Editorial: Welcome to our back-to-school issue

Physiology News is your magazine, here to showcase your voices. We want you, our members, to be involved in shaping and contributing to this magazine. Maybe you’d like to share how you won your first grant? Wish to showcase your facility or department? Tell us about your typical day working in your discipline/field, or possibly overcoming epic fails in the lab? Please do share any suggestions or your story ideas with the Physiology News Advisory Group at comms@physoc.org.

Alanna Orpen

In anticipation of the start of the new academic year, here’s our back-to-school issue. Packed with useful insights, tips and advice from educators as they share their experiences of new activities and approaches they’ve tested that you can adopt into your own teaching style. We hope it is an aid for this year and beyond. May it also encourage anyone considering a career in teaching and learning of the next steps to take in pursuit of your path.

The articles are all written by members of The Society, as well as the organisers and speakers of this year’s meeting, ‘Challenges and Solutions for Physiology Education’ held at the University of Bristol, UK.  “It was a fantastic two-day meeting that brought together educators from across the UK and beyond to share ideas, experiences, and innovations in teaching,” says Dr Alex Swainson, one of the meeting programme organisers. “The event aimed to create space for discussions around the opportunities and challenges that AI brings to higher education, strategies to help students transition to university life, and how we can plan and deliver authentic assessment and engaged learning,” summarises Dr Swainson. She adds, “The atmosphere was collaborative and energising, with 36 flash talks over the two days, each sharing innovative ideas, approaches, and reflections.”

“Some real highlights for me were the plenary lectures,” she says. “Dr Edd Pitt (University of Kent, UK) gave a thought-provoking talk on assessment and feedback in the age of AI, balancing the excitement of new tools with thoughtful pedagogy. Dr Emily Bell (University of Bristol, UK) explored how we can better support students’ sense of belonging and skill-building during the transition to university,” shares Dr Alex Swainson.

“In his inspiring Otto Hutter Prize Lecture, Professor Matthew Mason (University of Cambridge, UK) reflected on the dual role of being both a physiologist and an educator. As an early career academic, his insights into balancing active research with teaching – and how each can enrich the other – have given me much to think about since the conference. It really was a pleasure to meet and learn from others in the field.”

You can find out more about these topics and enjoy the insights of Dr Edd Pitt, Dr Emily Bell and Professor Matthew Mason by reading their feature articles.

We celebrate education focused careers in this special issue. Take inspiration from the stories of Professor Charlotte Haigh, Professor David Greensmith and Professor Louise Robson. They share what they consider the most rewarding part of being a physiology educator and advice for those seeking to pursue or progress in an educational pathway. There are more heartening and informative reads in the ‘Voice of the Editors’ columns by our journal Editors-in-Chiefs.

To boost your confidence with any hurdles you might be facing, help is at hand to guide you through teaching R coding (by Nadia L Cerminara, University of Bristol, UK), including interactive activities to boost student attendance and engagement (by Frankie MacMillan, University of Bristol, UK), and a step-by-step plan to design active learning that is tailored to your students’ needs (by Dr Clare Tweedy and Dr Alexandra Holmes, University of Leeds, UK). Professor Áine Kelly and Associate Professor Christopher Torrens explain why films are a useful and engaging teaching tool that can bring physiology to life for students.

If you’re wondering when the next Education and Teaching meeting will be, read the Meeting Preview by the organisers to find out the dates, details and overview of our 2026 meeting.

Enjoy the issue!