Higher Education Researcher

Paul Trowler is Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Research and is Director of the fully online PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University. In this episode, Paul talks about his new book “Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes: Higher Education and the Practice Sensibility” which offers a new way of seeing the professional world in higher education through conceptually informed Teaching and Learning regimes framework.

Talking to Paul is is Olga Rotar, doctoral researcher and a member of CHERE@LU.

Melissa James is an alumna of the programme PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University, and a Director of the Undergraduate Programs of the Faculty of Business, University of Prince Edward Island.

Her research explores how practitioners (or staff) of international student recruitment at higher education institutions perceive their institutional strategic plans. It examines their perceptions of strategic plans on their practice and how it shapes their work. It is an international comparison of three institutions - one in Hong Kong, one in the UK and one in Canada. This international comparison helps to understand similarities and differences in international student recruitment, and the study shows that institutional culture is critically important to understanding how strategic plans influence the practice of international student recruitment. 

Melissa can be contacted about her research via [email protected].

Talking to her is Olga Rotar, doctoral researcher and a member of CHERE@LU.

Matthew is a doctoral researcher on the programme PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University, and Deputy Chief Executive in the Students' Union at Buckinghamshire New University. 

Matthew talks about his recent research, which explores quality assurance agencies' use of students in external review and accreditation panels. Matthew outlines the context, methodology, findings, and implications for the practice of his qualitative study. In particular, he discusses his use of Sabri's theory of Assumptive Worlds and his attempt to produce a new typology of involvement that may be used by policymakers. 

Matthew can be contacted about his research via [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/heresearchermk/. 

Talking to him is Olga Rotar, doctoral researcher and a member of CHERE@LU.

Elizabeth Cook is a doctoral researcher on the programme PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University, and a Senior Analyst at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia. 

Having begun her PhD in October 2019, Elizabeth talks about her early experiences in the PhD programme and provides tips for students in the programme. Elizabeth discusses her recently completed research – a critical discourse study that explored the effectiveness of collaboration between higher education providers and the Australian’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment during a current reform project aimed at redeveloping the Australian Higher Education Data Collection. Elizabeth focuses on her topic; research goals, design and methodology; challenges faced and overcome; and how her research findings can contribute to higher education policy development and reform. 

Elizabeth can be contacted about her research via [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizcook/. Talking to her is Olga Rotar, doctoral researcher and a member of CHERE@LU.

Kate is a doctoral researcher on the programme PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University.

In this episode, Kate presents her research exploring students' perceptions of value for money in English Universities. Using Callon’s notion of performativity, she is investigating the extent to which students are cognizant of the market dynamics of English HE including the students as consumers narrative and how the national policies of value for money such as the TEF and LEO impact on their perceptions of value. Her study focuses on those who are first in their family to go to university as a distinctive student group with different expectations, motivations, and experiences to more traditional university students. 

Kate can be contacted about her research at [email protected]  Talking to her is a doctoral researcher Olga Rotar from CHERE@LU.

Madi Ruby is a doctoral researcher on the programme PhD in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University.

In this episode, Madi presents the notion of humanistic management and how it can be applied in higher education. Contemporary management at universities is most typically conceptualised in line with the new public management, or neoliberal managerialism. These are seen as causing increased bureaucratisation of work, ever-rising workload, and staff alienation. Madi presents why this should not be the only view, and how we can focus on human dignity in management practices.  

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, universities are presented with an opportunity to consider humanistic management in how they navigate the challenges created for the higher education (and many other sectors) that the situation causes. Everything is changing, which provides an opportunity for leaders to reflect on how their structures impact on their academic and professional services staff, and opt for a more humanistic model of managing academic work. 

Madi can be contacted about humanistic management and her research at [email protected]. Talking to her is Dr Janja Komljenovic from CHERE@LU.

In this inaugural episode, we are hosting Dr Kyungmee Lee. Kyungmee is a scholar of technology-enhanced learning at Lancaster University, and she has recently written two pieces for The Conversation sharing her tips with academics about online teaching. In these unprecedented times of the pandemic, most universities around the world shut their campuses and buildings, and moved their teaching and learning online. However, this is not so easy to do, and designing a proper online course normally takes a year, as well as huge investments in the academic and support teams, as well as in the infrastructure. For a quality teaching and learning experience, it is not possible to simply move the content from a face-to-face environment onto an online space. But many academics were asked to do just that. Kyungmee shares her tips and views on how to cope with such challenges. Kyugnmee is also a co-Director of the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning. Talking to her is Dr Janja Komljenovic from CHERE@LU.