2025 Prize Winners

Attentive love as critical pedagogy for science teacher education by Betzabe Torres Olave, University of Leeds

Betzabe Torres Olave has been a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds since completing her PhD in Science

Education at the University of Bristol (2018-2022). Previously, Betzabe earned an MRes in Educational Research (Distinction) from the University of Bristol, an MA in Philosophy of Science (Distinction) from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and a BSc in Education (Physics) from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile. Her research has focused on critical studies of science cultures and pedagogies, highlighting the sociopolitical dimension of science and the transformative power of educators. She co-edited the special issue “Reflecting on Freire: a praxis of radical love and critical hope for science education”, celebrating Freire’s influences on science educators’ praxis. Her work has been influenced by the diverse collectives in which she participates.

In this SRHE-funded project titled “Attentive love as critical pedagogy for science teacher education”, Betzabe will introduce Simone Weil’s concept of attentive love to transform epistemological foundations of science teacher education in higher education. Through theatre-based methods inspired by Weil’s philosophy and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, she will work with science teacher educators from global North and South contexts, examining how educators engage with and potentially transform dominant science narratives. By centring love for the world and its needs, this project aims to disrupt hegemonic epistemologies and contribute to more socially just understandings of science education amid pressing global challenges while advancing the theoretical foundations of critical pedagogies through Weil’s philosophy.

Understanding research culture at the level of the personal: Interactions between academics and non-academic staff in UK HE by Jess Pilgrim-Brown, University of Bristol

Jess is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford where her work spans equalities and access in higher education, research on research, research cultures, the experiences of professional services staff and the marginalisation of underrepresented groups in the academy. Her thesis research, ‘Doing the heavy lifting: the experiences of working-class professional services and administrative staff in Russell Group universities’ was conducted at Oxford Brookes University under the guidance of Prof. Patrick Alexander and Dr. Carol Brown and focused on interrelationships, organisational cultures, inequalities and widening participation provision. She currently works on the ‘Equal-Insight’ project in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol and the ‘Diverse contributions to educational research’ project at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. Prior to working in research, Jess was a project officer in research administration in the university and NGO sectors, a teaching assistant, and an elite level athlete and sports coach.

In this SRHE funded project, Jess will explore the complex and multifaceted relationships professional services and administrative staff have with their academic counterparts across the landscape of UK higher education. This exploration will focus on the collection and analysis of insights and data from across jurisdictions, roles and responsibilities and HEI provision.  Such relationships are absolutely critical to the development and expansion of positive and impactful research cultures within the scope of UKHE; by exploring these further it is hoped that recommendations can be made for improving these relationships and creating better, positive and collaborative research environments across the academy.

Early Career Researchers in Hong Kong: Nascent Academic Identity Formation amidst Internationalisation-driven Context of Hong Kong Academia by Yabing Liu, The Education University of Hong Kong

Yabing is a doctoral candidate in the Department of International Education at The Education University of Hong Kong. She is also a doctoral associate research fellow at the The Centre for Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies (CHELPS). With a background in higher education leadership and teaching experience in both Mainland China and the United States, her research interests span international and comparative higher education, doctoral education, academic identity formation, and international student mobility. Her doctoral research examines the academic identity development of Mainland Chinese doctoral students in Hong Kong, focusing on how students navigate complex institutional, cultural, and policy environments during their research journeys. She has published in leading peer-reviewed journals and actively participates in global academic communities through conference presentations and peer-review service.

Her SRHE-funded project, investigates how early career researchers (ECRs) develop their academic identities while working in Hong Kong’s highly internationalised and increasingly competitive higher education sector. Drawing on narrative inquiry and thematic analysis, the study explores ECRs’ motivations for choosing Hong Kong, the challenges and opportunities they encounter, and the strategies and support systems they employ to manage their professional development. By foregrounding ECRs’ lived experiences and identity trajectories, the project aims to generate practical insights to inform institutional policies on academic talent attraction, retention, and development, while also contributing theoretically to scholarly debates on academic identity and international academic mobility.