The book volume Reframing Higher Education with Responsible Generative AI Use: Practical Strategies for Teaching, Assessment and Policy provides practical, ethical and inclusive strategies for integrating generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education.

The book is structured around three main themes: teaching, assessment and policy. The chapters feature pedagogical frameworks, and practical toolkits supporting prompt-engineering and scalable, AI-driven innovations in teaching, learning and assessment. These include virtual patients and clinical simulations augmented by GenAI tools, assessment redesign using AI tools, and the use of AI to automate daily teaching, research and admin tasks with AI in support of faculty development and curriculum transformation. Drawing on a mix of conceptual and applied experience, aligned with institutional policies, the examples discussed throughout the chapters highlight the importance of digital equity, AI literacy, including the ethical, responsible and transparent use of GenAI.

The book volume offers a hands‑on guide for educators,students, assessors, researchers, academic developers, institutional leaders and policymakers across disciplines and institutional contexts seeking to navigate the fast‑changing academic landscape shaped by evolving large language models.

Elena Patera

Elena works as a Doctoral Academic Teacher at the Human Anatomy Resource Centre at the University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, where she teaches gross systemic anatomy to graduate and undergraduate pre-clinical medical students, dental students, and allied health professions students. She is also undertaking her PhD part-time, focusing on neuroanatomy game-based learning.

Elena holds an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences, a master’s degree in Human Anatomy, a research master’s degree in Anatomy Education, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare and Biomedical Education. She is also a Fellow of Advance HE, reflecting her commitment to effective teaching and learning in higher education.

Since 2020, Elena has taught anatomy across universities in the UK and Ireland to a wide range of undergraduate and graduate students. Her teaching experience spans dissection-based practicals, prosection-based practicals, lectures, and small-group teaching sessions. She has presented her research and scholarship at various national and international conferences. Her research interests include how students study and learn anatomy independently, and how anatomy educators can support students in developing their self-directed learning skills. Her wider research interests include the design of anatomy resources that help students develop both lower-order and higher-order cognitive skills, as well as supporting anatomy educators’ professional development.

Dr. Ourania Varsou

Dr. Ourania Varsou is a medically qualified Senior Lecturer in Anatomy at the University of Glasgow with more than ten years of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary experience spanning higher education, healthcare, industry and the non-profit sector. Her work sits at the intersection of healthcare, higher education, health humanities and emerging technologies with a particular focus on the responsible integration of generative AI and other digital innovations into professional practice and healthcare delivery.

At the University of Glasgow, Dr Varsou leads curriculum innovation across medical, dental and bioscience programmes, developing evidence-informed approaches to teaching, assessment and curriculum transformation that prepare learners for rapidly evolving healthcare and biosciences environments. Alongside her academic role, she serves as the POCUS and Anatomy Director at Ballater Medical, Deputy Chair of the MVLS College Ethics Committee and Advisory Group Chair within the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland.

Dr Varsou’s research and scholarship encompass educational innovation, organisational change and learning, health humanities and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies. She has developed international educational initiatives on generative AI including a Coursera MOOC and an expanding portfolio of open educational resources. Through international collaborations and technology-enhanced learning initiatives, she explores how AI and data science are reshaping healthcare delivery, education, research and institutional transformation.

A strong advocate for human-centred innovation, Dr Varsou promotes inclusive, creative and active pedagogical approaches that bridge disciplinary boundaries and connect academia with clinical practice and industry. Her most recent research examines how healthcare professionals, educators and organisations can harness the opportunities presented by AI while maintaining trust, empathy, equity, professional judgement and meaningful human connection. This work explores the evolving relationship between technology and humanity with particular emphasis on ensuring that advances in AI enhance rather than diminish the values and skills that remain fundamentally human.