Dr Michael Daly, medical educator at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been shortlisted for the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year award in the 2022 Times Higher Education Awards.

Dr Daly was shortlisted for his innovative development of a novel wearable vest for simulated patients to simulate the clinical signs of actual patients with valvular heart disease

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students were prohibited from accessing clinical areas. Consequently, all learning experiences with actual patients were indefinitely cancelled. To mitigate this disruption, Dr Daly worked with the RCSI SIM Centre for Simulation Education and Research team to develop a novel wearable vest for simulated patients to simulate the clinical signs of actual patients with valvular heart disease and then paired these with scripted histories.

A programme of education, learning, and formative assessment in clinical cardiology using hybrid simulation was subsequently developed – the ASSIMILATE ExCELLENCE study.

Professor Hannah McGee, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, RCSI said: “On behalf of the RCSI community, I extend my sincere congratulation to Dr Daly on this shortlisting. Minimising the impact of COVID-19 on our students’ education was at the centre of our response to the pandemic. Across the university, we saw incredible examples of innovation and collaboration aimed at bringing our students one year closer to graduation. Dr Daly’s innovation has contributed significantly to medical students’ learning, competence, and confidence in their ability as future doctors, despite the restrictions of the global pandemic. On behalf of the RCSI community, I extend my sincere congratulations to Dr Daly on this shortlisting.”

Founded as the national training body for surgery in Ireland, RCSI has been at the forefront of healthcare education and research since 1784. Today, RCSI is an innovative, world-leading international health sciences university and the professional training body for surgery in Ireland. The University’s pioneering approach to education equips students to thrive in complex clinical settings across the world.

Widely known as the 'Oscars of higher education', the annual THE awards celebrate excellence across a wide range of university activity across leadership and management, administration, and academia. This is just the second year that Irish institutions were eligible to enter.

THE editor John Gill said: “This is the 18th year that the THE Awards will celebrate the best that UK higher education has to offer, across 20 categories covering all aspects of university activity. Once again, the shortlists reflect universities doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times, during the 2020-21 academic year, when the pandemic continued to force higher education and all who work in it to respond to an unprecedented challenge.

"That universities did so with alacrity and creativity is clear from the truly exceptional stories told in the awards submissions, and we had over 550 in all – among the highest number ever. All of us at THE are looking forward to celebrating with those shortlisted when we get together for the ‘Oscars of higher education’ in November.”