Delivering Impact via Student Research: Sharing Best Practice Asiya Khan, Richard Pemberton, Priska Schoenborn, Suki Honey and Andy Edward- Jones University of Plymouth, School of Engineering & Educational Development 20th April 2018 PRTI funded project

Project Background & Motivation Healey and Jenkins (2009, p. 3) and Walkington et al (2008) argue that learning through research and inquiry should be experienced by all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions. Walkington (2015) summarise that “the dissemination of research is an integral part of the research cycle/process and allows students to develop graduate attributes”. This project builds on previous work by Gresty et al (2012) that led to the launch of Plymouth Student Scientist in line the University’s strategy on RiT. Asiya

Project Aims This investigative research study aims to: collect evidence of success (converting undergraduate projects into peer-reviewed journal papers) both internally and externally. redefine undergraduate projects to develop staff-student collaborations that enable final year projects to be converted into peer-reviewed research papers . identify areas of good practice that can encourage cultural change. Asiya

Research Methods A pilot questionnaire developed and administered at the VCs conference (participants: 10) Online questionnaire sent to around 90 participants both internal and external identified from Plymouth Student Scientist and BCUR (responses: 28) Ran two focus groups with 5 members of staff internally Asiya

Questionnaire Questions around undergraduate activity that led to publications How the topics were chosen Any measureable impact Were they REFable Approach to authorship Richard

Response from pilot study Participant responses = 10 Subject areas Medicine and Dentistry (2) Arts, Design and Architecture (4) Tourism Law, Criminology and Government Engineering Biological and Marine Sciences Richard

If there have been publications arising from undergraduate research (with) which you initiated/were involved, where was the research published? Tourism Engineering Medicine & Dentistry Art, Design & Architecture Biological & Marine Sciences Conference 1 Journal Magazine Book Chapter Internal Magazine/Journal Other (Exhibitions & Social Media) 3 Richard

How the topics were chosen

Measurable impact Richard

Response from online questionnaire Participant responses = 28 (internal = 20 external = 8) Subject areas: Psychology (4) Chemistry (4) Marine Biology (3) Geography (2) Biological Sciences (2) Music, Sociology and Politics Materials Engineering Nutrition Animal Welfare Medical Sciences Sociolinguistics Higher Education Ocean optics & remote sensing Undergraduate Research Mathematics Research methods, Ecotourism Impacts of climate change Navigation AI, data analysis, cloud computing, imaging Asiya

If there have been publications arising from undergraduate research (with) which you initiated/were involved, where was the research published? Asiya

Percentage conversion Most respondents ~ 5% Exception Marine Biology ~20% Majority were 1-2* exception Marine Biology where some papers were high impact Asiya

How the topics were chosen Asiya

Measurable impact Asiya

Response from focus group Process Discovery-based learning approach is used in Marine Biology. Overarching project themes suggested mainly by staff in their research areas Timely undergraduate projects are particularly successful More emphasis is put on collecting higher quality data and output as a paper A higher level of staff co-ordination is required Staff engaged in this process are motivated by improving student learning experience and personal CPD Richard

Response from focus group Constraints Almost all the papers are written by staff in collaboration with the student Time is the biggest constraint – conversion of student projects into publishable work is done in personal time No budget for conference attendance for students Most of the converted projects were covered by personal grant funding Richard

Project Aims - revisit This investigative research study aims to: Undergraduate projects definition: Key research themes Output as a paper High quality data identify areas of good practice that can encourage cultural change: Staff coordination Staff buy-in Opportunity for sharing of ideas between staff Richard

Way forward Staff are keen to develop inter-disciplinary projects Opportunity for sharing ideas with staff e.g. workshops, focus groups, etc. A central database where cross-disciplinary projects can be advertised Training opportunities for staff Case studies of student experiences Disseminate via journal paper & workshop Richard

References Gresty, K. and Edwards-Jones, A. (2012). Experiencing research- informed teaching from the student perspective: insights from developing an undergraduate e-journal. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43:153-162. Healey (2005:194) Linking research and teaching: disciplinary spaces, in: R. Healey and Jenkins (2009: 3) Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2009) Developing undergraduate research and inquiry. Higher Education Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/resources/publica tions/DevelopingUndergraduate_Final.pdf Walkington, H. (2015). Students as researcher: Supporting undergraduate research in the disciplines in higher education, Report HEA. Available from: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/Students%2 0as%20researchers_1.pdf

Acknowledgments Project collaborators: Priska Schoenborn, Suki Honey and Andy Edward-Jones PRTI funding Thank you!