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Article History

Received: 31 January 2025

Accepted: 13 January 2026

First Online: 22 January 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Ethical approval was granted by the University of Birmingham Ethics Board (ERN_3654) in December 2024 prior to the commencement of data collection. All research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participation was voluntary, informed consent was obtained from all participants, and confidentiality was ensured through the use of pseudonyms and anonymised data. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw without penalty within a specified timeframe. The study involved non-interventional educational research with adult undergraduate students. Participants were fully informed that their participation was voluntary, that their decision to participate or withdraw would have no impact on assessment or academic standing, and that there were no foreseeable risks associated with participation beyond the minimal discomfort associated with group discussion. Data were collected solely for the purposes of evaluating the interdisciplinary teaching intervention and were stored securely in accordance with institutional data protection policies.

: Informed consent was obtained in writing from all participants prior to their participation in the study. Participants were recruited via email and provided with a written participant information sheet outlining the purpose of the research, what participation would involve, how data would be collected and used, and any potential risks. Consent forms were completed electronically before the focus group sessions took place in January 2025. The scope of consent covered voluntary participation in focus group discussions, audio recording of the sessions, the use of anonymised data for research purposes, and the publication of findings in academic outputs. Participants were informed that their responses would be anonymised, that pseudonyms would be used in all reporting, and that no identifying information would be disclosed. They were also informed of their right to withdraw from the study without penalty within one week following the focus group; after this point, withdrawal was no longer possible due to data processing and anonymisation.