A Lancaster University Management School scholar has been recognised for her work giving students a bigger say in how their education is shaped.

Dr Radka Newton (Entrepreneurship and Strategy) was awarded a Lancaster Partnership Education Conference Prize for her presentation ‘Learning is a Journey’, based on work she has been undertaking for the last four years.

Dr Newton was awarded LUMS pump prime funding in 2018 to investigate the application of Service Design in the student experience.

Since then, she has worked with more than 150 MSc Management and MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation students at Lancaster, as well as more than 30 students from the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh Napier University. Together, they explored how emotional journey mapping could enhance understanding of student experience.

In June this year, Dr Newton ran a workshop with 60 students and educators at the V&A Dundee, mapping their life learning journeys as part of edujam 2022.

“I’m simply beaming to have received this prize,” said Dr Newton, who helped to set up the conference during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Lancaster Partnership Education connects educators who are committed to improving their own practice and students’ experience.

“This year I presented two papers and my second paper was delivered in collaboration with my students and gave us all a great boost and recognition for all our work on improving the entrepreneurship curriculum. “

Dr Newton’s work has impacted student experience and contributed to enhancements of the MSc Management curriculum. She led the programme between 2017 and 2021.

Her practice is anchored in a collaborative approach with students and staff, and recognises the importance of the student voice and active participation in their learning.

“Students enjoy getting involved and value the opportunity to contribute to their programme improvements,” Dr Newton added. “Emotional journey mapping is widely used in understanding customer experience by large commercial organisations and government services. It moves away from understanding the pure process of what happens when, towards a human-centred appreciation of emotions and life events that accompany any experience we go through.

“This is no different for our students who come to us from all over the world and learn about business and management as well as about themselves as human beings.

“Education advancement can only happen when educators and students collaborate, understand each other’s perspectives, and actively engage in transformations that are meaningful for all.”

Dr Newton’s findings have been published in recent textbook Design Thinking for New Business Contexts, edited by Yujia Huang and Dr David Hands, former colleagues from LICA who supported Dr Newton in developing her practice.