Inaugural Lecture of Professor Michael Page (IHSE)

Through the stories of four protagonists – the speaker himself; ‘Hannah the Nothing,’ a pupil from Reay and Wiliam’s ground-breaking research in English primary schools; a surgeon called Aldo from Michael’s research with SAS doctors; and a mystery fourth character – the talk explores how identity is formed through the messages that we receive from others about who and what we are supposed to be, and the actions that we take to discover and establish ourselves in the face of these often powerful influences.

The lecture highlights how structural forces, including workplace hierarchies and professional norms, shape the possibilities for who we become, while also illustrating the creative ways individuals assert themselves in pursuit of recognition, legitimacy and growth. The session invites the audience to reflect on how their own identities have been shaped by the words, assumptions and actions of others – perhaps from their earliest years of life – and how we can create conditions that support more equitable identity development in medicine and higher education.

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Host or Publisher Karen Hassan