TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE EDUCTION THROUGH SIMULATION

Professor Sharon Weldon is President of the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) and Professor of Healthcare Simulation and Workforce Development at the University of Greenwich. She serves as Associate Head for Research and Knowledge Exchange in the School of Health Sciences and previously led the Centre for Professional Workforce Development and Simulation Group.

She holds honorary appointments with Imperial College London and Barts Health NHS Trust and is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Healthcare Simulation (IJoHS).

Sharon’s work positions simulation not simply as a training modality, but as a strategic infrastructure for system learning, quality improvement, workforce development, and healthcare transformation. She is the originator of the Transformative Simulation (TfS) framework – a system-level approach integrating innovation, improvement, inclusion, identification, intervention, involvement, and influence within a coherent governance and design architecture, grounded in global simulation scholarship and an evolving international community of practice.

Her expertise spans:

Simulation-Based Research — empirical and conceptual studies across diverse simulation methodologies
Sequential Simulation (SqS) — recreating longitudinal and pathway-based elements of care
Transformative Simulation (TfS) — applying simulation as a mechanism for system learning and change
Distributed Simulation — low-cost, portable approaches extending simulation beyond traditional centres

She has secured major research funding, published extensively, contributed to national and international policy discussions, and received multiple awards recognising her impact on the advancement of healthcare simulation.

Colette is a nurse, and the deputy director for the simulation and interactive learning centre at Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London. Her role includes lead for simulation faculty development, inter-professional programmes and transformative simulation including identification of latent threats and systems testing for patient safety in hospital and community settings.

Colette is ASPiH’s President for 2023- 2025 and is the first nurse to hold this position

Colette has been involved in simulation since 2009 and has a special interest in debriefing and Clinical Human Factors. She continues to develop her skills through peer coaching and reflective practice and has undertaken several continuing professional development programmes to further her own skills in this modality including the Team STEPPS Master Trainer course (2015), CMS Instructors course (2016) CMS feedback course (2020) the Debriefing Academy’s Master Debriefer Course (2021). She also re-took her Post graduate Certificate in Education and achieved Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy in 2022.

Colette led one of the first all-hospital simulation education programmes in the UK training over 1050 nurses in 6 months in human factor skills.

Colette’s non-working passions are local green spaces and her two miniature schnauzers who lead her a merry dance at times but also allow her to go to wonderful places in the UK and meet other schnauzer pawrents through a charity,  Schnauzerfest.  Colette volunteers in her two local parks and does anything from litter picking to campaigning for new trees and organising community events such as Easter, Pride, Music and Paws in the Park family fundraisers.

Pro-nouns: She/ Her

Charles is the Head of Technical Learning and Support at the University of Greenwich and serves as the Technical Director of The Greenwich Learning and Simulation Centre (GLASC) with over two decades of experience in Surgical/Clinical Skills and Simulation, running and developing medical and surgical courses across a wide range of disciplines. Activities include the development and delivery of course and simulation material as well as filming and development of online material of live procedures for national and international events.

Charles has a vast amount of experience in developing simulation spaces, understanding clinical objectives in bridging AV requirements to deliver technology enhanced learning, for best practice in Healthcare Education. Charles has successfully developed three flagship training centres for a hybrid teaching approach. Working closely with stakeholders, and industry partners to ensure maximum exposure, best practise and income generating revenues are realised.

Projects Charles has consulted on are as follows:

• • Education Design Board for Redevelopment of OR integrated Main Operating Theatres – King’s College Hospital
• • Design Board for Redevelopment of the ACCESS Unit, now The Weston SaIL Centre – Denmark Hill campus, King’s College London
• • Redevelopment of the Chantler SaIL Centre – Guys campus, Kings College London
• • Design Board for STEC project – Guys and St. Thomas’ Trust
• • Lead Design Consultant for the GLASC  – University of Greenwich
• • Lead Design Consultant Redevelopment of Clinical teaching spaces – Medway Campus, University of Greenwich
• • Lead Technical Design Consultant for the CCU (Critical Care Unit) – Avery Hill, University of Greenwich
• • Technical Consultant for the redevelopment of Simulated Spaces- Northampton University

Carla Sá Couto is a clinical simulation educator and researcher with a background in Biomedical Engineering. She has been a passionate simulation advocate, for over 20 years. In her early career, she was privileged to integrate a pivotal research team aiming the development of simulation technology and simulation-based educational programs, and was one instrumental element in the implementation of the first simulation centre in Portugal (2003). In 2010, she shifted her interests from technology to education, and started a full-time position as coordinator of Biomedical Simulation Center of the Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto (FMUP). From 2014 to 2022, she was the FMUP simulation lead responsible for the integration of simulation in the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education programmes.

Currently, she is a senior researcher at the Center for Research in Health Technologies and Services (CINTESIS@RISE), and simulation advisor and affiliated professor at FMUP, being responsible for several simulation-based national and international research projects and pre- and post-graduation courses. Her research and teaching interests are the development educational tools and strategies for clinical simulation, faculty development, and, more recently, exploring the impact of skills training on healthcare providers’ attitudes/behaviours.

She contributes to several scientific societies and initiatives. Since 2001, she is a member of SESAM (Society in Europe for Simulation Applied to Medicine). In 2017, she was appointed chair of SESAM Scientific Committee (5-years term), being responsible for re-structuring the committee and provide scientific standards for the annual congress. Currently, she is the chair of the European Simulation Research Network (SiReN), a SESAM initiative. Since February 2022, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH), being the Conference Director of ASPiH 2023.

She is a nature lover and a handywoman. She loves to spend time outdoors with her 2 teenager daughters and husband, reconstructing their small farm house and caring their veggie garden.