Medical Student Competition 2026

Each year, we run a competition for UK medical students with the General Medical Council (GMC). For this year’s student professionalism competition, we’re asking students at UK medical schools to create engaging online content that helps others recognise and respond to unacceptable behaviours by being an active bystander.

About the theme

Unacceptable behaviours include bullying, harassment, discrimination, and sexual misconduct toward colleagues or patients. We set clear expectations in Good medical practice and in Achieving good medical practice that doctors have a responsibility to recognise, and take steps to address, unacceptable behaviours. One way to do this is by being an active bystander. But what does this mean for medical students?

To help develop the content, you might want to consider questions such as:

• How does being an active bystander link to our guidance?
• Why is it an important part of a doctor’s professional practice to be an active bystander? What might be the impacts of doing so?
• How might being an active bystander benefit patients?
• How can medical students develop confidence in practising this within the limits of their competence and role?

You have until midday on Wednesday 7 October 2026 to take part.

The winning entry will receive a £600 voucher, and the content will be shared with medical schools across the UK and across the GMC’s social media channels. Two runner-up entries will be awarded a £200 voucher each.

What are we looking for? 

We want you to think creatively and produce online content that helps medical students understand two key things:

1. Why recognising and addressing unacceptable behaviours is a professional duty, as outlined in Good medical practice and in Achieving good medical practice.
2. How to be an active bystander when witnessing behaviour that undermines safety, dignity, or professionalism.

Your entry must cover both points.

You can enter on your own or in a team of up to six. You must all be students at a UK medical school, though you don’t have to be attending the same medical school. 

You can create one of the following:

• content for social media: Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. You can create TikTok content! (this will be shared via the GMC’s IG account).
• a podcast
• a vlog or blog

The content should be something your fellow students could access anywhere and in their own time. We want you to consider how students might engage with the content in real-life settings and to make sure it’s accessible – for example, by including subtitles. As such, your entry should take no more than 10 minutes to watch, read or listen to. You can take a look at winning entries from previous years on this webpage for inspiration.

As well as Good medical practice and in Achieving good medical practice, the following resources may be helpful:

• Leadership and management for all doctors – professional standards – GMC
• Speaking up – ethical topic – GMC

Remember, we’ll be looking at how well you understand and can explain the importance of recognising and addressing unacceptable behaviours and being an active bystander, rather than your digital skills.