Innovating Pathology Education

The company was taking part in The Prince’s Trust Million Makers Challenge and wanted to fundraise in a way that used the company’s creativity and skills in pathology and software.

As a result, The Schools’ Pathology Challenge, based on the ‘A’ level Biology syllabus, was devised and opened to all schools in Northern Ireland. i-Path Diagnostics Ltd adapted its PathXL^TM software accordingly.

Pathology teaching the vision of the project was ‘To transform young people’s lives through i-Path’s gift’ with goals to:

Raise money for the Prince’s Trust through the competition

• Open the competition to all eligible schools and remove any barriers to entry
• Highlight the fun in science for school students
• Inspire students to consider biomedical science careers
• Enable i-Path staff to gain new skills and experience
• Raise the profile of i-Path in Northern Ireland and the UK

The competition was a fun and interactive way for i-Path to make a positive impact on education through an innovative e-learning project. It served to foster young people’s aspirations to progress in the biomedical field, where they will very likely use this technology as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate training. Taking part in this competition gave them the advantage that they will be familiar with the technology before they even begin their university careers.

The competition also provided an opportunity for i-Path staff to share the fruits of their professional success with disadvantaged young people by fundraising for the Prince’s Trust. 

In their first year of taking part in the Million Makers Challenge, i-Path beat several larger organisations to become the regional fundraising winner, with a chance to represent Northern Ireland in the grand final, where it was placed 10^th in the UK.