2026 Open Education Conference

Access to research education remains uneven for medical students worldwide, limiting opportunities to develop essential skills and engage in research.

The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) addresses this gap through three Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) research education workshops, guided by the Basic Research Competencies Framework (BRCF). This five-pillar structure shapes all educational content and is supported by a broader open educational ecosystem. This ecosystem includes openly licensed materials, manuals and agendas, compiled in centralized resource repositories, enabling National Member Organizations (NMOs) to replicate these workshops and activities independently.

In this session, attendees will explore how to assess, implement, and adapt open-access educational materials and frameworks in their institutions or networks, enabling them to expand access to research education, strengthen skill development, and drive collaborative learning worldwide

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• By the end of this session, at least 80% of participants will apply the session’s methodologies to:.
• Explain the global inequities in access to research education and identify the core competencies needed to address them.
• Describe how PAL, open-access resources, and open licensing collectively create a sustainable, equitable research education ecosystem.
• Understand IFMSA’s specific efforts to strengthen research capacity building, advocacy, and research exchanges through its open educational practices, the BRCF, organizational structures, and tools such as strategic plans and baseline assessments.
• Assess strategies for implementing open-access educational frameworks within their own contexts, such as reusing openly licensed training materials, establishing shared resource repositories, or developing peer-led training models.
• Design research training initiatives that integrate open practices, ensuring scalability, inclusivity, and sustainability.

Open education has grown through wider access, resource sharing, and collaboration, but the governance structures needed to sustain these practices remain insufficiently addressed. As a result, open values such as participation, equity, and reuse are not translated into organizational action.

The International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) addresses this gap through a participatory policy process that moves from needs assessment and collaborative drafting in Small Working Groups to review, democratic adoption, implementation, and renewal. Through this process, policy documents become practical tools that guide student advocacy, learning, and action thus functioning as an open educational infrastructure.

In this session, attendees will explore how open policy making can be used to build sustainable educational and advocacy frameworks in their own contexts, helping them strengthen student organizing, guide initiatives, and support long term open education practices.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• By the end of this session, at least 80% of participants will apply the session’s methodologies to:.
• Describe IFMSA’s open policy-making process and its key steps, from needs assessment ,collaborative drafting to adoption, implementation, and renewal.
• Understand the three dimensions of open policy-making and how, when used as a framework, they can transform policy documents into open educational resources.
• Analyze how policy documents can guide diverse forms of implementation across thematic areas, including workshops, conferences, campaigns, partnerships, webinars, small working groups, and educational resources.
• Adapt strategies of open policy-making approaches within their own organizations, institutions, or cities to strengthen advocacy, student organizing, sustainability, and open education.

This session is about analyzing how open education can help connect what medical students learn about health in their medical school to what actually happens in real communities by highlighting how open-access resources, peer learning, and digital platforms can enhance public health training and empower students to apply their knowledge beyond the classroom.

The presentation will discuss practical strategies for integrating open educational practices into public health education, including student-led community awareness initiatives, and how to use freely available learning materials. However, it will also address challenges such as limited access to structured resources, variability in community engagement, and the need for culturally appropriate content.

People who attend this session will learn how open education can make public health training practical, accessible, and focused on the community especially in places where resources are limited.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• 1- Explain how open education will be able to facilitate the transfer of health knowledge from academic education to community-based public health programs.
• 2- List some open education materials and technologies being used in the field of public health that may serve them well.
• 3- Inform them about the responsibility of students in facilitating community-based health educational programs.
• 4- Identify obstacles that may hinder them while implementing open education in the field of public health.
• 5- Utilize methods by which they can incorporate open education in their public health education and practice.