A Lancaster University alumna is one of three winners of a global award for outstanding doctoral research in education for her dissertation.

Dr Beverly Leeds, the first UK winner, will receive the Emerald Publishing and the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL) Award, which recognises ‘excellence in research in the field of education’.

Her thesis entitled ‘Temporal Experiences and Perceptions of Part-time Online Distance Learning Students’ explores the different ways in which students experience time whilst studying online programmes.

Dr Leeds, who lives in France, will receive a cash prize, an award certificate, a copy of an Emerald/HETL book and free registration to a HETL conference where she will have the option to present her paper.

In addition to the research award, her research findings could be published in the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education (JARHE).

Dr Leeds, currently a self-employed educational consultant specialising in online distance education, completed her part time PhD at Lancaster in 2018 and attended graduation in December 2018.

“I am delighted to have won the award and look forward to presenting a paper based on my thesis at the next HETL conference in 2020. I also intend to submit an article to the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. “

She received a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2012 while studying part time for the PhD.

The judging panel of experts, chosen from the JARHE Senior Editors and Editorial Advisory Board and the HETL Research and Innovation Advisory Board, was co-ordinated by Dr Patrick Blessinger, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education.

The dissertation topics accepted included higher education, teaching/instruction, learning, curriculum, assessment, service, or any directly related area such as educational leadership, management, policy, development, research, technology, internationalization, teacher preparation, and counselling.

Dr Leeds’s Supervisor, Professor Paul Ashwin said: “This award is a wonderful recognition of the excellent research that Beverly conducted as part of her PhD in E-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning. It is a great example of the ways in which students combine their professional experiences and scholarly research on this PhD programme.”