About
We talk to educational leaders and Innovators to discuss their approaches and perspectives on a number of key educational questions. In season 1, we track down a number of individuals who have an established track record for educational innovation and/or leadership at The University of Southampton. We thought we would ask them a few tricky questions too! For example, what does innovation mean and is it the same as teaching excellence? Can the Teaching Excellence Framework accurately measure how good an institution's calibre of teaching really is, and what do the results of the NSS really tell us?
Many of the rich conversations in this podcast discuss how to progress your career through educational excellence, management, engagement and scholarship. As the number of teaching focused contracts have become more common across UK institutions each episode offers advice for those wishing to advance their careers on this pathway - not to be missed!
The host of the Teaching and Scholarship Podcast is Dr Scott Border who is currently a Principal Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton. His focus is on clinical anatomy education, particularly in the field of neuroscience, neurology and head & neck anatomy. His work involves using novel educational approaches through partnering with students in all aspects of their engagement. The national impact of this work was recognised in 2019 when he was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship.
Dr Scott Border
Early on in the podcast we tracked down a number of high profile Educators at Southampton. The very first episode was Professor David Read, who is both a chemist and member of the Centre for Higher Education Practice. David is very well known across The University, both for his teaching innovations and his support and development of those on a teaching focused career track.
Professor David Read
Professor David Read NTF Profile
No podcast on the topic of higher education, worth its weight, would line up too many guests ahead of Professor Simon Kemp. Simon has been an early pioneer and continuing source of inspiration for many people, both at The University and beyond. The picture below was taken at the time of recording and we must say it was an absolute beauty!
Professor Simon Kemp
Another massive name in the world of education at Southampton is James Wilson. We caught up with James to chat about his leading developments in teaching through interactive theatre and how this has evolved to offer extensive contributions to public engagement.
James Wilson
There is lots of great education work going on in the Faculty of Medicine. One particular person who's work stands out is none other than Jude Holloway. She has built a centre of excellence through her MSc Allergy Masters programme and won countless institutional awards for online and face to face support for her students. Our only regret is that we forgot to take a picture of her at the time of recording. Our bad!
Professor Judith Holloway
Professor Judith Holloway NTF Profile
If you are looking for an innovator in the area of employability, look no further than Eleanor Quince. She has been pioneering the Southampton Opportunity Project. She works brilliantly with student partners to achieve beneficial outcomes for them. This is what we call a distinctive Southampton educational experience!
Eleanor Quince Advance HE Resources Profile
One of Southampton's most experienced educational leaders is Professor Shelley Parr. Shelley has been leading educational practice as the Director of the the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP). She has however had a fairly varied career, not forgetting her background as an elite athlete which earned her the opportunity to compete in an Olympic Games as part of team GB (wow!). She must be important because she has her own Wikipedia page!
Shelley Parr Wikipedia Profile
Dr Lucy Green from the Faculty of Medicine at Southampton is passionate about public engagement and outreach alongside her own research and teaching interests in maternal nutrition. She currently holds the position of Head of Engagement within the Faculty and is a key member of the integrated Master's programme team for medical undergraduates. Since this interview she was awarded the Royal Society of Biology's outreach and engagement award. massive congratulations Lucy!
Lucy Green Royal Society of Biology Profile
Jim Anderson is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Southampton and Associate Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Social Sciences. Since this interview Jim has been awarded the highest level of recognition by Advance HE - Principal Fellowship. This status reflects Jim's senior status as an educational leader at the University and we were fortunate to get many of his insights through our conversation with him. Nice!
Alastair McDonald is the Director of Design Education within the School of Engineering, Programme Lead of the Civil Engineering and Architecture course, and Director of the Design Show. Alastair was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award in 2015, the IStructE Excellence in Structural Engineering Education Award in 2018 and an Erskine Teaching Fellowship to the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 2018. Alistair's approach is about real world experience and he sees himself as an architect first and foremost. This is very much reflected throughout his educational philosophy. A wonderful conversation!
Alastair-McDonald Erskine Fellowship Profile
Russell Bentley is a Professor of Political Theory within Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Deputy Head of School - Education at The University of Southampton. He talks eloquently about his vision for teaching excellence. Being able to cut through process to get stuff done is at the heart of his mission. Simply put, this is one of the most compelling listens in our catalogue. This man has a serious way with words!
Russell Bentley speaks about US politics in 2018 on BBC Radio Solent
To say that Dr Neil Gostling loves Charles Darwin would be a serious under statement! Neil has a unique ability to transfer his passion for evolutionary biology on to his students through his enthusiasm and love for the subject. His humble approach empowers the classes that he teaches and he is able to connect with them in a way that very few can. He is one of the most engaging and highly rated lecturers at the University of Southampton. Since this interview was recorded Neil has engaged people during the Covid-19 lockdown with his popular Facebook page 'the dinosaur on your window sill' where anyone interested in the natural world can post pictures ask questions and learn new things from the vast knowledge of its diverse community of members.
Neil Gostling dinosaur-on-your-windowsill.page
Dr Shahnaz Ibrahim, a senior Teaching fellow in strategy, Innovation and entrepreneurship was recently a recipient of the Vice Chancellor's award for teaching. She really knows how to push the boundaries of education and pioneer new techniques to make sure Southampton students have the skills to become the next generation of responsible business leaders.
Shahnaz Ibrahim Southampton Profile
Professor Tony Sampson is the Director of Undergraduate Medical Programmes at the University of Southampton. Medical student's are extremely fond of Tony's acerbic wit in the classroom, and how he weaves this and his inimitable style of storytelling into his passion for pharmacology teaching. Our conversation with Tony was bound to be a highlight of our series. He did not disappoint!
Tony Sampson British Pharmacological Society Profile
Dr Kamil Zwolski is an Associate Professor in International Politics at The University of Southampton. Kamil has invested a lot in his education portfolio and was way ahead of the game using MS Teams with his student partnership work. He is also the Jean Monnet Chair of security governance. Kamil talks in depth about his educational approaches - we could have talked for a lot longer, there was so much to discover about his work and so much that is transferable to other disciplines.
Kamil Zwolski Jean Monnet Chair Profile
Professor Anna Barney is both an Associate Dean (Education) and Pro-Vice Chancellor Education at The University of Southampton. This was a chance to gain some insight into how the senior leadership processes work at the institution. It was a great chance to talk about teaching philosophy and how educational strategies take shape across the entire University.
Anna Barney Listening Across Disciplines Profile
Professor Alex Neill is the Vice-President (Education) and a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton. Despite his senior role we had a very informal and relaxed chat with Alex about his approaches to educational leadership at Southampton. Sometimes he even gets time for lunch would you believe?
Alex Neill Southampton Profile
Our chat with Professor Rachel Mills, who is Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences was an excellent way to get to know her better and gain some insight into her background. It was so great to hear about Rachel's passion and drive for education despite her huge research profile and senior leadership role (including representation on role on the University Executive Board). We got to hear about the free online course she has co-developed called ‘Exploring our Ocean’. It has had global reach and impact on societal understanding of sustainable oceans.
Exploring our Ocean Free Online Course
For our first remote interview due to the Covid-19 global pandemic we invited Professor Sally Curtis on to the show. Many people will be aware of Sally's work on widening participation in Medicine and how her influence on policy and practice has made huge strides forward in this area over recent years. Sally was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2019 and has gone on to be appointed Deputy Head of School Education. Chatting to Sally about how she was managing all the changes was great - we covered so much ground including innovative practice and educational leadership.
We had a brilliant (remote) chat with Neil Ford, who also had his cat alongside him at home for good company. Neil is incredibly passionate about working with students in partnership and breaking down hierarchical barriers to empower them to become co-creators and develop efficient communities of practice. This discussion was one of our highlights from 2020 and let's face it, 2020 wasn't great, was it (?), so this was wonderful!
Catching up with cognitive Psychologist Dr Phil Higham was great. Phil loves learning theory and the robust application of pedagogies to understand how students learn. This episode was a little different than usual since we got stuck right in to Phil's research interests and findings from his own work. We deviated away from some of the familiar questions we ask our guests on the show to concentrate on this stuff, and boy, it was well worth it. There is lots here to take away here which can directly inform your own teaching practice.
Phil Higham Southampton Profile
We enjoyed chatting to Dr Claire Hart a lot. She has a cracking sense of humour and so we might have gone off on a few tangents here and there. Claire is an Associate Professor of social and personality psychology, who researches narcism (amongst other things)! She also teaches a module all about human attractiveness and love - cool right? Her teaching methods are nothing but innovative, so she was the perfect guest, even if her own daughter does happen to think she is boring! We certainly don't.
Dr Claire Hart University Profile
Jessica Sainsbury is well known to many across the University of Southampton as a hard working adult and mental health nursing student (now graduated and working in the NHS). She also has strong CHEP connections too, having worked as an intern. Jess has been very vocal on educational issues, speaking up regularly on matters of national debate in the nursing community. We knew it was important to hear the student voice on this podcast and Jess stood out as someone who would provide us with very useful insights. It was brilliant to get an honest and thoughtful opinion of her learning journey at Southampton
