Professor Paul Trowler
ProfessorResearch Overview
I am an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and the Society for Research into Higher Education (FSRHE). My full CV can be downloaded here. My work on Academic Tribes and Territories is well-known but my interests also range across many areas of higher education research and consultancy. I apply policy sociology and social practice lenses across domains of research and evaluation which broadly concern policy production and enactment in different higher education contexts. I work with an eye to making a difference: 'enhancement' is a key watchword. I have advised institutional leaders, higher education organizations and change agents in higher education around the world for many years. I am keen to enhance doctoral education and have several dedicated books and Xerte resources to do this.
Research Interests
Paul has researched, published and produced reports in the areas of:
- Academic disciplinary differences and academic cultures (“Academic Tribes and Territories”)
- Doctoral supervisory practices
- Student engagement in higher education
- Departmental leadership in higher education
- The ‘teaching-research nexus’ in higher education
- Cultures and change in higher education (“teaching and learning regimes”)
- The enhancement of learning and teaching in higher education: policy production and enactment
- Institutional change in higher education
- Social practice theory/socio-material theory
- Insider research and ethnographic research in higher education
- Doctoral research into higher education
- Supporting doctoral learning online
- Centres for Excellence – evaluation studies
- Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework – evaluation studies
- Subject Centres – evaluation studies
- Higher Education Funding Council for England – evaluation study
- Strategic development in higher education institutions – evaluation study
Downloads of many publications, keynote talks, research reports etc. are available at academia.edu.
Paul was the initiator of and main organizer for the first three Higher Education Close Up conferences as well as a more recent one. These are devoted to fine-grained research into higher education.
Profile
I engage in research, evaluation and development work with universities and higher education funding and policy bodies across the world, most recently in Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Chile, Italy, Norway, Australia and Ireland.
Current Research
Current Research and Writing includes:
- October 2022 - Doctoral Research from Inspiration to Completion: Blended Resources. KDP. Online book and resources associated with each chapter. Development of the latter continuing on the basis of user feedback.
- Journal article (2022) Doctoral Supervision: Sharpening the Focus of the Practice Lens, Higher Education Research and Development. 41, 5, 1743-1756.
- Book for Oxford University Press, 2020. Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes: Higher education and the practice sensibility.
Current Teaching
Director of HEREE Doctoral Research Programme.
Find out more about the programme: https://xerte.lancaster.ac.uk/play.php?template_id=1229
Module leader of two HEREE modules.
Supervisor to numerous PhD students
PhD Supervision Interests
I supervise a large number of doctoral researchers from the Department's several PhD programmes. For this reason I can only consider supervising non-programmatic PhDs in my specialist area. This is summed up in my recent (2020) book Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes: Higher Education and the practice sensibility. Oxford University Press. Any research proposal must be directly linked to the issues and suggestions in that book. Please do not contact me directly about PhD supervision applications. For equity reasons all applications must be made through the normal application procedure: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/educational-research/study/phd/traditional-route-phd/#d.en.410253
Development of the Indicators of Enhancement
01/11/2013 → 30/06/2014
Research
HEA Enhancement Policy Review
06/05/2013 → 28/02/2014
Research
HEFCE Enhancement Review Project: Future directions for Learning and Teaching Enhancement in England: institutional roles and interventions
06/05/2013 → 01/11/2013
Research
Researching Blended and Online Pedagogies for Doctoral Programmes in Education
01/01/2013 → 01/01/2015
Research
Leadership practices for student engagement
01/02/2011 → 31/08/2011
Research
Student Engagement in Higher Education
01/03/2010 → 02/08/2010
Research
Evaluating the Strategic Development Programme at Southampton Solent University
01/01/2010 → 08/01/2013
Consultancy
Enhancing the Teaching-Research Nexus
01/09/2006 → 31/08/2007
Other
Doctoral Supervision: A social practice approach
Invited talk
Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through the Practice Lens.
Invited talk
There's always a revolution coming: pathways for higher education after the shock of emergency remote teaching
Invited talk
Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes
Invited talk
Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes
Invited talk
Ten Key Components of Doctoral Research - Workshop
Invited talk
Centres of Excellence and the Dynamics of Change Processes in Higher Education
Invited talk
National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (Ireland) (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Do Academic Tribes and their Territories Still Matter? Keele University, October 2015.
Invited talk
Building Engagement for Enhancement Initiatives, Sheffield Hallam University, June 29, 2015.
Invited talk
Enhancing Learning and Teaching in England: What should the HE funding council do?
Invited talk
Researching Academic Disciplines
Invited talk
Higher Education Close Up 7 Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Keynote speech "Differing takes on ‘student engagement’ – affinities, dispositions and implementation issues"
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
50 Years on from Robbins: the emerging centrality of student engagement and partnership.
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Academic Tribes and Territories Reconsidered
Invited talk
University of Graz Spring School Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre Inaugural Learning and Teaching Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Keynote Speech - Raising Aspirations in a Time of Change
Invited talk
Ethnographies of Higher Education
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Sheffield Hallam Faculty Forum
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Higher Education Close Up 6
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Liverpool John Moores University Learning and Teaching Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
University College Blackburn Staff Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
QAA Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Oxford University Talk on academic tribes and territories
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
European Foundation for Management Develepment Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Educational development colloquium Gothenburg University
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
MasterClass University of Queensland
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Masterclass to Griffith University on Researching Higher Education
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Gold Coast Educational Development Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Keynote to Higher Education Research and Development Association (HERDSA) Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Masterclasses to the University of the Sunshine Coast
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Mobility, Language, Literacy Symposium, Cape Town
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Dynamic Content and Language Collaboration in Higher Education: theory, research and reflections
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
NUS/HEA conferences Student Engagement: Evidence and Practice
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
NUS/HEA conferences Student Engagement: Evidence and Practice
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Higher Education Close Up 5 Conference.
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Tomorrow's Sustainable Universities Conference.
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Higher Council of Education (Consejo Superior de Educación, CSE) and the National Commission for Accreditation (Comisión Nacional de Acreditación, CNA), XIII Annual International Conference. Santiago, Chile. October 21-22, 2009.
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Symposium on Evaluative Practices
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Re-Organization of Higher Education in Europe.
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
University of Galway Symposium on The Teaching-Research Nexus
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
London Institute of Education Centre for Higher Education Studies Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Carrick Fellowship Symposium
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
University of Central Lancashire Conference Academic Identities in Crisis?
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Nottingham University Institute for Research into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Chester University's annual staff conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Invited series of talks to staff at the University of Oslo
Invited talk
- Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation
- Centre for Social Justice and Wellbeing in Education