The war on Gaza has devastated universities, forcing students and faculty to navigate immense disruptions to education. Despite these hardships, Palestinian universities persisted with online learning, ensuring students could continue their studies. This study amplifies the voices of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Gaza, most of whom are female learners, alongside the educators who sustained learning under extreme conditions. Using resilience theory, the research examines how both groups adapted to technological barriers, emotional strain, and instability. Data were gathered through an online survey of 81 students and 22 semi-structured interviews, supplemented by the instructor’s reflections. The findings reveal how students did more than endure adversity. They actively shaped their own learning journeys. They exercised agency by creating peer-support networks, developing strategies for navigating online platforms with limited access, and finding ways to remain motivated despite personal and collective trauma. Their input not only informed the learning process but also influenced how instructors adapted their pedagogical approaches in real-time. Educators, in turn, demonstrated resilience by responding to students’ evolving needs, fostering engagement, and providing emotional support. Their experiences highlight the need for student-centered, flexible teaching models and stronger institutional support in contexts of crisis. Focusing on the voices of both students and educators in one of the world’s most challenging learning environments, this study contributes to discussions on inclusion, representation, and learner-driven engagement in higher education

Heritage is an intrinsic part of anyone’s identity, constructing and influencing the interactions one has throughout their life.

Contextualised under the Eugenics Legacy Education Project theme within the UCL ChangeMakers Funding Initiative, the project created by Maria Popa, Ramona Gonczol & Rares Muscar enabled active student-staff engagement in the construction of knowledge and learning through the interpretation of museum object-based learning of Romanian artefacts.

The idea was that it could act as a catalyst for future initiatives, which can challenge curricula covering difficult topics such as migrant prejudices, misconceptions and injustice, contributing towards reshaping societal perceptions, and enriching academic and public discourse around underrepresented and misrepresented heritage cultures.

This episode features Tim Herrick, Ana Souto & Rebecca Godwin reporting back about their findings of a RAISE-funded project to evaluate the impact of two student observation of teaching schemes - Students as Teaching Observers at Nottingham Trent University, and Student Observation of Teaching at the University of Sheffield. Both place students and staff volunteers in small groups to discuss learning and teaching, based on a specific experience such as the student members observing and offering feedback on some of the staff member’s practice. While similar in purpose, SOOT has been established since 2017, and SaTO first ran in 2023; and the two schemes have slightly different remits. Each scheme engages with relevant literature around student observation of teaching (e.g. Cook-Sather, Bovill, and Felten, 2014; O’Leary and Cui, 2020; Herrick and Shotts, 2024), and is closely intertwined with RAISE events and priorities.

The evaluation has highlighted areas where the schemes are working well, and those where they could be developed further. They also identified points of good practice that could be extended to other student observation schemes, or indeed student partnership schemes more broadly. The evaluation project was funded by RAISE, and was carried out by student co-researchers Rebecca Godwin, Morven Keay, Anthea Hiu Ching Ma, and Ria Rampersad, and led by Tim Herrick and Ana Souto.

Please contact Tim or Ana for more information.

Collection of Student feedback is a key activity across all Higher Education Institutions, however, translation into impactful, Student experience enhancing actions remains challenging, as the Student voice needs interpreting through the lens of the genuine Student lived experience. At the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at the University of Salford, a thematic analysis of issues raised by course reps identified ‘communication issues’ as the most commonly reported challenge across the School. This co-created and co-delivered project used live student storytelling to shed light on the frustrations associated with Institutional communication, and connect Staff and Students to build action plans to positively address the issues raised. Project activity centred around Staff Listening and Action Planning Events, creating safe and collaborative spaces for Staff to engage with the Student lived experience, and co-create solutions with both Students and Staff from different subject areas to allow cross-disciplinary explorations. Following this project, the School saw a positive shift in co-created SMART action planning and a decline in reports of communication issues. This project highlights how creating space for academic colleagues to move away from problem solving to a space of empathetic listening, cross-disciplinary learning and co-creation can benefit the Student experience and result in more impactful activity.

In today's diverse university environments, it is crucial to understand how to effectively support a wide range of students, empowering them to navigate their academic journeys successfully. We have initiated a longitudinal study tracking 36 first year undergraduate students throughout their studies at the University.

Our project commenced with a Hackathon, where these first-year students shared their experiences and reflected on what could have better supported them during their initial term. This event provided a platform for students to voice their challenges and propose solutions, fostering a sense of community and collaboration from the outset.

In May 2025, we will conduct six focus groups with the same students to delve deeper into key themes identified during the Hackathon: Assessment, Academia, Community, Communication, and Transitions. These focus groups will allow us to gather more detailed insights and explore the evolving needs and experiences of students as they progress through their university journey.

We hope to share our findings to date, highlighting the initial themes and insights gathered from the Hackathon and focus groups. We will discuss the implications of these findings for enhancing student support and propose strategies for creating a more inclusive and active educational environment. By sharing our research, we hope to contribute to the ongoing conversation about how to best support students in a changing world and inspire others.

This episode is a conversation with Zena Rashid and Pinky Bazaz. It is an exploration into how they are fostering a more inclusive and diverse educational landscape. Discover how the Student Voice Project is reshaping the way they think about student belonging, leadership and empowerment and how they have integrated authentic student perspectives into the heart of educational practices.

Through the episode they spotlight the open and revealing experiences of students from unheard or marginalised communities. By sharing their authentic stories, they demonstrate how these emotional connections to real experiences serve as powerful catalysts for meaningful change. These narratives, which include peer-to-peer experiences that can be perceived as microaggressions, the search for decolonial expertise, and the desire for school-led cultural and community events, resonate deeply with colleagues. They talk about how the project created a stronger urgency for action and transformation compared to traditional metrics. The podcast delves into the project's innovative approach, which prioritises these genuine student voices over conventional feedback mechanisms, thereby opening a more dynamic and responsive student feedback loop.

Listeners will be taken on a journey through the project's principles approach, and findings. You will gain insights into the context and stages of the intervention, the tools and methodologies employed, and the strategies for evaluation and dissemination.

As the National Student Engagement Programme (NStEP) reaches its 10-year milestone in 2026, this podcast reflects on a decade of progress, challenges, and impact in student engagement across Ireland higher education. Since its inception, NStEP has played a pivotal role in strengthening student voice, fostering meaningful partnerships between students and staff, and enhancing student leadership capabilities.

This discussion will explore the evolution of NStEP, highlighting key achievements and lessons learned from the past decade. We will delve into insights from the programme’s strategy review and upcoming 2026 strategy, examining how student engagement has adapted to emerging challenges and opportunities in higher education. The conversation will also focus on the future, considering how NStEP can continue to empower student representatives, drive institutional change, and shape national policy.

Featuring Niamh Kennedy & Rachael Sarsfield-Ryan, this session will provide an engaging reflection on the past, present, and future of student engagement. Hopefully you are able to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of NStEP, explore new ideas for strengthening student voice, and contribute to shaping the next decade of student partnership in higher education.

Resources:

• Online Modules
• Steps to Partnership
• Governance and Student representation toolkit.

A discussion about how Northampton University have listened to the Student Research Panel so that more collaborative approaches to understanding criticality can be taken.

The students on the panel that took part in this episode were:

Jacqueline White (PhD Health & Social Care)

Zala Parker-Orokeeva (BA International Education Top-Up)

Shaheer Syed (Foundation)

While the following students were unable to attend, but were still critical to how the panel worked.

Nadeline Tjandra (MSc in Molecular Medicine)

Livia Tanira (BSc Accounting & Finance)

Michael Mwangi (MBA)

The transition from a rural environment to a large urban university environment can challenging. Poor secondary school quality and social challenges are just a few of the obstacles rural students face when contemplating university. Urban schools often benefit from better resources, more specialised staff, and access to a wider range of extracurricular and academic opportunities than their rural counterparts. As well, expectations of communities may also influence the decision to pursue university. Much of the existing research is quantitative, using numbers and statistics to tell a story, but this neglects the most crucial element: the lived experiences of rural students themselves. We wanted to capture the voices of rural students and learn from their experiences through structured interviews and thematic analysis. Collaboration with a chemistry BSc project student, a rural student himself, not only shaped the direction of the research, but also enhanced its authenticity.We want to ensure these rural students are heard and that the lessons learned from this research project are broadcast to raise awareness that this rural student cohort faces different challenges prior to university, requiring targetedinitiatives, not only to improve access to HE, but also to support a successful transition into HE.

A student-staff partnership with:

Josh Hylands, Student(Final Year Chemistry BSc Project, 2024-2025)

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-hylands-26961122a/

Dr Smita Odedra, Co-Supervisor (Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, Learning Teaching & Scholarship)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drodedra/

BlueSky: @drodedra

Dr Linnea Soler, Co-Supervisor (Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, Learning Teaching & Scholarship)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlinneasoler/

BlueSky: @DrLinneaSoler

This is a brief welcome to the Research, Advancing & Inspiring Student Engagement podcast. This first series revolves around the 2025 RAISE conference @ the University of Glasgow, where the theme was student voice.

Music used courtesy of Pixabay. Created for Pixabay by Liderc