Building Adventure into Medical Education - High Altitude Research Expedition

Conference Vault, Mountain Medicine
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Recorded live at the World Extreme Medicine Conference 2023, this session features Andrew Darby-Smith, who shares how he developed a university-recognised high-altitude research expedition to Morocco as part of a remote medicine BSc.

With deep insight into medical education, risk management, and curriculum design, Andrew explores how adventure can be purposefully embedded into formal training – not as a novelty, but as a powerful tool for shaping better clinicians.

He walks us through the entire process of designing a safe, research-driven expedition from scratch, and how this hands-on experience helped students grow in resilience, leadership, and clinical confidence.

Originally presented at WEM23.


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More Information

Length: 58m

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  1. Understand how adventure-based learning supports core medical education outcomes

  2. Identify the challenges and strategies involved in designing a student research expedition

  3. Recognise how to integrate experiential learning into formal university curricula

  4. Evaluate the value of high-altitude environments for research and leadership development

  5. Appreciate the broader impact of adventure training on personal growth and career direction

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