Dr Eiman Abdel Meguid is a Senior Lecturer (Education) in the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, specialising in gross anatomy.  She is the Academic Lead for anatomy within Year 1 of the dental curriculum, Academic lead for MSK Unit 2 within Year 2 of the medical curriculum and Module Coordinator for two MSc modules. 

Eiman is a member of Queen's Racial Equity Champions Network, which was established at Queen’s to support the University in its work on the Race Equity Charter (REC) and is a councillor for the Queen's African Scholar Research Network and a member of the University's iRise (Queen’s BAME and International Staff Network) Executive Committee.

What does your role involve?

I joined Queen’s University Belfast in 2014 as a Senior Lecturer. I work at the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA and was honoured to receive the prestigious award of the Fellow of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It is a public recognition of achievements in research, education, and service in the anatomical sciences.

I teach anatomy to the UG and PG students. I have multiple pedagogical papers published in high-impact journals, several books and book chapters produced by well-known publishers. I enjoy my role as a reviewer for several high-ranking journals as well as my role as a member of the Editorial Board of BMC Medical Education and Ulster Medical Journal.

I am an internationally recognised educationalist. I have been elected as a member for the Education Affairs Committee of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA), which has members 700 from 30 countries, and was selected as the sole UK member to sit on the Ethics and Medical Humanities of the International Federation of Association of Anatomists (IFAA). The IFAA is the professional domicile of all Anatomy Associations around the globe. Engaging with the top professional organisations in my field, have enriched my knowledge.

I enjoy working with like-minded, deeply committed international researchers from different backgrounds. I have had the opportunity to work with great researchers from the UK, Australia, USA, China, and Ireland. They provided me with invaluable real-world experience. Since joining Queen’s University Belfast, I have eight first authored work leading international teams and producing high-quality publications. I was also an international Visiting Educator and Guest Speaker at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York in 2018 and 2019.

What does an average day look like for you?

Every day so far has been great. I have been fortunate to work with smart colleagues. My average day could vary depending on the time of the year.

During the academic year, I am very busy teaching and providing support to students and staff at Queen’s.

During the summertime, I supervise projects and prepare papers or books for publications.

I also enjoy presenting at international conferences three times a year. Recently, I have been recognised by the President of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA), receiving the prestigious Senior Faculty Award for the best presentation.

What is the best bit about your role?

The most rewarding and enjoyable aspect of my role is teaching and supporting students from diverse backgrounds. I love many aspects of my role, from what it enabled me to learn, to specific tasks I enjoy and some of the rewards I receive internationally. I feel enormous pleasure when a role I have been involved in makes a difference in students’ lives or when I assist a colleague to excel.

I work on stimulating my students to engage in learning and develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. I am always delighted to see the impact of my teaching on the career progression of my students.

One of the best bits about my role is the positive working relationship that I have with my colleagues and students. I am very focused on students’ success and what I can do to enable them to reach their full potential. I constantly work on developing my modules and assessments. I enjoy creating MSc projects topics that can have an impact and make a difference on students’ experience.

It warms my heart to know that my students greatly appreciate my work.

What are the challenges?

I really feel that there are not enough hours in the working day to achieve what I am looking for. The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges. With closure of the campus, it was imperative to rapidly re-evaluate my teaching approaches and leverage evidence-based pedagogical strategies in my digital education. Re-evaluation of pedagogical and assessment strategies was necessary for effective online learning. Based on the intended learning outcomes and type of teaching activities (large group and small groups), I selected the appropriate content and determined the online delivery method.

After publishing my work on ‘Teaching of Anatomical Sciences: A blended learning approach’ and 'Transition to Effective Online Anatomical Sciences Teaching', I received invitations for talks by several professional bodies such as the British Association of Clinical Anatomists to share my innovative practice.

What are you passionate about?

I am keen to spread positivity. I genuinely enjoy anatomy teaching and engaging with students. I am enthusiastic about helping staff and students to reach their full potential and enable them to overcome any challenges they face.

Every year, I design a NI Science Festival Event. This year my event is on ‘An Anatomical Workshop on Respiration and Deglutition’ where a simulated man will be used.

I am very excited about my role as the CBMSE Internationalisation Lead, which involves module mapping, establishing partnerships with overseas universities and developing the Memorandum of Agreement. I started this role in 2021 and to date, have successfully established two new partnerships. I hope I can build up more partnerships in the future, recruit more international students and expand diversity.

My other role as School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Lead for Race Equity Charter EDI matches very well with the Internationalisation role. I am very passionate about promoting a safe environment that empowers staff and students to push the boundaries, create an inspirational learning experience and celebrate diversity. I believe that together we are more capable and stronger.

Recently, I was recognised for my work with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students by being shortlisted for the Advancing Race Equality Award that recognises individuals across Northern Ireland for promoting equality. I have led the first Queen's Workshop on ‘Decolonising the Curriculum’. This resulted in two invitations from the Vice President for Equality and Citizenship of the Union of Students in Ireland to run workshops for students for the purpose of nurturing inclusivity and embracing diversity. I also conducted several Active Bystander Workshops across the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences with other EDI Leads.

A couple of years ago, I was elected by Queen's African staff/students as a Councillor for QUB African Scholars Research Network (AfricanSRN). After I was successful in securing the required funds, we were able to host the All Ireland African Scholars Association Ireland (AFSAI) Conference in 2023 for the first time at Queen’s University Belfast.

How do you feel your contribution impacts our university community and beyond?

Queen’s is a great university to work at. Leading teaching innovations and enhancing the quality of personal learning is evidenced by my engagement in teaching informed by my own research.

My output ‘Teaching of Anatomical Sciences: A blended learning approach’ (2018) guided educators on the proper design of blended learning (cited >123 times by google scholar). As first author for a chapter in the Biomedical Visualisation Book Series, on the benefits of visualisation as an effective teaching approach, I progressed to be a Lead Editor for a Book (10 chapters) 'Visualisation in Teaching Biomedical Sciences' (2023) that was accessed 4047 Accesses and downloaded 349.

My publications came to fruition, extending my impact on other’s practice. My invited talks and presentations in the UK, USA, and Chez Republic, Copenhagen, ROI, China, USA, increased my international readership. It also resulted in getting international invitations to assess new programmes such as the MSc in Anatomical Sciences, Imam Abdulrahman in Faisal University, Saudi Arabia and a PhD thesis in Anatomy at the University College Cork. I was also Invited by Professor Pickering (Leeds Uni) for the Anatomy Education Podcast Interview organised by American Association of Anatomists and streamed to international audience to talk on the impact of my publication in enhancing education using multimodal teaching approaches.

Furthermore, I was invited to examine for the Royal College in India (2024) and was appointed as the Sole Subject Expert for the RC FRCS Ophthalmology Exam and as reviewer for National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.

I am recognised as an International Expert in my subject. In 2018, I was elected to join the AACA Career Development Committee (CDC) and in 2022, the AACA Education Affairs Committee (EAC)(2022 - 2025) (AACA). Through these roles, I led initiatives such as leading workshops for anatomists at the AACA Conferences such as 'Peer Feedback: An underutilized tool for developing effective teaching' which fed into my role as a Queen's Peer Reviewer. My Talk ‘How we delivered education during Covid’ highlighted novel approaches that were adopted; evidenced by the citations on my output ‘Transition to effective online teaching’. I also organised several symposia for the AACA conferences such ‘Imposter Syndrome’, reviewed abstracts and acted as a Judge for the AACA Awards.

These activities expanded my outreach and impact and led to highly cited publications in high-ranking journals and invitations to new roles, such as ‘External Arbitrator’ for the scientific research of staff applying for promotion at Najran University, Saudi Arabia.

I also conducted a Public Event in Azerbaijan based on a £16,000 grant that played a vital role in alerting the policy makers to address gender leadership inequality. Extensive media coverage broadened the dissemination of the event.

About Eiman

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to get out on trips with my family. I also enjoy listening to classical music and reading science books. Most importantly, to try my best to look after my elderly mother.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

Good, better, best. Never let it rest, till good is better and your better is best. This is a motivational quote that I learnt at my school Sacred Heart School.

My second-best advice is: Never let anyone define what you are capable of by using parameters that don’t apply to you.

What are you most proud of?

I am proud of being an academic at Queen's. I take pride in being a councillor for the Queen's African Scholar Research Network and a member of iRise (Queen’s BAME and International Staff Network) Executive Committee.

I am always delighted when I can help others achieve their goals and when colleagues feel recognised as they should.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

When I travelled to Germany to do my PhD thesis at Eberhard-Karl’s Universität Tubingen, Germany, I hadn't got a clue about the German Language or if I would be able to get the internationally recognised Goethe-Certificate from Goethe Institute Mannheim in only four months - the duration allowed by Deutscher Akademischer Austaushdienst (DAAD) in order not to lose my DAAD scholarship. This certificate entitles foreign students to study at German universities.

It was one of the great challenges I faced. After hard work and lot of dedication, I passed this language exam and successfully defended my PhD thesis.