Exploring how oral health professional education can be delivered effectively in a wide range of contexts.
Examples of our areas of research include:
- strategies for improving interprofessional education and sustainable practice
- effective integrated approaches to patient care
- the delivery of effective continued professional development and lifelong learning
- developing student resilience and wellbeing
- exploring how to improve our student engagement
- the use of digital technologies for teaching operative clinical skills
Projects
Our research group is involved with the following research activities:
Research as a component of OHP Education
This project involves a wide range of educator stakeholders across Europe, and aims to develop consensus on a fifth Curriculum domain for the ‘Graduating European Dentist’ curriculum. This group’s PI is Professor James Field, in collaboration with the European Dental Students Association (EDSA), the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and various pan-European academic partners.
Embedding environmental sustainability within oral health professional curricula
This project involves a wide range of educator stakeholders across Europe, and aims to develop consensus on learning outcomes relating to Sustainability in OHP curricula. This group’s PI is Professor James Field, in collaboration with the European Dental Students Association (EDSA), the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), and various pan-European academic partners. This group has consulted for the General Dental Council, for inclusion in their review of learning outcomes, and presented to the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP).
Resilience and wellbeing in Dental Education
These two projects are being undertaken as a PhD by Ruby Long, with Professor James Field and Dr Liz Forty as academic supervisors, and as a Community of Practice by Shannu Bhatia. The projects aim to explore well-being and resilience within dental education; specifically how resilience is assessed and measured, and what tools can be developed to support the development of resilience in our students. The PhD project has received external funding from Immersify Dental, and the Community of Practice is supported by ADEE.
Human Diseases and the importance of complex medical histories in dental education
This series of studies was led by Dr Phil Atkin, and explores the importance of chairside learning in dental schools with respect to human diseases, and seeks to develop consensus in relation to human diseases teaching.
Comparison of Oral Surgery teaching across the UK
PI is Dr Charlotte Emanuel and Charlotte Richards.
O-Health-Edu
Developing a shared understanding of oral health professional education in Europe. PI is Professor James Field.
The use of 3D printing technologies for teaching operative dental skills
PI is Professor James Field with Ed Williams and Nagham Katif.
The use of eye tracking in interpreting how students review dental radiographs
PI is Dr Caryl Wilson-Nagrani and Carlen Chandler.
Teaching sustainable practice in Oral Health Care
PI is Professor James Field and Maria Kwiatkowski.
Meet the team
Academic staff
Professor James Field
Professor of Restorative Dentistry and Dental Education / Honorary Consultant in Prosthodontics / National Teaching Fellow / Programme Lead DClinDent Prosthodontics
Publications
- Al Ali, H. et al., 2024. The value of stereoscopic three dimensional vision on dental students' performance in a virtual reality simulator. Journal of Dental Education 88 (11)(10.1002/jdd.13630)
- Beaton, L. et al., 2024. Sustainable oral healthcare: what is it and how do we achieve it?. British Dental Journal 236 (11), pp.907-910. (10.1038/s41415-024-7460-2)
- Brooks, L. et al., 2024. Exploring the declared and the formal and informal taught curricula at a UK dental school through the lens of pulp management. British Dental Journal 236 (2), pp.117–123. (10.1038/s41415-024-6762-8)
- Brooks, L. et al., 2025. Exploring the learned curriculum at a UK dental school through the lens of pulp management. European Journal of Dental Education (10.1111/eje.70036)
- Davies, J. et al., 2023. ARTICULATE: A European glossary of terms used in oral health professional education. European Journal of Dental Education 27 (2), pp.209-222. (10.1111/eje.12794)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2025. Longitudinal integration of environmental sustainability in the dental curriculum: assessing changes in student awareness, attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Dentistry 156 105710. (10.1016/j.jdent.2025.105710)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2024. Curriculum content for environmental sustainability in dentistry. Journal of Dentistry (10.1016/j.jdent.2024.105021)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2024. Environmental sustainability in oral health professional education: Approaches, challenges, and drivers— ADEE Special‐Interest Group Report. European Journal of Dental Education 28 (4), pp.969-977. (10.1111/eje.13033)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2024. O-HEALTH-EDU: A viewpoint into the current state of oral health professional education in Europe: Part 1: Programme-level data. European Journal of Dental Education 28 (2), pp.591-606. (10.1111/eje.12989)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2021. O-HEALTH-EDU: a scoping review on the reporting of oral health professional education in Europe. European Journal of Dental Education 25 (1), pp.56-77. (10.1111/eje.12577)
- Dixon, J. , Martin, N. and Field, J. 2024. Current practice, barriers and drivers to embedding environmental sustainability in undergraduate dental schools in the UK and Ireland. British Dental Journal 237 (9), pp.723–728. (10.1038/s41415-024-8011-6)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2025. A model for sustainable curriculum development in dentistry. European Journal of Dental Education 29 (4), pp.681-690. (10.1111/eje.13145)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2021. Re-defining the virtual reality dental simulator: demonstrating concurrent validity of clinically relevant assessment and feedback. European Journal of Dental Education 25 (1), pp.108-116. (10.1111/eje.12581)
- Dixon, J. et al., 2024. O-Health-Edu: A viewpoint into the current state of oral health professional education in Europe: Part 2: Curriculum structure, facilities, staffing and quality assurance. European Journal of Dental Education 28 (2), pp.607-620. (10.1111/eje.12987)
- Duane, B. et al., 2021. Embedding environmental sustainability within the modern dental curriculum – Exploring current practice and developing a shared understanding. European Journal of Dental Education 25 (3), pp.541-549. (10.1111/eje.12631)
- Field, J. et al. 2024. Graduating European dentist curriculum DOMAIN V: Research. European Journal of Dental Education (10.1111/eje.13040)
- Field, J. et al. 2022. O‐Health‐Edu: A vision for oral health professional education in Europe. European Journal of Dental Education (10.1111/eje.12819)
- Field, J. et al. 2021. Defining dental operative skills curricula: an ADEE consensus paper. European Journal of Dental Education 25 (2), pp.405-414. (10.1111/eje.12595)
- Field, J. et al. 2023. Embedding environmental sustainability within oral health professional curricula- Recommendations for teaching and assessment of learning outcomes. European Journal of Dental Education 27 (3), pp.650-661. (10.1111/eje.12852)
- Field, J. et al. 2025. Recommendations for enhancing oral health professional education through the student voice: The ADEE-EDSA partnership in action. European Journal of Dental Education 29 (4), pp.664-670. (10.1111/eje.13123)
- Field, J. et al. 2025. The Graduating European Dentist Curriculum Framework: A 7-Year Review [Commentary]. European Journal of Dental Education 29 (1), pp.155-161. (10.1111/eje.13058)
- Field, J. et al. 2025. The graduating European dentist curriculum framework: a multi-stakeholder view [Commentary]. European Journal of Dental Education 29 (4), pp.691-702. (10.1111/eje.70028)
- Herrera, D. et al., 2024. Consensus report of the second European Consensus Workshop on Education in Periodontology. Journal of Clinical Periodontology 51 (S27)(10.1111/jcpe.13983)
- Long, R. , Forty, L. and Field, J. 2024. Resilience in oral health professional education: a scoping review. European Journal of Dental Education 28 (4), pp.978-994. (10.1111/eje.13034)
- Manzanares Cespedes, M. C. et al., 2025. The last 15 years: The Association for Dental Education in Europe's (ADEE) leading role in the education of the European oral health workforce (2010/2025)[Editorial]. European Journal of Dental Education 29 (4), pp.635-645. (10.1111/eje.70029)
- Nassief, S. et al., 2024. Dental students’ perceptions of the use of two-dimensional and three-dimensional vision in dental education using a three-dimensional haptic simulator: A qualitative study. Journal of Dental Education 88 (12), pp.1730-1738. (10.1002/jdd.13682)
- Phizackerley, J. , Long, R. and Field, J. 2025. Factors affecting student satisfaction with an undergraduate research project. European Journal of Dental Education (10.1111/eje.70050)
- Quinn, B. et al., 2020. COVID‐19: the immediate response of European academic dental institutions and future implications for dental education. European Journal of Dental Education 24 (4), pp.811-814. (10.1111/eje.12542)
- Serban, C. et al., 2024. The views of European students on the inclusion of research in undergraduate Oral Health Professional curricula. European Journal of Dental Education 28 (1), pp.86-93. (10.1111/eje.12917)
- Towers, A. et al., 2022. Combining virtual reality and 3D printed models to simulate patient-specific dental operative procedures - a study exploring student perceptions. European Journal of Dental Education 26 (2), pp.393-403. (10.1111/eje.12715)
Events
Our group regularly hold ‘lunch and learn sessions’ relating to scholarship and education research.
Next steps
Research that matters
Our research makes a difference to people’s lives as we work across disciplines to tackle major challenges facing society, the economy and our environment.
Postgraduate research
Our research degrees give the opportunity to investigate a specific topic in depth among field-leading researchers.
Our research impact
Our research case studies highlight some of the areas where we deliver positive research impact.