Dr Pedro Elston (he/him)

Profile

Pedro has been with Queen Mary since 2021, and holds a PhD in Skeletal Biochemistry, with an extensive background in medical education. He currently is the head of the Learning Innovation Team, responsible for curriculum development and use of technology in education, and chairs the Medical Schools Council's Digital Education Group.

He is currently responsible for delivering the UK's first blended medical programme in partnership with NHS England, developing the use of augmented and virtual realities in medical education, and providing leadership to the university on technology in education.

Teaching

Pedro currently delivers educational sessions on his areas of scientific expertise across the Physician Associates and MBBS programmes, as well as acting as a Problem Based Learning tutor, and academic supervisor. He is currently open to PhD opportunities.

He is also an external examiner for the University of East Anglia's MBBS programme, and the Health Sciences with Foundation Year course at Nottingham University.

Research

Research Interests:

Pedro is collaborating with Lancaster university on the causes of poor mineralisation in humans which leads to life-altering conditions such as osteoporosis. His PhD work focused on the chemical composition of bone material, including post-translational modifications of collagen in healthy bone tissues, and its impact on mechanical strength.

He is interested in the development of new technologies and their role in the rapidly changing education landscape, such as virtual and augmented reality, hybrid and blended learning, the increasing role of well-designed asynchronous resource, and the humanisation of online learning.

 

Publications

Publications

Elston, P., Canale, G. P., Ail, G., Fisher, N., & Mahendran, M. (2023). Twelve tips for teaching in virtual reality. Medical Teacher, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2285396 

Higher Education England and the Australian Medical Council et al, 2022. Building a Digitally Capable Medical Workforce - Digital Health Literacy and AI Literacy for Medical Practitioners. https://tinyurl.com/debe4kvv 

Higher Education England and the Australian Medical Council et al, 2022. Levers of Change – Maximising Integration and Uptake of Digital Health in Medical Education and Medical Practice. https://tinyurl.com/4ec7uvua 

Elston, P., 2022. ‘Hybrid’ Learning in Medical Schools: A report from the MSC Digital Education Group. Medical Schools Council. https://www.medschools.ac.uk/our-work/education 

Elston, P., 2022. Attributes of a Successful Learning Technologist: Why Empathy and Initiative are Desirable Skills for eLearning. Association for Learning Technology. https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2022/09/attributes-of-a-successful-learning-technologist/ 

Elston, P., Churchwell, J., Goodship A., Kerns, J.G., Birch H., (2016). The Relationship between Mineral to Collagen Ratio, Ultrastructure and Mechanical Properties: Differences within a Single Species. Orthopaedic Proceedings, Vol. 98-B. 

Speaking

• Co-creation for Blended Learning (2023, Technology CoP day) 
• Use of Virtual Reality (2023, NHS England Blended Learning Conference) 
• Blended Learning (2023, Australia Health Professions Education Standing Group) 
• Augmented Realities (2022, Medical Schools Council) 
• Digital Education – Hybrid Learning (2022, Medical Schools Council) 
• Technology in Medical Education Keynote (2022, York & Humber GPs) 
• Digital Education (2021, Queen Mary UoL) 
• The Impact of Attendance on Attainment (2019, St George’s UoL) 
• Raman Spectroscopy in Research (2018, Lancaster university) 
• British Orthopaedic Research Society (2015, 17, 18) 
• Infrared and Raman Discussion Group (2015, 16, 17) 

Poster Presentations

ASME 2023 - C.S. Chan, F. Freer, G. Ail. J. Leeney J.Broad M. Jones, G.P. Canale, P. Elston, P. Vickerton. Out with The Old, In With The New? Virtual Reality vs. Cadaveric Based Teaching Materials for Anatomy Education.  

Funding

Year	Award	Amount	Results to date
2023	CODE: Evaluation of Blended Learning in Medicine	£5,000	Project not yet started
2023	QMUL President and Principal’s Fund: Skill-based Education in Virtual Reality	£20,000	Project outline set & external company engaged
2023	QMUL President and Principal’s Fund: Role of AI in Education	£10,000	Internal website co-created with students launched for QMUL
2022	QMUL Westfield Fund: Introducing VR teaching to MBBS	£10,000	Anatomy and mental wellbeing sessions reaching over 500 students. Two papers in submission, one paper accepted, one presentation.
2022	ASME: Post-covid Benefits in Education Practice	£20,000	Paper to be submitted
2021	NHS England: Blended Learning Project	£250,000	Course has launched 2023, evaluation due August ’24.
2018	Lancaster University: Career Bridging for Exceptional Scientists	£15,000	Successful supervision of two masters students