Grant Reilly
29th January 2021
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The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) reinforces its commitment to skills and workforce development by hosting a Graduate Employability Workshop for over 55 students in partnership with Sitekit Solutions. The workshop focused on identifying a current health and care challenge before transforming ideas into a proof of concept solution.
The session was part of The Scottish Life Science and Chemistry Graduate Employability Workshop Programme, developed by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance and Scottish Universities Chemistry Research Pool.
The programme saw students from the University of St Andrews, Abertay University and the University of Dundee take part, with the aim to support future graduates understanding of the diversity of roles available to them within companies and organisations.
Our challenge focused on a current issue faced by Community Pharmacy Scotland around Digital Dispensing. It saw colleagues from the DHI design team and Sitekit take the students through a co-design workshop as they developed and refined ideas into a potentially viable solution.
The workshop was a great success with students being split into teams looking at all elements of developing a solution within Technical Readiness Levels areas 1 and 2. We hoped to give students an understanding of the different roles that are available within organisations and the skills required to succeed in the sector.
The DHI provided information packs, in advance of the event, to the students that included the latest DHI research into skills gaps within the digital health and care sector in the hope of attracting new talent into the sectors recruitment pipeline.
Don McIntyre, Design Director, Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, said:
“This was an excellent workshop and allowed us to engage with the new talent coming out of the Scottish University sector. Hopefully, we will have raised awareness of the digital health and care sector with these students and the career opportunities that await them. The workshop was also an opportunity to introduce a design-focused and person-centred approach to problem-solving, using the type of collaborative online tools likely to be encountered in the workplace".
We look forward to working in partnership with The Scottish Life Science and Chemistry Graduate Employability Workshop Programme Team on supporting future initiatives like this in the future.”
Elgar Finlay, Chief Executive Officer, Sitekit Solutions, added:
"It was a pleasure to share Sitekit’s expertise in advancing the realisation of digital products with the Graduate Employability Workshop participants. The last year has demonstrated how valuable the adoption of digital initiatives are in healthcare and their impact on our society. To see the enthusiasm and talent from the students in the masterclass is so encouraging for the future. It was a real privilege to engage with such a talented cohort and I hope they are inspired to shape their careers in the digital health and care sector".
Dr Lynsay Pickering, Senior Careers Adviser, University of Dundee, said:
"It’s really great to get industry involvement in our masterclasses. It helps to build our students business awareness as well as give them an opportunity to work on typical projects they would encounter in industry. The masterclasses also help our student to find out about different roles within industry out with the typical lab-based setting. Thank you to all who got involved".
Anna Segarra Fas, a student participant from the University of Dundee, commented:
"The workshop was very informative, and now that I am finishing my PhD and looking for professional routes it opened up a whole new field I am very interested in as a realistic option for the future. I look forward to learning more about careers in the digital health and care sector".
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DHI research resources
DHI resources that were shared with students in advance of the session to discover more about careers in digital health and care and the skills you need to succeed included:
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