INUGSC 2027
Widening participation
A second stream of the conference for sixth-form students from widening participation backgrounds.
What it is
Widening participation is the second stream of INUGSC. While medical students attend the main conference, sixth formers from widening participation backgrounds follow a programme of their own.
Through talks and hands-on workshops, they explore a career in medicine more deeply, meet people already on that path, and widen their curiosity about what medicine and surgery involve.
Places are free. Many of the students we welcome receive free school meals, and cost should never be the reason someone misses out.
What students do
- Suturing
- Hands-on practice placing stitches on a skin pad.
- Anatomy
- Anatomy and dissection models to handle and explore.
- Virtual reality
- Surgical virtual-reality sets that simulate an operation.
- Talks
- Talks, and time to ask medical students and doctors about the path into medicine.
Why it matters
- 5% of medical school entrants come from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds
- 75% come from higher socio-economic backgrounds
- 1.5× more likely to get a medicine offer when applying from an independent school rather than a non-selective state school
From the Sutton Trust’s report Unequal Treatment? (2025), based on research at UCL Medical School into UK medical school applicants and entrants from 2012 onwards. The 1.5× difference remains after accounting for exam grades and background.
Taking part
Teachers can ask about places for their students, and students can ask for themselves.
- Who
- Sixth-form students from widening participation backgrounds, at state schools across Greater London
- Places
- 80, free of charge
- When
- During INUGSC 2027, 30–31 January 2027
- Where
- One Pool Street, UCL East
1 Pool Street, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
London E20 2AF