Philippa Hunter Jones: Exploring the Support and Development Needs of New Lecturers in the Business, Management, Accounting and Finance (BMAF) Subject Areas. Slides from the University of Liverpool Learning and Teaching Conference 2009. One indirect mechanism for enhancing the student experience is to ensure that those responsible for the learning experience, in the case of this paper Higher Education (HE) institutional teaching staff, are suitably equipped to fulfil this role to the best of their capabilities. The aim of this paper is to introduce the audience to a Higher Education Academy (HEA) research project, ongoing within the BMAF subject centre, which seeks to enhance the quality of this output. The primary aim of the project is to identify the needs of new teaching staff in BMAF disciplines and to ascertain how BMAF can best offer support to individuals, departments anduniversities. The research process was segmented into two stages. Stage one, the pilot stage, included two UK HE institutions and was conducted during the autumn of 2008. Stage two, the main project, included six UK HE institutions and took place during the spring/summer of 2009. This paper focuses primarily upon the pilot stage of the project. It outlines the research process adopted and comments upon the preliminary observations arising at this stage.

1. Exploring the Support and
Development Needs of New
Lecturers in the Business,
Management, Accounting and
Finance (BMAF) Subject Areas
Dr Philippa Hunter-Jones
ULMS

2. Structure of Presentation
• Introduction to the BMAF Project
– Overview
– Preliminary observations re: pilot study
• Share experiences of receiving a HEA Subject
Centre Award
– Research background
– Benefits + challenges!
– End thoughts

3. The BMAF Project
Aim of the study:
• To identify what the needs of new teaching staff in BMAF
disciplines are and to ascertain how BMAF can best offer support to
individuals, departments and universities.
Working definition of a New Lecturer (NL):
• Permanent full-time or part-time contract as a lecturer, even if
fixed term;
• Employed in a BMAF discipline area, ie not economics, law or
hospitality;
• Within the first 3 years of their first academic post, possibly just
into the 4th year, if required to achieve numbers;
• Not Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs).

4. Project Continued
Target Population:
• Strategic: Dean or Associate Dean and senior management with
overall responsibility for academic staff resourcing, quality
management and learning and teaching within the business school.
The Head of the Educational Development Unit (EDU) or equivalent.
• Operational: 2-3 programme directors/module leaders within the
business school and the EDU lead for the HEI Certificate in HE
teaching.
• New Academics: 6-8 new academic staff, i.e. within 3-4 years of
their first academic post, with a sample selected to reflect where
possible, subject specialism, career stage, gender and contract type
in the HEI.

5. Process
• Pilot Stage
– September – December 2008
– University of Liverpool + University of Ulster
• Main Stage
– Launched January 2009 (-June 2009)
– 6 institutions

6. Personal Experiences
• Research background:
– Publications
– different skill set
• First experience as a PI
• Overall gained a tremendous amount out of
the experience

7. Benefits of BMAF Award
• HEA/BMAF – supportive awarding body –
particularly for a ‘mid-career’ researcher
• Introduced to key players in BMAF and
Association of Business Schools (ABS)
• ‘Testing’ of internal research processes – IRIS,
RBS, Finance, Purchasing etc
• Professional Development in T+L which has
opened up opportunities for pedagogical
research/output

8. Challenges...
• Lack of previous fund holding experience yet
‘assumptions’ continuously made of ‘know-
how’...
• Complex project – cross-institutional, tight
timescale
• Delay in exchange of contracts = delay in
receipt of monies...
• Restrictions on use of monies = surplus...

9. What does a first time PI need?
• A mentor – (did in the form of the Educational
Development Division)
• Support in developing the necessary skill set
to apply for a grant and then to cope with
success!!
• Information detailing internal research
process – both central (RBS) and home
department/School

10. Information that would help the
process...
1. Flow chart of internal research process (IRIS)
showing: who is involved, at what stage, time
lag between stages, who needs to approve
applications, relationship between RBS + own
department/School.
3. Summary sheet of common features of a grant
application eg travel costs, accommodation
costs, research support costs etc

11. Questions
• Advice please!
• How might we successfully disseminate the
findings of the NLP? – most useful
dissemination format/s?
• How might I be more successful at coping with
success?!

12. Contact details
Dr Philippa Hunter-Jones
University of Liverpool Management School
T: 795 3018
E: P.Hunter-Jones@liv.ac.uk