In advance of the publication of an edited collection with Springer Nature which explores pracademics, including their role within higher education and their professional development, we invite delegates to join us in exploration of the key themes.

We will be joined by several of the contributors from the collection, who will share their insights into the broad theme of ‘pracademia’ based on their own experiences from a range of different disciplines.

The discussion of the diversity of higher education faculty is timely in the context of the changing regulatory landscape necessitated by the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and, more broadly, the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

This session will be interactive, each contributor will deliver a short ‘lightning talk’ followed by questions and reflective discussions. As well as providing attendees with insights from the forthcoming edited collection and giving contributors an opportunity to to seek feedback on their working draft chapters, this session will encourage discussions around the roles of pracademics within the Higher Education environment. Audience members will also be invited to join the Pracademia community of practice with Advance HE Connect.

This event will broadly appeal to researchers, practitioners, and students in higher education, particularly those interested in SRHE's activities around Academic Practice, Newer Researchers, and Higher Education Policy.

 Schedule

12:30 - 12:45: Welcome & Introduction

12:40 - 1:30 Lightning Talks 1: Pracademia Identities including Q&A/reflective activity

•    Mary Kitchener, Oxford Brookes University: Navigating a career change from professional practice to academia 
•    Michelle Stirk, University of Nottingham: The pracademic, where practice meets theory 
•    Jill Dickinson, University of Leeds and Teri-Lisa Griffiths: The value of objects: how artefacts can enrich professional reflection and reflexivity 

1:30 - 1:40 Comfort break

1:40 - 2:30 Lightning Talks 2: Professional Development, including Q&A/reflective activity

•    Steve Johnson, Sheffield Hallam University: The role of pracademics in addressing the rigour-relevance gap in business and management research 
•    Funmi Obembe, DeMonfort University: Pracademics: Facilitating smooth transition from industry to academia   
•    Jan Gurung, Sheffield Hallam University: Resilient networking and collaboration – solving the puzzle. How to balance being a practitioner and a researcher. 
 

2:30 - 3:30 Lightning Talks 3: Teaching Practice, including Q&A/reflective activity

•    Omar Madhloom, University of Bristol and Laura Bradley, University of Law: The Value of Autonomy in Clinical Legal Education 
•    Nick Pilcher, Edinburgh Napier University: Construction and Engineering Higher Education: the role of Pracademics in Recoupling Classical Experiential Educational norms 
•    Emily Walsh, University of Portsmouth: More than mere context: the role of former practitioners in surveying education 
•    Nichola Cadet, Sheffield Hallam University: Those who can, do (and teach): Developing simulations to bring practitioners and students together. 

3:30 - 3:45 Closing comments: Jill Dickinson and Teri-Lisa Griffiths
 

Facilitator

Dr Jill Dickinson is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Leeds. Before moving into academia, Jill spent over 10 years working as a Solicitor in private practice for national and international law firms. Specialising in commercial property, Jill has taught students in Law, Engineering, Business and Management, and Real Estate. Jill enjoys working with students, colleagues, and external contacts to develop collaborations between practice and academia around teaching and learning, employability, professional development, and research, and she has recently completed a secondment with the Student Engagement, Evaluation, and Research Team. Jill is a Senior Fellow with Advance HE, and was selected as a Reviewer for the Global Teaching Excellence Awards. Her approach has been recognised in the Emerald Literati Awards for Excellence and her publications on Higher Education focus on topics including learning spaces and professional development.

Teri-Lisa Griffiths is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University. A former careers adviser, her teaching and assessment activities are focussed on embedding employability and career development skills into the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum. As the Year Tutor and Employability Lead for Criminology, an awareness of how institutional and national policy initiatives impact on course delivery is influential in her work. Her research interests are focussed on professional development and the student experience. As a founding member of both Hallam Pracademia and the Advance HE Connect Pracademia Networks, Teri-Lisa is interested in the professional development of former/current practitioners who now lecture/research in HE. Her research explores where and how spaces of personal and professional development emerge both on and off campus.