Extension Events
Extension Events
The Melbourne Academy of Clinical Educators (ACE) is committed to fostering excellence in clinical education through engaging events that bring together educators, clinicians and experts from across the health professions.
Melbourne ACE Extension Events are designed to support connection, collaboration and practical professional learning for clinical educators working across diverse healthcare settings. Sessions explore contemporary topics in clinical education and provide opportunities for participants to share experiences, ideas and approaches to teaching and supervision.
Recent events have explored areas including feedback in clinical environments, learner wellbeing, student placement experiences, rural health education, systems improvement in health professions education, interprofessional learning, and navigating challenging supervision scenarios. Upcoming events and recordings of previous sessions can be found below.
If there is a topic you would like to learn more about or explore through a future Extension Event, please contact Melbourne ACE at Melbourne-ACE@unimelb.edu.au
Upcoming Extension Events
Zoom Link to access online events*
|
Past Events (2026)
-
Tips from Experience: Helping Build Supervisor Confidence
Wednesday 29 April
About the Event
Building confidence in clinical supervision takes time, experience and reflection.
In this session, we will hear from experienced supervisors from across the Faculty as they share how they developed their confidence and capability in clinical supervision. Speakers will offer practical insights into supervising a range of learners, and discuss strategies for balancing supervision within busy clinical environments.
This session provides an opportunity to learn from peers, gain practical advice, and reflect on your own approach to supervision.
Speakers include:
- Ben Ross, School of Dentistry
- Stephen Lew, School of Medicine
- Kelley Graydon, School of Health Sciences
-
Breaking the Silence: Tackling student under-reporting of placement incidents
Tuesday 24th March
About the Event
This workshop will review the student-led report Silent or Silenced: Understanding Students’ Reluctance to Report Placement Incidents and co‑design how MDHS turns its recommendations into action.
MDHS co-sponsored a project with UoM Graduate Students Association (GSA) to further assess the extent to which students are not reporting placement incidents and explore factors that may be contributing this. Will Mc Henry, a 2025 final year student and member of both GSA and CESAR committees, led this work, and over 1400 students across the faculty responded to his survey.
The report found 3 in 4 students who experienced a placement incident did not report it. It also found, if they report at all, they are most likely to report to supervisors. With the new National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence enacted in January 2026, now is the time to ensure safe, supportive, and consistent processes for students to access support.
Participants will:
- Hear a concise summary of the report’s key findings and recommendations
- Reflect on the factors that contribute to under-reporting to inform the prioritisation of actions
- Provide structured feedback to shape actionable MDHS initiatives that aim to improve student incident reporting
This is an interactive, workshop-style session, designed to draw upon your expertise about the context in which students are learning on placement to develop actionable initiatives to support students to report incidents, and to help educators and supervisors to manage student disclosures in line with University practices
Read the full report via the University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association here
-
Providing Feedback to Students in a Clinical Environment
Tuesday 3rd February
About the Event
Effective feedback is a cornerstone of high-quality clinical education. This interactive seminar will explore how purposeful, timely feedback supports student learning and development in clinical settings.
Participants will:
- Understand the purpose and value of feedback in clinical education
- Explore different levels and types of feedback used in clinical environments
- Review practical models and tools commonly used to deliver effective feedback
This is an interactive, seminar-style session with limited capacity, designed to encourage discussion, reflection and shared learning among clinical educators.
Past Events (2025)
-
Clinical Supervision Tips: When Clinical Supervision Gets Tricky
Thursday 16th October
About the Event
This interactive panel presentation with Keira Venables, Deb Virtue and Cathy Brimblecombe explores the challenges that arise in clinical supervision and offer practical strategies to navigate them.
The panel of experienced supervisors shared their perspectives on managing tricky situations, supporting learners, and maintaining effective supervision relationships. -
ANZAHPE revisited at The University of Melbourne
Thursday 11th September
About the Event
This event showcased highlights from the annual ANZAHPE Conference, bringing the latest in health professions education scholarship back to the University of Melbourne community.
Presentations from MDHS and clinical school staff explored innovations in curriculum design, clinician-educator development, and interprofessional learning. ANZAHPE Revisited provides an opportunity to hear from colleagues at the forefront of education practice and research, and to connect with others committed to advancing health professions education.
-
Remove to Improve – Subtracting to Add Value in Health Professions Systems
Professor Tina Brock
Wednesday 6th August
About the Event
Tina Brock, Director of the Collaborative Practice Centre at the University of Melbourne, will lead this interactive session exploring how the concept of subtraction can enhance our work—whether in teaching, research, or administration.
-
Optimising the clinical learning environment: Practical Strategies to Support Wellbeing
Denise Ho, Thomas Connell, Meredith Oldis and Victoria Rayner
Tuesday 15th July
About the Event
This interactive workshop will explore practical strategies for supporting student well-being while on placement. Drawing on the findings of an interprofessional initiative related to placements in Mental Health (MH) and Alcohol, and Other Drug (AOD) Settings, the session explores the connection between wellbeing and student performance and showcases key University of Melbourne supports for students and educators alike.
About the Speakers
- Denise Ho - with an MBA and background in project management, has an interest in process improvements to enhance stakeholder experiences.
- Thomas Connell - Thomas is a mental health accredited social worker with broad practice experience across several fields and sectors.
- Meredith Oldis - Meredith is a Clinical Psychologist with broad experience working across a range of mental health and alcohol and drug settings.
- Vicky Rayner - Vicky has a background in both project management and research within the field of youth mental health.
-
Rural Health Clinical Education: Innovative Approaches for Engagement and Impact
Lauren Woodhart and Tara Case
Wednesday 7th May
About the Event
Clinical education in rural health settings presents unique challenges and opportunities, requiring innovative approaches that prioritise adaptability, interdisciplinary collaboration, and strong community engagement. In this session, Lauren and Tara will explore the current landscape of rural health clinical education, sharing research, practical tools, and theoretical frameworks that support the delivery of creative, high-quality, and responsive clinical education within rural health.
About the Speakers
- Lauren Woodhart: A physiotherapist by training, Lauren brings over two decades of expertise in rural health practice and clinical education. She is currently Lecturer in Interprofessional Rural Education in the Department of Rural Health at The University of Melbourne. As part of the Going Rural Health program, Lauren works collaboratively to develop and implement innovative models of allied health work integrated learning. Her work is grounded in her rural upbringing and a deep commitment to building capability, confidence, and sustainability within both the current and future rural health workforce.
- Tara Case: With over 20 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist across diverse clinical and educational settings, Tara is dedicated to exploring innovative educational approaches to improve rural health outcomes. As an Associate Lecturer in Interprofessional Rural Education with the Going Rural Health Team at The University of Melbourne's Department of Rural Health, she collaborates on the design and delivery of high-quality clinical education programs aimed at strengthening the capacity of the rural health workforce. Currently pursuing her PhD, Tara is conducting a cross-disciplinary study in North East Victoria, exploring the impact of emotion coaching interventions on children’s mental health outcomes in rural Australia.
-
Students on Student Placement Experiences: Perspectives, concerns and priorities for change
A/Prof Lisa Cheshire and Will McHenry (Graduate Student Association)
Wednesday 2nd April
About the Event
Join fellow clinical educators and academics to hear from a multidisciplinary student panel on student placement experiences. The panellists will share their experiences and perspectives on challenges and successes on placements, and their thoughts on how academic and clinical educators can enhance experiences. The panel will be co-chaired by Graduate Students Association (GSA) coursework representative, and final year Doctor of Medicine student, Will McHenry and A/Professor Lisa Cheshire.
Will McHenry is lead author of the 2024 GSA report ‘Placement: Student Perspectives, Concerns and Priorities for change’. Lisa is an academic with decades of experience supporting students to learn in the most challenging situations and is Academic Director for FMDHS Clinical Education Strategy and Risk, a role in which she leads a team that helps all courses approach their trickiest issues in clinical education.
About the Speakers
- A/Professor Lisa Cheshire currently the Academic Director for FMDHS Clinical Education Strategy and Risk academic leading the team that helps all courses with their trickiest issues in clinical education. She comes to this role after decades of experience supporting students to learn in the most challenging situations.
- Will McHenry is the GSA Course Work Rep and a final year MD student. Will authored the 2024 GSA report ‘Placement: Student Perspectives, Concerns and Priorities for change’.
- We will be joined by a panel of students in their final years, with representatives across all schools. You will hear first-hand, what makes a placement excellent, what are the challenges and what helped the students most in the moment.
-
Beyond See One, Do One: Cognitive Apprenticeship and Motivation in Clinical Education.
A/Prof Kayley Lyons and Professor Tina Brock with Dr Sam Corea
Thursday 6 March
About the Event
In this session, Kayley, Tina and Sam will share science and strategies to enhance student learning, build confidence, and foster motivation, leading to a more effective and engaging clinical education experience.
Join to explore the findings and stay afterward for refreshments and the opportunity to connect with fellow clinician educators.
About the Speakers
- Associate Professor Kayley Lyons is the Director of the Master of Public Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. She is a pharmacist who has experience in health systems administration. She was previously the Digital Health Education Lead at the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health.
- Professor Tina Brock is the Director of the Collaborative Practice Centre at The University of Melbourne. She is a pharmacist and educational activist with experience collaborating on systems projects in all six WHO regions. Tina studies the transformative power of teamwork to improve health.
- Dr Sam Corea is a 2024 graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Doctor of Physiotherapy program and is now a Clinician at Lifecare Croydon Sports Medicine.
-
Clinical Educator Careers and Identity Development: Insights from the GEM Scott Fellowship
Tuesday 4 February
About the Event
How are clinical educators developing their careers and expertise as educators?
What are clinical educators experiencing as enablers and barriers for satisfying and dynamic careers?
And what do clinical educators want to better develop their expertise, professional connections and careers?In this lecture the experiences, insights and interests of diverse clinician educators will be shared by A/Prof Caroline Johnson, Dr Wonie Uahwatanasakul and Dr Daniela Ramirez-Duran. Drawing upon the findings of a study that surveyed the voices of 328 clinician educators from diverse professions the speakers will describe the perceptions of clinicians who teach and clinical education as a career path.
At the event core findings on career and identity development of clinicians who teach will be shared. Join to explore the findings and stay afterward for refreshments and the opportunity to connect with fellow clinician educators.
Graduate Certificate of Clinical Education Scholarship
The event also celebrated the scholarship recipients for the Graduate Certificate of Clinical Education from across the Faculty.
Recipients
- Eliza Martin (Speech Pathology)
- Lauren Woodhart (Going Rural Health)
- Rosie Nicholson (Going Rural Health)
- Alexandra Walchhuetter (Audiology)
- Andrew Huhtanen (Optometry)
- Jen Bilionis (Nursing)
- Deb Virtue (Physiotherapy)
- Nicole Hill (Social Work)
- Ambiga Theivendradas (MTHC)
- Amy Thompson (Dentistry)
- Amber Stevanov (Oral Health)
- Kate Cooper (Medical School)
- Rosiland Norton (Medical School)
About the Speakers
- Associate Professor Caroline Johnson is the Director of Teaching and Learning in the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, and an educator with over 25 years of experience.
- Dr Wonie Uahwatanasakul is a paediatrician and the Director of Medical Education at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Wonie has a major interest in the mentoring and professional development of clinical educators
- Dr Daniela Ramirez-Duran is a psychologist and has worked with Caroline and Wonie as a researcher on this project as well as several other projects with the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, and the Faculty of Education at The University of Melbourne.
