By Dr Camille Kandiko Howson, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship
On 25th July 2024, Imperial’s Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship hosted a joint Perspectives in Education lecture and a book launch. Belonging and Identity in STEM Higher Education (UCL Press) was edited by Professors Camille Kandiko Howson and Martyn Kingsbury. The book features contributions from several Imperial staff as well as from scholars around the world.
Perspectives in Education
The event kicked off with Emeritus Professor Ian Kinchin (University of Surrey) speaking about his latest book How to Mend a University: Towards a Sustainable Learning Environment In Higher Education (Bloomsbury). The book features a forward by CHERS Director Martyn Kingsbury.
Professor Kinchin’s book offers an alternative perspective to the repeated claims of the downfall of universities and the neoliberal discourse that pervades higher education commentary. The book offers conceptual tools to put universities back on track to a positive future. Ian presented on five moves to shift the current pathological situation and reorient towards a sustainable ecological learning environment. The presentation drew on Professor Kinchin’s background in biology, zoology and extensive research in education, clinical education and academic development.
There was extensive Q&A about the foundations of an ecological university that Professor Kinchin proposed. Several questions centred on the process for changing practices in universities to deal with current and upcoming ‘wicked problems’.
Belonging and Identity in STEM Higher Education launch
The Perspectives in Education event was a brilliant start and offered a great segue to launch Belonging and Identity in STEM Higher Education. The book is published open access, offering a free PDF version to download. Paperback and hardback editions are also available to purchase. The launch event offered the chance to showcase the book’s aim to celebrate, promote and critique belonging in STEM higher education.
The launch event covered a theme running through the book of the opportunity to see mathematical, logical and abstract ways of thinking as a vehicle for belonging in STEM fields. This notion proposes that connections with others can be made about how one sees the world, rather than solely how one is seen in it.
Contributions from authors were highlighted, including ‘Is belonging always positive? Cultivating alternative and oppositional belonging at university’ by Órla Meadhbh Murray (University of Northampton, formerly Imperial), Yuan-Li Tiffany Chiu and Jo Horsburgh (both Imperial). CLCC member Elizabeth Hauke’s fascinating autoethnography, ‘Inside(r) out(sider): building belonging and identity in the non-disciplinary classroom’, was also featured.
Further Imperial contributions included Imperial Physics Education Research PhD student (now Dr Amy Smith)’s ‘Stereotypes and their influence on belonging in UK physics’ and CHERS Research Associate Luke McCrone’s ‘Belonging in the ecotone: a case study from a STEM higher education context’. Principal Lecturer Jo Horsburgh’s chapter, ‘Higher education teachers’ identity development and sense of belonging’ covered a staff lens into identity and belonging, unpacking the process of development of clinical educators.
Finally, the launch event highlighted a chapter by the editors ‘Inclusive excellence in STEM higher education’, which features a case study by Alejandro Luy, an Imperial alumnus and former Research Officer and Project lead on Belonging, Engagement and Community in CHERS. The case study draws on Alejandro’s research into belonging and excellence in fields outside higher education and offers advice for the sector on how widening participation and maintaining excellence can go hand in hand through redefining notions of excellence and leadership focused on inclusion.
The event concluded in traditional CHERS fashion with drinks, wine and mini sausages fuelling continued discussions of the books. It was great to have a wide range of departments and units across Imperial (and beyond) attend the event and make connections between their work and the educational research presented. Please do check out the texts mentioned, and purchase (or download!) your copy today!