The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Thanks….. This is a issue relevant for discussion among colleagues….how organize and manage this dual activity is always a field of discussion… so I think that to speak about it in this event is a great opportunity for sharing ideas and proposal Fabrizio Gardoni Associate Professor of Pharmacology

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers RESEARCH AND TEACHING Is the relationship between research and teaching in a “Research-rich University” challenging? How can a professor in a “Research-rich University” perform efficiently in both activities? How can teaching and research be productively organized? I’d like to focus my presentation trying to address they points and, in particular, trying to answer to key questions….

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers How can research activity be useful for teaching activity? How can teaching activity be useful for research activity? How can a Research-Rich University provide the best support for Professors in their dual activity? However I think that we should do a step forward and not only try to combine the two activities but also identify how one of the two activities can be helpful for the other one and to identify how a RRU can play a fundamental role in this issue

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Fabrizio Gardoni Associate Professor of Pharmacology Research activity: Neuroscience field; Understanding of the molecular mechanisms modulating the efficacy of the glutamatergic synapse; Understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to synaptic failure in neurodegenerative disorders; Identification of novel pharmacological targets for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. I think that the best think I can do is to make concrete examples speaking about my personal teaching and research activity.

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Is my teaching activity correlated to/congruent with my research activity? Fabrizio Gardoni Associate Professor of Pharmacology Teaching activity (120h): Experimental pharmacology (48h) Degree programme in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Pharmacology (64h) Degree programme in Chemical Safety and Toxicological Environmental Sciences Molecular diagnostic and therapy (8h) Degree programme in Medical Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine Is my teaching activity correlated to my research activity? …….. YES. Personally I can say that everything is apparently well-organized because all my courses are quite related to my field of research….!

How can research activity be useful for teaching activity? Experimental pharmacology (48 hours) Degree programme in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology (4th year) A high level research activity can allow for: Teaching of state-of-art experimental approaches in preclinical and experimental pharmacology routinely used in research activity or recently published; Teaching of state-of-art tools (techniques, cellular models) in experimental pharmacology routinely used in research activity or recently published. Training of students about reading manuscript, preparing journal club presentations, …..

How can research activity be useful for teaching activity? Pharmacology (64h) Degree programme in Chemical Safety and Toxicological Environmental Sciences (2nd year) A high level research activity can allow for high level teaching including: Teaching about up-to-date preclinical and clinical studies on novel drug targets and/or novel drugs. Promote critical thinking, problem solving, engaged learning. Being a good researcher will allow for an efficient dissemination to the students of the value of science and the passion of a researcher.

How can research activity be useful for teaching activity? How can University and faculty help professors in this transfer of knowledge? If feasible, make all efforts to assign to professors courses ”strictly” related to their expertise and activity as researchers. Avoid to make University quite similar to a high-level (super) high-school

How can teaching activity be useful for research activity? Can a good level teaching activity be instrumental for a lab/research activity? Yes! Being a good teacher will allow for transferring to students the relevance and passion for scientific research. Recruitment of high-level students for their internship for the preparation of master thesis and/or for the Ph.D.

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Only a dual role? How many different types of activities do a professor in his/her daily routine? Teaching Exams Meetings-Congresses Dissemination activities Project writing Manuscript writing Department and faculty duties Lab meetings Administrative issues - Budget !!!! Experiments!!!!!!!!!!!!! However everyone knows that speaking about DUAL role of professors, namely research and teaching, is somehow limited, because a professor involved in biomedical research is routinely involved in several different activities….

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Need for a substantial and constant help and support from different offices and structures of the Institution Research: Support from Grant/Research offices Support from Audit Office Support for dissemination activities Support in the training of pH.D.students/postdocs (soft skills, transferable skills) Availability of state-of-art facilities needed for high-quality research activity (Unitech)

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Need for a substantial and constant help and support from different offices and structures of the Institution Teaching: Avoid to change routinely (every year or similar) the courses assigned to each professor; Fruitful collaboration for logistics (time-schedule, location); Institutional infrastructure — physical and organizational — is required for effective teaching.

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Issues that could be improved in our teaching activity: Too often we “talk” at students rather than engage them in activities that help them to learn and apply core scientific concepts and skills. We must aim to create engaging learning environments in which students are participants rather than passive note-takers or followers of ‘cookbook’ laboratory experiments. Students learn better when they participate in and reflect on their own learning process. We need to shift our perspective form “What did I teach?” to “What did my students learn?” Senior university administrators have crucial roles in creating a culture that values teaching and a support structure that drives continuing improvement and innovation.

The dual role of professors as researchers and teachers Issues that could be improved at Institutional level: Universities needs to provide adequate incentives, support or rewards for the time that professors spend on improving teaching; Universities needs to assign a balanced priority to undergraduate teaching compared to research; Valuing teaching must move from rhetoric to reality – valuing teaching should have a higher impact on professor academic career. Teaching is crucial to developing a science-literate population that can address the complex and interdisciplinary challenges of our time.

Position Paper Make teaching count for promotion and tenure. Review committees must be trained to evaluate, use and weigh up data on teaching and learning, following carefully crafted guidelines; Universities should reward excellent teaching and create additional incentives for outstanding teaching and leadership of student education, providing high quality educational leadership programs; When hiring new personnel, an applicant’s former teaching experience and success should be included and valued in the decisive criteria. These concepts have been also clearly addressed in a very recent position paper published by Leru League of European Research Universities (LERU)

Position Paper Maximising research-education synergies - enriching research through student Education: Students must be considered as potential future researchers and partners, not just as objects in the teaching process; Not all students will become academic researchers, but all benefit from engaging in research, which develops a wide range of skills and attributes needed for the workplace and for life, including evidence-based thinking, problem solving and ethical awareness. Teachers should address students’ independent thinking, encourage their own research, and foster their analytical, critical, creative and social skills. League of European Research Universities (LERU) League of European Research Universities (LERU)

LERU member universities – Summary of agreed principles: Position Paper LERU member universities – Summary of agreed principles: 1. Develop strategies that enhance the synergies between research and student education; 2. Work in partnership with students and other stakeholders, wherever possible, to implement research-rich curricula; 3. Regard excellent teaching and education-focused scholarship as activities on a par with excellent research; 4. Reward and promote excellent university teachers and education-focused leaders; 5. Inform teaching with the latest findings and practices of research and offer active research experience to all students from the undergraduate phase onwards; 6. Recognise that the skills and knowledge needed for research are vital for many citizens in the modern world, and articulate this clearly to students and employers; 7. Foster a culture of quality and enhancement, through dialogue and collaboration, with respect to student education and the student experience. 8. Empower students to become leaders and agents of change. League of European Research Universities (LERU)