Newer & Early Career Researchers Conference

SRHE Newer Researchers’ Conference 5th December 2017
Coldra Court, Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales, UK.

Higher Education Rising to the Challenge:
Balancing expectations of students, society and stakeholders

This linked conference provides a unique opportunity for postgraduate and early career/newer researchers to share and discuss their work with peers and scholars from the higher education research community in a supportive and developmental environment.

Keynote speaker

Dr Camille Kandiko-Howson Senior Lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Head of Student Engangement, King’s College London.

Keynote Address	Post-keynote Address Interview

Biography

Dr Camille B. Kandiko Howson joined King's College London in 2008. In a cross-institutional capacity she works on student engagement and experience enhancement initiatives at KCL. She provides leadership in terms of engaging students and staff with areas of education policy and student engagement with enhancement.

Camille’s current research focuses on international and comparative higher education, with expertise in student surveys. She has areas of interest in higher education reform; the student experience, student engagement and the curriculum; academic leadership, prestige and gender; interdisciplinarity and creativity; and developing the use of concept mapping in higher education and intersectionality in research design.

She is involved in national higher education policy research on students and the student experience, working with the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Department for Education and the Higher Education Academy ( HEFCE/DfE/HEA) on learning gain research; with HEFCE and the HEA on student surveys, including the National Student Survey and the UK Engagement Survey (NSS and UKES); with the Office for Students and the Quality Assurance Agency (OfS and QAA) on student engagement and student expectations; and the Leadership Foundation (LF) on academic motivation, prestige and gender. She convenes the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Student Experience Network and sits on the Research and Development Committee.

Camille holds a first degree in English and Classics from Cornell University (USA) and a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from The University of Pennsylvania (USA). She was awarded her PhD by Indiana University (USA) in 2007; her thesis title was Student Engagement in Canada and the U.S. in an Era of Globalization. Before taking up successive posts at King’s Learning Institute (Research Assistant, Research Associate, Research Fellow), she was project associate at IU working on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

Higher Education Research: A Personal Reflection on Policy and Practice

Think piece

Based on 15 years of research in higher education, this talk offers a reflection on policy, practice and personal reflections. This talk is structured into two main sections. It begins with the need for having a driving purpose and goal for pursuing research, in my case evidence-informed enhancement of higher education. The first section covers the landscape of research topics I have covered: student experience, academic leadership, curriculum and supervision. Drawing on network theory, these themes are analysed for areas of connection. Each theme is explored in relation to broad questions being addressed and the various roles I have had. For example, under student experience a strand of work is student engagement and student surveys. I have had research roles on survey design, institutional-based responsibilities, policy engagement through formal consultations, expert advice and sector advisory groups and public engagement through media commentary. Another strand of work is quality, addressing student expectations and perceptions of higher education. Drawing on these areas of research has led me to inform policy on student surveys and on student engagement for the Office for Students. Following the thematic review, I analyse areas of work related to specific methodologies, externally-funded research, and different approaches and activities, including areas of international and comparative research.

The subsequent section pull out insights relevant for newer career researchers in five main areas. Firstly are the different skills sets that are useful when developing a research career, including writing for different audiences; developing methodological toolkits; collaboration with others; and personal attributes. Secondly, I discuss strategic approaches to roles and responsibilities to build longer term success. Next I cover delivering impact from research and the different audiences for impact. The final two sections draw more explicitly on my personal journey through pursuing areas of research without large numbers of other researchers and ways to be successful. The final section covers challenges and tips to cope with these.

Rather than do extensive presentation slides I plan to make a large concept map of the thematic areas of research and largely speak to that, highlighting and drawing out different networks of activity and approaches. I plan to present some challenges to the audience and break up the talk with brief opportunities for people to share their own experiences and goals.

Conference Information

Conference Programme In Full & Conference Timetable

Newer Researchers Conference Registration

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