British Ecological Society Special Interest Group: Research-teaching nexus symposium, University of Birmingham, April 2018

1. Embedding Links between Teaching
and Research at a Research
Intensive UK University
Dr Sara Marsham
sara.marsham@ncl.ac.uk
@sara_marine

2. Introduction
Defining research-led and research-informed teaching
• Are they the same?
From Healey (2005), after Griffiths (2004)
Research-informed
Curriculum emphasises
learning focused on
students writing and
discussing papers or
essays
Research-based
Curriculum emphasises
students undertaking
inquiry-based learning
or low key research
Research-led
Curriculum is
structured around
teaching subject
content
Research-oriented
Curriculum emphasises
teaching processes of
knowledge
construction in the
subject
STUDENT-FOCUSED
STUDENTS AS PARTICIPANTS
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
CONTENT
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH PROCESSES
AND PROBLEMS
TEACHER-FOCUSED
STUDENTS AS AUDIENCE

3. NSS QB5.4: My learning has benefited from modules that
are informed by current research
• Identified schools scoring above institutional score
• Met with DELTs/HoS to determine activities
Year Institution(s) % Agree
2011/12 Newcastle University 84
2011/12 All HEIs 81
2011/12 Top Quartile of sector 81
2011/12 All Institutions in England 81
2012/13 Newcastle University 81
2012/13 All HEIs 82
2012/13 Top Quartile of sector 81
2012/13 All Institutions in England 82
2013/14 Newcastle University 86
2013/14 All HEIs 82
2013/14 Top Quartile of sector 81
2013/14 All Institutions in England 82
2014/15 Newcastle University 86
2014/15 All HEIs 82
2014/15 Top Quartile of sector 81
2014/15 All Institutions in England 83
• How do schools/faculties define these links?
• What do schools do to create links?
• Does linking research and teaching add value?
• How do we translate impact of our research?
With thanks to:
Debbie Bevitt, Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon, Zan Gunn, David Kennedy, Charlotte Patterson, Patrick
Rosenkranz, John Sayer, Liz Stockdale, Tim Townshend, Tony Young
Data Collection from Schools

4. Approaches
Strong focus on links
between teaching and
research at Open Days
Programmes driven by research
excellence from the bottom up,
rather than research feeding into
the teaching from the top down
Academics embed own
research into generic slides
and textbook material - use
their own research stories
Optional research-informed
modules at later stages
Final year students attend
national research-led
conference
School conference led by
Level 6 students
Research lectures / series /
symposia aimed at students
Student
research
projects

5. Research Links in Marine Ecology
Research-informed
Level 5 Marine
Research and
Employability Skills
Research-based
Level 6 Research
Project: Marine
Biology
Research-led
Level 4 Marine Biology
Research-oriented
Level 5 Marine Ecology
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
CONTENT
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH PROCESSES
AND PROBLEMS

6. • Recruited a Student Intern to support research
• Six focus groups (two per Faculty)
• Online survey
• How do our students perceive these links?
• Does linking research and teaching add value?
• Are we translating impact of our research?
• Does it influence the students we recruit?
• Do students recognise our research reputation?
• Do we create an environment for students to
see/be involved in research?
With thanks to:
Charlotte Huggins, Suzanne Cholerton, Richard Harrison, Claire Irving, Sue Gill, and all participating students
Data Collection from Students

7. Overall Survey Responses
• Received 383 student responses to the online survey
• Responses were largely positive
• Nearly 50% of students felt staff valued research and teaching equally (Fig. 1)
• Almost 70% agreed that staff balanced the demands of research and teaching
well (Fig. 2)
8%
19%
49%
19%
5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Research much more than teaching
Research slightly more than teaching
Reseach & teaching equally
Teaching slightly more than research
Teaching much more than research
9%
25%
67%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Strongly
Disagree/Disagree
Neither Agree nor
Disagree
Strongly Agree/Agree
Figure 1: Student responses to the statement “Staff in my department generally
value…”
Figure 2: Student responses to the statement "University staff generally
balance research and teaching demands well"

8. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Strongly Disagree/Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Strongly Agree/Agree
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Strongly Disagree/Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Strongly Agree/Agree
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Strongly
Disagree/Disagree
Neither Agree nor
Disagree
Strongly Agree/Agree
Figure 3: Student responses to the statement “Research in my department
informs the teaching on my course”
Figure 4: Student responses to the statement “Research in my department
has a positive impact on teaching quality”
Figure 5: Student responses to the statement “Research in my
department influenced my decision to come to Newcastle University"

9. Key Themes
• Six focus groups conducted (two per Faculty)
• Attendance was positive with 49 students across the six sessions
Seven themes identified
• Research-teacher gap
• Disparities between the priorities of research and teaching among staff
• Disparity of skills between lecturers who were more invested in research
• “More as you go”
• Research became more central to learning and teaching as students progressed through UG
studies, and particularly when moving onto PG
“…many lecturers do not appear to be passionate or interested in the teaching of students - but simply
do so as a requirement to be able to conduct their own research”
“I have felt that lecturers / seminar leaders have under prepared for my contact hours because of their
own research”
“Can be difficult to arrange time to meet teaching staff with strong research commitments”
“You can usually tell which lecturers have lots of lecturing experience from the researchers who leave
the lab to do 1 or 2 lectures a year. It's not that they're not good or interesting, but sometimes they're
delivery isn't as good as the regular lecturers”

10. • Benefits of researcher-teachers
• Students largely value being taught by researchers
• Perception of research-knowledge links
• Some students did not seem to understand that research was the way knowledge is
constructed
• See research studies and course content, such as material in text books, as disparate
“I don't always feel it [research] benefits the individual student. Rather more cynically it merely seems to
benefit the University reputation”
“There is difficulty in maintaining a student's concentration when a lecturer mentions their own research
as the information is not necessarily required for examinations, however if the research directly impacts
the content of the module, more attention would be paid to it”
“Research is of paramount importance. As students we spend
vast sums of money on our education and as such we want to
be assured that we are learning from world leaders”
“Its great to know that your lecturers are actively taking part in
research of their own. It increases your confidence in the
content they are teaching in the lectures”
Benefit
Enthusiasm
Clarity
Staff as
resources
Authority
Cutting
edge
Key Themes

11. • Diversity of staff experience
• Important that there is diversity among the staff of their research interests and experiences
• Lecturer as an individual
• Teaching skills and the ability to balance teaching and research demands depended on the
individual lecturer - related to personality
• Student motivation
• Key to their understanding of teaching-research links and their engagement in research
“I feel some lecturers don't talk about their own research enough which is sad because all students are
curious about what research projects your lecturer has contributed to or is working on at the moment”
“I would suggest occasional tours of labs and other research facilities to not only tell but show students
what research is currently being conducted and explain how they may help or provide them with
inspiration for the future”
“I feel that opportunities for undergraduate students to partake in research is not readily available”
“There are some exceptional lecturers who manage to teach us extremely well and are very dedicated,
although it is clear that they do struggle under some of the requirements… I think it is important that
lecturers should have the time and resources to both carry out research and teach effectively, rather
than being forced to prioritise one over the other”
Key Themes

12. • Similar approaches to both embedding research activities into programme
delivery and communicating these to students
• Supplemented by individual approaches
• Academic staff recognise the importance of informing our students of our
research - committed to delivering research-led/research-based teaching
• Positive reaction to linking teaching and research
• Students value being taught by active researchers
• Students recognised tensions between the two activities, but reflected that on
the whole individual academics dealt with these well when delivering
programmes
• Students did not necessarily base their decision to come to Newcastle on our
research activities, but once they were studying here, many felt they would
have benefited from being more involved in research and having more
opportunities to understand what research was occurring within their schools
Conclusions

13. Thank you
Any questions?
Dr Sara Marsham
sara.marsham@ncl.ac.uk
@sara_marine
https://www.slideshare.net/SaraMarsham