International Ccongress of Medical Sciences (ICMS) – Bulgaria (AMSB)

Name of the activity: International Ccongress of Medical Sciences (ICMS)

Country/NMO: Bulgaria (AMSB)

Program: Medical Education Systems

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Capacity Building

General description:

The International Congress of Medical Sciences (ICMS) aims to promote research and critical and problem-solving thinking among the students and the young doctors. Every year through different hands-on workshops and keynote lectures given by the most well-known scientists in the world, ICMS contributes to the improvement of the knowledge and the skills of the young scientists. Last year ICMS had more than 700 participants from more than 60 countries that were able to hear about the latest scientific breakthroughs from 5 keynote speakers and have the chance to choose from more than 60 workshops.

Focus area:

Students’ involvement in medical education | Non-formal/informal education

Problem statement:

The International Congress of Medical Sciences (ICMS) aims to promote research and critical and problem-solving thinking among the students and the young doctors. The main problem we are targeting is the lack of practical lessons and the lack of possibilities for the young researchers or researchers-wanna-be to present their scientific work and to get motivated and inspired to pursue a PhD career alongside with the medical one. Throughout the congress itself the young scientists have the possibility to develop their practical skills through a variety of workshops, to present their scientific work and get a feedback and evaluation from jury members experienced in the field and to further develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

The target group of the project are biomedical students and young doctors.

Objectives and indicators of success:

1. Increase the engagement of students in research. Indicators: number of active participants, number of students involved in research projects in the university
2. Improvement of the practical skills of the participants. Indicators: feedback from the participants and the tutors of the workshops, participants report more confidence to work in a hospital setting
3. Gain experience valuable to a career in research. Indicators: participants feel more confident about abstract writing, participants report more confidence to work in a lab setting

Methodology:

The objectives are achieved through a diversity of workshops during the days of the congress, as well as workshops before the congress itself that aim to equip the students with the knowledge and the skills to do scientific writing, as well as basic lab skills. ICMS gives the students the opportunity to present their work afterwards and gain confidence and experience in order to improve their presentation skills and participate in other conferences. Furthermore, the certificates that both participants and tutors receive can be used by them to require financial and logistical support from the university and other institutions to continue working in science.

Plans for evaluation:

The impact of the activity is evaluated through a feedback form sent to the participants after each edition of ICMS which enables the Organizing Committee to improve it year after year and to include innovations and new ideas in the next editions. We also measure the number of active participants throughout the years taking into account those who are from the Medical University of Sofia.