Event Details

The BEST network invites you to join a seminar exploring academic identities in education-focused roles within research-intensive business and management schools.

The seminar will provide a reflective and collaborative space to discuss the lived realities of teaching-focused academic work, including:

• Academic identity in education-led roles
• Working within research-intensive cultures
• Pedagogical innovation and educational leadership
• Visibility, recognition, and career pathways for educators

Speakers will be drawn from across the BEST network.

This will include Anna Goatman and Jenni Rose from Alliance Manchester Business School who will present on Making the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Visible in a Changing Academic Landscape. They will explore how evolving academic expectations, and new promotions criteria focused on scholarship, are shaping the recognition and impact of the scholarship of teaching and learning, and how this intersects with academic identity. This will draw on Anna’s experience with the University of Manchester scholarship criteria within the promotions process, and Jenni’s perspective as a business school academic who co-leads the University Scholarship Network.

We will also benefit from speakers who contributed to the forthcoming book How to Become an Education-Focused Professor: Strategies and Stories from Business Schools and Beyond (Edited by Rushana Khusainova, University of Bristol, and Sally Everett, King’s College London; publication May 2026). Drawing on the experiences of academics at different stages of their journey, the book explores methods to enhance student learning, revolutionise teaching approaches and shape the future of higher education.

This seminar marks the start of a collective effort to reframe and elevate education-focused academic identities. Participants will be invited to contribute reflections and feedback to help co-create a Statement of Educational Practice, intended to sit alongside research standards and inform future Business and Management SoTL frameworks.

We hope you will join us for this opportunity to reflect, connect, and shape the future of education-led academic work.