions Education Centre, was shortlisted for her work to co-develop a digital educational escape room with RCSI students to address a critical lack of uncertainty management training in medical education. 

Dr Moffett engaged medical students in a design-thinking process that facilitated deep understanding of clinical students’ experiences. Together, they created an online “maker space” that established a safe, inclusive environment for both staff and students. The team developed the The Hidden Hospital, a spooky, immersive puzzle game that supports learning around complexity, ambiguity and unpredictability, transcending learners’ demographic, socio-cultural, and neurodiverse differences.

The majority of game-players (82%) reported that the escape room has boosted their learning around uncertainty and 94% would recommend the game to others.

The project secured funding from the Irish Medical Council and Irish Network of Healthcare Educators (INHED), as well as the RCSI StEP (Student Engagement and Partnership) initiative.

Professor Tracy Robson, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, RCSI said: “On behalf of the RCSI community, I extend my sincere congratulations to Dr Moffett on this shortlisting. Research has established that medical students need to develop uncertainty management skills, but there is little evidence on how best to do this. This issue is particularly pressing for RCSI where, each year, over 500 medical students originating from more than 70 countries transition from the classroom into diverse clinical placements. Dr Moffett’s pioneering approach reflects RCSI’s ambition to equip our students to thrive in complex clinical and scientific settings across the world.”

Celebrating excellence

Widely known as the ‘Oscars of higher education’, the annual THE Awards celebrate excellence across a wide range of university activity including leadership and management, administration, and academia. 

THE editor John Gill said: “This year’s THE Awards mark the 20th anniversary of the event, which over the last two decades has celebrated the wonderful achievements of a sector that has undergone extraordinary transformation without ever losing sight of the vital role it plays across the UK and Ireland. In 2024 it’s fair to say that higher education is going through a challenging period, but these awards are a constant reminder that we should never underestimate the dedication and drive of those who work in our universities to transforming lives for the better.

“Enthusiasm for these awards as a way to celebrate those achievements remains undimmed, with more entries in our 20th year than ever before. Our sincere congratulations to all those shortlisted in such a competitive year – it really is an achievement to have reached this stage, and we very much look forward to celebrating with you all at our 20th birthday party in Birmingham on 28 November.”

Dr Jenny Moffett is Programme Director for RCSI’s Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions’ Education. Her work has earned the 2021 INHED Research Presentation Award, and the 2023 John Kelly Award for Universal Design for Learning. 

RCSI’s Health Professions Education Centre (HPEC) provides healthcare professionals with a wide range of teaching, learning and educational research opportunities, from formal qualifications to in-house training sessions. The centre also helps RCSI educators generate new knowledge about health professions education and focuses on bringing this to an international audience through educational research.