BSMS BrightMed initiative takes top prize at NEON Awards
By: Sean Armstrong
Last updated: Friday, 10 May 2019
Darren Beaney (middle) and Sam Wickham (left) from BSMS collected the NEON award. The awards were hosted by MP Gordon Marsden (right), Shadow Minister for Higher Education, FE and Skills.
The BSMS widening participation programme BrightMed has been awarded the Widening Access Initiative (Outreach) award at the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) awards.
The sixth annual NEON Awards, which celebrate the successes and accomplishments of staff and students for widening access to higher education and enabling social mobility, were hosted by MP Gordon Marsden, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, FE and Skills at the Palace of Westminster on Thursday 2 May 2019.
BrightMed approaches students in state schools within Sussex to take part in the initiative during the spring term of each academic year. The initiative makes these young people aware of potential careers in medicine and gives them the opportunity to build the confidence and develop the skills they need before applying to study medicine, enabling them to submit strong applications to medical schools throughout the UK.
Commenting on the award, Darren Beaney, Head of Admissions at BSMS, said: “Winning this award is testament to BSMS’s commitment to widening access into medicine. The medical school has been leading the way on activity to increase social mobility since 2006 and I hope that we will continue to do so for many years to come.”
Sam Wickham, Widening Participation, Outreach and Recruitment Officer, who also attended the awards ceremony, said: “BrightMed delivers fun, inspiring and interactive teaching focused on medicine, health and science which aims to encourage young people from non-traditional backgrounds to consider a career in medicine. It is a fantastically rewarding programme to be involved in and it is almost exclusively delivered by current BSMS medical students. I’m both proud and humbled to receive this award on behalf of all those incredible student teaching mentors and our BrightMed participants.”
Professor Malcolm Reed, Dean at BSMS, added: “This award recognises the hard work of Darren, Sam and Charlotte Smyrk in our Widening Participation team. We are proud of the team’s extensive activity in supporting under-represented groups to access the medical profession, and it is great to see our BrightMed initiative get the recognition it deserves in this year’s awards.”