Europe

Improving research culture at universities

To improve research culture, we must change the way we measure performance

Jo Cresswell explains how universities can support more collaborative cultures by changing the way academics are reviewed, assessed and rewarded

Jo Cresswell

Dr Joanne Cresswell Coaching

Towards independence: blazing your trail as a freelance researcher

What options are open to you as a researcher if you decide formal academia within a university is not for you? Helen Ross outlines considerations and useful advice for anyone wishing to become an independent researcher

Helen Ross

Independent academic

Knocking down the house of policy impact in higher education

It’s high time we rethought policy impact

The frameworks currently in use for rewarding policy impact are peppered with problems and pitfalls – here’s how to fix them, says Christina Boswell

Christina Boswell

The University of Edinburgh

Midwife hands baby to mother after hospital birth

Ways to support research students in nursing and midwifery

PhD supervision requires a specific skill set – from communication to emotional intelligence – to meet its challenges and secure its rewards. Here, Helen Allan shares her advice based on more than 20 years of experience

Helen Allan

Middlesex University

International perspectives on teaching and learning forged during Covid

Academics from around the globe share practical advice and lessons learned for those teaching online now or in future turbulent times

Katherine Mansfield

University of Westminster

The different steps to improved sustainability

To offset or not to offset – that is the question

Carbon offsetting is a hotly debated issue, with critics positing that it distracts from real efforts to reduce emissions. David Duncan explains why a compromise position in which offsetting is used to complement focused efforts at carbon reduction may be needed

David Duncan

University of Glasgow

Students as co-explorers: how to build a synergistic research environment

Working with and for postgraduate students towards the goal of improved well-being and thriving in their future careers is the basis for successful research teams. Soo Downe offers tips based on her experience in midwifery studies

Soo Downe

University of Central Lancashire

Assessment and feedback as a participatory dialogue

Assessment and feedback as an active dialogue between tutors and students

Seven steps towards enhancing assessment and feedback as a participatory, social process that supports deeper learning, by Neil Lent, Tina Harrison and Sabine Rolle

Neil Lent, Tina Harrison, Sabine Rolle

The University of Edinburgh

Counter-mapping as a pedagogical tool

Engaging students with urban spaces can contextualise and deepen learning and bring in inclusive perspectives. Daniel Gutiérrez-Ujaque and Dharman Jeyasingham explain how counter-mapping can be used as a pedagogical tool

Daniel Gutiérrez-Ujaque , Dharman Jeyasingham

Brunel University London , The University of Manchester

Six tips for implementing a careers chatbot ethically and effectively

Helping students make good academic choices fuelled by their career aspirations before they start studying is crucial – and a well-designed chatbot can be very useful

Caroline Tolond, Deirdre Hughes, Chris Percy

Arden University, CiCi

Hands linked to show networks and collaboration

Doctoral training programmes: worthwhile or not?

If the chance to work with gifted people and across unfamiliar disciplines appeals, a doctoral training programme could be for you, whether you’re a student or an academic

Graham Huggan

University of Leeds

Building emotional resilience in students is a key goal

Building emotional resilience is not creating a generation of ‘snowflakes’

Many students arrive at university adept at navigating challenging situations. Julia Downes explains how to leverage and add to these skills for positive and validating results

Julia Downes

The Open University

Digital exclusion often strikes early for university students

Digital exclusion hits students hardest at the start of their journey

VLEs, intranets, sports and social apps – the digital ecosystem at university is vast. We must induct students into it quickly and carefully to prevent them falling behind

Claire Smith

University of Sussex

Student diaries as a tool to improve the university experience

Do you really know what your students experience during their studies? It is more complex than many surveys suggest. Using student diaries may support deeper understanding to improve student experiences, as Dan Herbert explains

Dan Herbert

University of Birmingham

Gender-specific health issues need to be tackled in academia

Breaking barriers for women: closing the gender health gap in academia

In the final part of their ‘breaking barriers for women’ series, eight female academics propose ways to tackle the stigma and career deficits caused by women’s health issues

Nicola Hemmings , Ellie Harrison , Jo L. Fothergill

University of Sheffield, University of Liverpool

Illustration of person pulling a Covid-19 virus

Coping with long Covid: 10 strategies for academics

Long Covid would hit anyone hard, no matter their job – but academia’s culture of high stress, high workloads and high expectations makes the impact greater still. Here, Kerstin Sailer offers advice for scholars living with the condition’s often debilitating symptoms

Kerstin Sailer

UCL

Peer mentoring at university can make a difference to student confidence

As a black, female student, I wish I’d had a peer-mentoring scheme

Asking more experienced students to volunteer to help first-years navigate their university journey can make all the difference in terms of belonging and confidence

Bernadine Idowu

University of West London

Failure is crucial in academia, science and research

Failure can feel hot and shameful, but we must normalise it

Failure is essential in research, so we need to reframe it into an opportunity for learning, says Emma Williams

Emma Williams

EJW Solutions

Strengthen research capacity: how do we do it?

What does ‘strengthen research capacity’ actually mean, and how can we do it?

Leaders of research consortia face a difficult task in carrying out research and improving research capacity, but embedding a specialist team to make recommendations provides great gains

Imelda Bates , Justin Pulford , Lorelei Silvester

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN)

University-edtech collaboration: how to leverage the best of both worlds

Seven lessons for managing successful university-edtech collaborations that result in innovative new programmes, shared by Mònica Casabayó

Mònica Casabayó

Esade

Covid should have taught us that campus needs to be a treasured space

If we’re to tempt stay-away students back to the physical campus, we must recognise that place and places matter following disasters, say Gemma Ahearne and Treasa Kearney

Gemma Ahearne, Treasa Kearney

University of Liverpool

How to negotiate the politics of mark agreement between tutors

James Derounian offers thoughts on how we can unravel the tangled and contested arena of mark negotiation between university tutors

James Derounian

University of Bolton

Bringing in alumni as guest tutors to teach and inspire students

Inviting alumni to contribute to a course can enrich the learning experience for current students. Ellie Devenish-Nelson and Sharron Ogle explain how

Ellie Devenish-Nelson , Sharron Ogle

The University of Edinburgh

Dos and don’ts for dual teaching: support for lecturers in higher education

Dual teaching, when lecturers host a class with students attending in person and via a screen, requires careful planning to work well. Miriam Firth shares dos and don’ts based on first-hand experience

Miriam Firth

The University of Manchester

Information overload for new university student

Five tips for showing compassion towards and supporting new students

The step up from secondary to tertiary education can be daunting. Katherine Mansfield explains how to arm your students with the knowledge they need to succeed

Katherine Mansfield

University of Westminster

Woman taking part in an online teaching workshop

The practicalities of delivering a multi-institutional online workshop

Lessons from planning and delivering a multi-institutional online workshop for university teachers designed to find solutions to common educational challenges

Kelly Edmunds , Richard Bowater

The University of East Anglia

Blocks for building a stronger student community

Block teaching can help rapidly establish bonds among students, and with their lecturers, which in turn maximises learning potential. Here, Sarah Jones offers insights from the 50-year history of block scheduling

Sarah Jones

De Montfort University

How professional practitioners help connect crime theory with real-world investigations

Bringing professional practitioners into classes to share real-world case studies helps students contextualise learning and see how theories play out in reality. Paul McFarlane explains how this works on his crime science courses

Paul McFarlane

UCL

Podcast discussing building resilience and protecting well-being among university staff and students

Campus talks: how can universities tackle misinformation?

Just providing a degree isn’t enough. Through their research, community engagement and teaching, universities can do much more to tackle misinformation.

Phil Napoli, Simge Andi

Duke University, The University of Exeter

Group of researchers collaborating on a project

Lessons from completing an award-winning knowledge transfer project

Eight key components of a successful knowledge transfer project (KTP), drawing from the experience of an award-winning initiative to develop an online teaching platform for primary care clinicians

Rachel McCrindle, Richard Mitchell, Yota Dimitriadi

University of Reading

Image of people learning from one another

Tactics to ensure students engage with and learn from feedback

Students often perceive feedback as criticism and fail to take on board the constructive guidance. Rebecca Lewis explains how she encourages student engagement with her feedback

Becky Lewis

The University of East Anglia

Advice for academics interested in working in the Netherlands

Ten tips for academics interested in relocating to work at a university in the Netherlands, by Tetyana Krupiy, who spent three years carrying out research in Tilburg

Tetyana (Tanya) Krupiy

Newcastle University

Image of a new teacher celebrating the end of term

How to help students with widely varied prior education to thrive in first year

How can university educators ensure their first-year teaching caters to widely varying prior knowledge and skills among students? Bethan Gulliver explains a three-pronged approach

Bethan Gulliver

The University of East Anglia

Digital access is crucial and help is required for students to combat digital exclusion

We must remove technology worries from the student cost-of-living crisis

Students and parents cannot be left to make up the shortfall when it comes to financing their studies and tech needs – they need help from universities and government

Sarah Purdy, Steve Hall

The University of Bristol

Image of a male teacher hosting a university seminar

Switching career directions: lessons from the first year as a teaching academic

The first year in a teaching role is challenging, particularly following the disruption caused by the pandemic, yet rewarding. Janine Wilkinson shares what she has learned

Janine Wilkinson

The University of East Anglia

Why getting a PhD is just like building a Lego duck

Why getting a PhD is like building a Lego duck

Ben Marder provides a fun exercise that can impart important wisdom to help lessen PhD students’ anxiety over their progress

Ben Marder

The University of Edinburgh

The fundamentals of successful student knowledge exchange

What basics must be considered in order to build a successful student knowledge exchange project? Sharon Ingram shares insight based on supporting a student-led chemistry consultancy

Sharon Ingram

University of Strathclyde

How to balance a teaching and research workload

Three key tips to help balance research and teaching duties

With ever-greater demands being placed on university faculty, Megumi Terui offers advice on balancing two key parts of the job

Megumi Terui

Tecnológico de Monterrey

Theatre ice-breaker games for team-building in higher education

An introduction to using theatre ice-breaker games games to break down barriers between students and promote teamwork and trust at the start of a course

Jóna Guðrún Jónsdóttir , Rannveig Björk Thorkelsdóttir

University of Iceland

Socrates' methods can still help university student in the battle with misinformation

How Socrates can help your students question information

In a world full of answers, we must take time to ask questions, and the approaches favoured by Socrates can still be useful today, explains Konstantinos Arfanis

Konstantinos Arfanis

Arden University

Woman holding up her hands against someone or something

What does ‘taking sexual violence seriously’ look like at universities?

Rates of sexual violence in universities are the highest in society, ONS data show. So what actions must universities take if they are serious about tackling this pernicious problem?

Graham Towl

Durham University

Higher education needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to make it a fairer place to work for women

Breaking barriers for women: enough talking, time for action

In the second part of their ‘breaking barriers for women’ series, seven female academics outline key changes to help remodel a fairer HE system from the ground up

Ellie Harrison , Tiffany B. Taylor

University of Sheffield, University of Bath

Woman walking past a field of yellow flowers

Walk the walk to benefit your academic research

Walking can be used to benefit academic research, help with problem-solving and promote creative thinking. Here, Anna Lois McKay explains the different ways it works

Anna Lois McKay

University of Leicester

Safeguarding conferences are becoming the land that change forgot

The lack of a firm steer from the universities regulator means a sector left in limbo when it comes to tackling sexual misconduct – and events covering the same issues year after year

Emma Bond, Andy Phippen

University of Suffolk, Bournemouth University

Two people looking through assessment feedback

The potential of artificial intelligence in assessment feedback

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve the way students receive assessment feedback. Elizabeth Ellis explores some of the ways in which AI can help students

Elizabeth Ellis

Arden University

Student voice initiatives in universities need to be rethought

You said, we did – now what? Why student voice initiatives need a rethink

‘Student voice’ initiatives tend towards changes that can be easily packaged and publicised rather than those that demand time, resources and deeper consideration

Claire Kinsella, Linda Kaye

Leeds Beckett University, Edge Hill University

Image of a lecturer teaching a class of adult students

Tutor training for architect-educators: twinning, observation, reflection and testing

Staff development and training for architecture tutors is very limited. This resource looks back at a tutor training programme that ran from 1996 to 2002, and draws lessons for future architect-educators

Martin W. Andrews, Mary Caddick

The University of Portsmouth

Too many universities are practically identical

Sea of sameness: why universities have trouble with branding

Universities need to better embrace commercial opportunities and stop trying to be all things to all people, says Paul Baines

Paul Baines

University of Leicester

Tortoise walking down a road - representing how slow and steady can be more effective than fast

Make classroom connections by drawing from the slow movement

An introduction to the slow movement and its ideology to show how it can inspire approaches to building connection in the classroom, purposefully scaffolding moments of connection into teaching and relating these to learning

Elizabeth Hauke

Imperial College London

Image of a researcher conducting fieldwork

How to develop a code of conduct for ethical research fieldwork

A code of conduct for ethical research fieldwork developed by two researchers at the University of Oxford has been taken up by departments across the institution and beyond. The code authors, Catherine Fallon Grasham and Laura Picot, share lessons they learned along the way

Catherine Fallon Grasham, Laura Picot

University of Oxford

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