Engagement is a term we use ubiquitous when we refer to our work with students, employers, community to mention only a few groups. For this FoFi series we will explore the concept of engagement, with its nuances and ambiguities and ask what it really means in practice.

Keynotes

Professor Paul Ashwin, Head of Educational Research, Lancaster University

What could we mean by transforming the curriculum and student engagement and why does it matter? (1 hour)

Lancaster University’s Curriculum Transformation project sets an ambitious agenda for educational change in the University, which has student engagement at its core. In this presentation, I will explore possible meanings of curriculum transformation and student engagement and the ways in which these can be used to enhance students’ access to powerful knowledge.

Professor Robert Barratt, Eden Project Chair of Education and Engagement

How will the MBC social ecosystem model empower CYP to protect their home, Morecambe Bay? (40 minutes)

The challenge of the Morecambe Bay Curriculum is to create a place-based, sustainable, environmental, educational, social and economic curriculum based upon the unique nature of Morecambe Bay. This proposition draws upon localism theory as a corrective to current conceptions of how these sectors inter-relate. The proposal is the creation of an inclusive social ecosystem model that links sustainable living, environmental care, work and learning as a new local approach to future living (the Bay Lifestyle) and skills development. Since 2019 we have been working to establish the conditions that support the formation of a social ecosystem model. That is, through the formation of a collaborative network (educationalists, environmentalists, employers, health professionals, community and charitable partners) with key anchor institutions that facilitate skills development and civic participation.
Children and young people (CYP), earth pioneers, are at the centre of this mission -led aspiration. In particular, how CYP can be supported to engage and lead on curriculum development that prioritises the planetary emergency, our relationship to the natural world and our future survival.

This presentation will respond to the key question: How will the MBC social ecosystem model empower CYP to protect their home, Morecambe Bay?

Respondents:

Dr Alli Jones, Interim Chief Academic Officer, University Academy 92

Professor Jane Taylor, Director of the Institute for Curriculum Enhancement & University Dean for Academic Quality

Chair: Dr Hannah Morgan, Sociology (please note Hannah has now left Lancaster)

Link to respondents, questions & discussion (45 minutes)

Facing out: Why 'decolonise' the University? May 2021

External Keynote: Professor Gurminder K Bhambra. Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex and Fellow of the British Academy.

Reflections on ‘Decolonising the University’

Last year saw the global resurgence of Black Lives Matter movements. These took place in the midst of a global coronavirus pandemic which has had a disproportionate impact upon minority ethnic populations in the Global North. Together, these events have constituted the basis for a new, or renewed, reckoning with inequality and how it is understood as a product of historical processes of colonialism and empire. This has perhaps been most vividly illustrated by the toppling of statues and wider discussions about how history is publicly represented; including the longer-standing work done by movements and campaigns calling for the university to be decolonised. This has provoked many media commentators, politicians, and academics to warn against the threats posed to the very foundations of Western civilisation and its institutions if such calls are heeded. In contrast, I suggest that their concern is less with the erasure of history, than the fact that attention is drawn to omissions or misrepresentations within the telling of history. In this talk, I identify some of the main issues at stake in calls to ‘decolonise the university’ and point to the need to build resources for a more dynamic and rigorous curriculum that works for us all.

The recording of Professor Gurminder K Bhmbra's talk.

Internal respondents came from across Bailrigg campus faculties

Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion, Department of Philosophy Politics & Religion & Lancaster University, Strategic Race Advisory Group Chair.
Professor Christina Hicks, Lancaster Environment Centre.
Fabiha Askari, Second year undergraduate within the Department of Philosophy Politics & Religion.
Professor Paul Connolly, Dean for the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

The recordings of colleagues' responding contributions can be found on E-Stream from this link

Facing In: How to 'decolonise' the University? June 2021

This informal event welcomed participant discussion & questions following colleague and student presentations.

• Ala Sirriyeh & Fran Coin, Department of Sociology
• Gordon Walker, Lancaster Environment Centre
• Sophie Alkhaled, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, LUMS
• Irene Kyomuhangi, Medical School
• Ala Sirriyeh & Sunita Abraham, Department of Sociology

The recordings for the above colleagues' contributions can be found on E-Stream from this link

• Eva Li, Department of Sociology
• Josh Sendall, Digital Innovation & Research Services, Library
• Jude Rowley, North West Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership student
• Sunita Abraham, “Lancaster Black History Group: Decolonising work with Local Communities"
• Maarten Michielse and Yang Hu, Department of Sociology

The recordings for the above colleagues' contributions can be found on E-Stream from this link

All ICE Facing Out, Facing In events are recorded and can be found from E-Stream, using the search terms ICE or FoFi.

For the winter 2020 lecture, we welcomed our keynote speaker, Professor Stephen Sterling, Professor of Sustainability Education in the Centre for Sustainable Futures at Plymouth University. Responding to Stephen’s lectures, we welcomed our internal keynote: Professor Nigel Watson, Professor in Environmental Governance, Lancaster University.

Stephen and Nigel’s lectures and the following discussion highlighted the challenge and complexity of seeking sustainability in HE, within the curriculum and in our wider lives.

Please find the lectures and discussion from the links below.

• Professor Stephen Sterling: Concern, Congruence and Contribution: re-purposing higher education in unprecedented times (30 minutes)
• Professor Nigel Watson: Searching for sustainability in a ‘wicked’ and ambiguous world: Opportunities for fresh thinking and learning in Higher Education (40 minutes)

The Sustainable Education event discussion (1 hour 20 minutes)

December 2020

For the spring 2020 lecture, we welcomed our keynote speaker, Professor Siân Bayne, Professor of Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, Director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education and the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Our internal responding keynote speaker: Professor Simon Guy, PVC Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global (Digital, International, Sustainability, Development). In retrospect, given the imminent pandemic context, this was an incredibly timely conversation, and one that helpfully benchmarks just how far the institution has come in a short space of time.

Watch their lectures from the links below:

• Professor Siân Bayne (32 mins)
• Professor Simon Guy (55 mins)

February 2020

At a time of significant change in UK higher education, there is an increasing focus on student interest. This is evident in respect of student wellbeing and the examination of differential outcomes with reference to student attainment. This talk focuses on the national approach to inclusivity for disabled students and most importantly how lessons learned can benefit all students.

For this Institute for Curriculum Enhancement, 'Facing Out, Facing In' event we welcomed, external keynote speaker: Professor Geoff Layer, OBE, Vice-Chancellor, University of Wolverhampton & our internal responding keynote speaker: Dr Leanne Thompson, Lancaster University Disability and Inclusion Manager.

Watch their lectures from the links below:

• Professor Geoff Layer's Keynote: (50 mins)

• Dr Leanne Thompson's Keynote response: (1 hour)

July 2019

For this lecture we welcomed Professor Dilly Fung, Pro-Director for Education, London School of Economics, and Jane Taylor, Professor of Plant Science at Lancaster University and currently Dean for Academic Quality, as they explored the role of research for teaching in higher education.

In a recent Times Higher Education article "Are teaching and research mutually exclusive?", Jack Grove questioned the merits of the research-led teaching concept, the article argued that research and teaching are both time intensive and demanding vocations, and conflating the two dilutes their individual importance. Additionally, he noted that with ever-increasing class sizes and the multiple and increasing demands on students, academics and the curriculum, there is the wider question of role research actually plays in the university experience and futures of undergraduate education.

In her book ‘The Connected Curriculum” (Fung, 2017), Professor Fung explores the complexity of the connections between teaching, learning, research and higher education. In this lecture she argued that in an increasingly challenging and complex world the benefits are multiple, from creating wider and more interesting and critical pedagogic conversations, through to providing transformational educational opportunities which impact both the student and wider society. Taking a Lancaster University perspective Professor Taylor responded as she reflected on her experience promoting research in her own teaching experience o along with the challenges and benefits along with the challenges and benefits for the Lancaster student experience.

Watch their lectures from the links below:

• Dilly Fung’s talk
• Jane Taylor’s talk

December 2018