Dr Chris Nickson

The ANZAHPE Award recognises Chris Nickson for his work in developing the Australian New Zealand Clinical Educator Network (ANZCEN) Incubator program. This project began through the Unconference in Adelaide in 2019, which brought together like-minded critical care clinicians engaged in clinical education, with the idea of creating an accessible program that will help to build a Community of Practice of clinical educators. This new program aimed to help address the challenges and flaws of the traditional modes of education delivery in health professions education, develop knowledge and skills in clinical education and encourage new collaborations and innovations.

The ANZCEN Incubator program came about and despite the many challenges of the pandemic and the enormous strain this period placed on critical care clinicians, the program is in its’ 4th year of operation. It is a 12 month online professional development program with an extensive content in education theory and learning science, curriculum development, teaching best practices, assessment, and programme evaluation.

This project has been able to bring together a large interdisciplinary faculty which includes doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and academics, mostly from Australia and New Zealand to mentor and support clinician educators who are already engaged in clinical education. Many new projects and innovations have resulted from collaborations through the Incubator.