During my tenure as a WIHEA Student Fellow, I was able to really contribute to understanding how to make the student experience better. This can be seen in my extensive work with the Learning Design Consultancy Unit (LDCU), where I spoke at conferences and other events – my favourite was an Open Discussion on practical ideas for online learning! I was also part of the Co-Creation and Module Evaluation Learning Circles. Both of these gave me an insight into the efforts made by staff to enhance the student experience, and I was honoured to be included as a student voice here.

I have very much enjoyed my tenure and the opportunity to help shape the University’s direction through the work done by WIHEA. I hope to continue my work as part of WIHEA’s Alumni community as best as possible, and would like to thank everyone who has included me in their work for the opportunity. My advice to incoming Fellows would be to seize the opportunities offered to you – you have no idea what doors they may open!

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The nature of my role and its location within CTE means that I rarely get to network with colleagues outside of Technology Enhanced Learning. Therefore, I wanted to use my time as a WIHEA Fellow to extend my network and to challenge myself to learn something new.

I took the opportunity to join several Learning Circles, including those on Teaching Recognition & Reward, and Trans & Queer Pedagogies. Teaching career development and parity of research and teaching are important to me, and I welcomed the chance to take part in institution-wide discussions on these topics. Trans & Queer Pedagogies were not something I knew much (anything!) about, so by joining this Learning Circle I hoped to learn more about genderinclusive teaching and the role that technology can play in this process.

I also attended several WIHEA Seminars and Masterclasses, including the ‘Miseducation: Decolonising curricula and culture within our universities’ Seminar delivered by Mia Liyanage and ‘The Rise of Third Space Professionals’ delivered by Dr Celia Whitchurch. As I regard myself as a third space professional, attending this session inspired me to set up the Third Space Learning Circle with Sue Parr from WMG. Although Covid has curtailed our work over the last year, this remains an area in which I am very interested and intend to develop further, so watch this space!

I have really enjoyed my time as a WIHEA Fellow. It has allowed me to meet, interact and work with a diverse group of Warwick staff, an opportunity that would not have been accessible through my day-to-day work in my department. From the outset of my Fellowship, I was able to contribute to work being done on the Student Research Hub, which has led to collaborations on an Erasmus+ funded project on digital support for undergraduate research in Europe, as well as a successful bid to host the 3rd World Congress of Undergraduate Research jointly with the British Conference of Undergraduate Research at Warwick in April 2023. In the Internationalisation Learning Circle, I have connected with like-minded professionals who have introduced me to a range of new ideas and projects. Currently, I am co-leading on a WIHEA-funded project to create a ‘Supporting the Supporter’ resource for mentors and supervisors of undergraduate research. I hope these activities will enhance the student experience at Warwick and contribute to the creation of a new generation of researchers. My advice to incoming Fellows is to embrace the opportunities and connections available – there is so much to learn and explore!

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During my WIHEA Fellowship, I co-chaired the Peer Mentoring Learning Circle with Julie Taylor. With WIHEA funding, we led a project entitled ‘Peer Learning: Recognising, Training and Rewarding Peer-to-Peer Mentors at Warwick’. We recruited Student Project Officers, who conducted focus groups with leaders and stakeholders in peer mentoring at Warwick. The findings were transformed into information and guidance on the basics of peer mentoring, resources for peer pairing, training materials, including common pitfalls, and signposting of an extensive list of opportunities and services. My advice to new Fellows is to engage with the learning and teaching issues about which you feel most passionate, and to try whenever possible to attend networking and mixer events. It was a true pleasure – and a rare opportunity! – to get to know my experienced and knowledgeable colleagues in other departments.

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My job in international partnerships is largely about ‘connectivity’, so cultivating relationships through WIHEA has been enormously beneficial. When I participate in discussions with international partners, I am able to draw on the wealth of knowledge I have accumulated, thanks to WIHEA and the generosity of other WIHEA Fellows. At the start of my Fellowship, I signed up to many (probably too many) Learning Circles, and was immediately struck by the energy and commitment of everyone involved. The University can feel overwhelmingly large and complex at times, but WIHEA is a great antidote to this feeling. It has enabled me to focus attention on some fascinating topics (anti-racism, learning from the pandemic, the rise of AI) and work with colleagues to identify specific actions that we can take, and specific areas that we need to learn more about. I am grateful to Rachel Davis in Warwick Enterprise for supporting my WIHEA application, to WIHEA for the opportunities it has given me, and to all the colleagues with whom I have worked, whom I shall pester with emails for years to come.

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As I was thinking about the impact of my time as a WIHEA Foundation Fellow today, I was surrounded by the excited chatter of medical students finishing an end of year 1 practical exam, reminding me what WIHEA is all about…

Even before becoming a Foundation Fellow, I had the opportunity to be recorded for a video promoting the new Academy. Talking to camera was a new experience for me (not my favourite) and I never quite plucked up the courage to watch the end result!

During my time as a Foundation Fellow, I have (in no particular order):

• Had the opportunity to attend a wide range of seminars from UK and international educational experts, and engage in discussion with colleagues on implications for WMS and Warwick.
• Sat on the panel selecting the first round of WIHEA-funded projects – excellent experience of collaborative decision making with colleagues from a range of departments with varied perspectives on teaching and learning. The exposure to some great project ideas gave me an excellent insight into how to write a good project bid, contributing to recent success in winning IATL project funding to explore external partner (patient) involvement in case-based learning.
• Eaten a lot of WIHEA lunches – whilst discussing educational topics with colleagues, for example, providing feedback on the developing University Education Strategy.
• Been part of more Learning Circles than is probably sensible:

The Pedagogic Journal Club - sadly only able to attend the first and last Foundation Fellows’ meetings!

The Teaching Reward and Recognition (TR&R) circle - organising a WIHEA seminar and contributing to the development of the University’s new promotion criteria; now working more widely on recognition of teaching, a work in progress...

The Teaching Observation circle – more recently as co-lead; currently developing an extended literature review and case studies to inform the development of University policy and implementation of peer review of teaching.

Establishing the ‘Authentic Learning’ circle with a colleague – an open learning circle, exploring different ways of bringing the ‘real world’ into teaching and learning.

Worked with colleagues to lead a workshop on pedagogies for professional practice at the University Education Conference – sharing good practice between departments and relating practice to the University Education Strategy.

• Participated in recruiting the next generation of WIHEA Fellows.

Most importantly, I have had the opportunity to share ideas and work with colleagues from across the University, and beyond, on the one thing which we all share – our passion for enhancing teaching and learning.

The impact of my WIHEA Fellowship has been truly profound: a Sanctuary in challenging times, an Inspiration when I need motivation or encouragement, and above all, a Meeting of Like Minds for sharing and furthering my passion for pedagogy. My Fellowship has followed three distinct stages. First, I watched and learned, gaining expertise and support from more experienced colleagues.

Next came my ‘call to arms’, when I saw my Fellowship priorities more clearly, and gained the focus needed to achieve my aims. Lastly, this final year has given me a chance to lead, driving forward meaningful change and supporting my colleagues, just as I have been supported and encouraged.

There is no doubt in my mind that this has impacted substantially on my practice. I am a better (and braver) teacher and a more confident (LOUDER) advocate for learning and teaching within my professional community. Students see an academic full of enthusiasm for her practice and discipline, despite the stresses of the HE learning environment.

All I can say is thank you, WIHEA. It’s been a ball!

It was not easy being a WIHEA Student Fellow during COVID-19. Meeting other Fellows and becoming integrated in the WIHEA community was difficult. I found Learning Circles challenging: including new Fellows was tricky in the circumstances. I was, however, delighted to be part of the Postgraduate Teacher Digital Hub project, one of several funded by WIHEA. This was a driven, dynamic, collaborative environment which delivered results. The resulting Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community includes an extensive website and Moodle, a Twitter account, an in-depth survey of PGR teaching, and a PGR pedagogy journal. Although my Fellowship is ending, I am happy to say I will remain involved with this project, as well as a new WIHEA-funded project:’ Active Bystanders in the Teaching Space.’

To incoming Fellows, I would advise getting involved in as much as possible and being open-minded about the possibilities open to you. Whether through Learning Circles, project work, or both, WIHEA does make a difference to Warwick, and you can play an important role in shaping that change.

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Thanks to the networking and CPD opportunities provided by WIHEA, I achieved Senior Fellowship of the HEA in 2020, was nominated for a WATE award in Spring 2021, and was promoted to Associate Professor in September 2021. During my Fellowship, I came to be the Co-lead of the Internationalisation Learning Circle, directing two projects, one on supporting international students navigate the impacts of COVID-19 and one on internationalising the curriculum across the University, both of which have already had significant positive impact. I also won some WIHEA funding in July 2020, supporting a co-creation project with Liberal Arts students to create a suite of resources to help bridge the gap between first- and secondyear study during the pandemic. This project was so successful that the Moodle page has now become our central study skills resource in Liberal Arts, open to all students, and is regularly maintained and updated by our SSLC. Regular events and discussions with WIHEA Fellows have helped me learn about more inclusive ways to approach my pedagogy and support students. This has been reflected in the fact that I was shortlisted for a WAPTE award this year. My favourite moment of the WIHEA Fellowship was the RADA Workshop we participated in on developing a powerful leadership presence. This workshop completely changed my approach to leadership, and helped me see how I can continue to develop and grow as a leader in transdisciplinary education, student support, and internationalisation.

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My WIHEA Fellowship has enabled me to engage with colleagues from different departments, faculties, and job families to gain wider awareness of the excellent practice that is happening at Warwick. Joining just after the pandemic provided the perfect opportunity to reflect collectively on the approaches taken in different disciplines during the numerous pivots. I found that the Learning from Crisis Learning Circle provided a great basis for these conversations. Separately, the Enhancing the VLE Learning Circle gave me an incredible opportunity to engage with academic technologists and other professional services colleagues in ways that would be hard to cultivate naturally. Unquestionably, having deeper insights into the mechanics and possibilities of VLE platforms has influenced my own use of them in my teaching practice. The biggest impact on me from WIHEA has been the people and connections I have made, which will live on beyond the end of my Fellowship. I would encourage incoming Fellows to say ‘yes’ to things that instinctively spark your interest, but also not feel compelled to engage with everything: time remains a frustratingly finite resource!

When I first started as a Teaching Fellow in 2008, I felt very much an ‘also-ran’ – apologetic that I had chosen a career route that focused on teaching rather than research. Since then, as a direct consequence of the growing respect for teaching at Warwick, brought about by WIHEA, I feel proud that I am a part of a growing community of Teaching Fellows.

WIHEA has given me the opportunity to find and connect with like-minded individuals at Warwick and beyond. I have met others who have shaped how I teach and how I think about teaching (particular credit to the Pedagogy Journal Club Learning Circle). I have been supported in my own efforts to delve deeper into student experience issues, for example, through WIHEA’s funding of my research into students’ perceptions of lecture capture and studentto-staff feedback, and supported to co-lead the Peer Observation Learning Circle that seeks to drive institutional change in how we think about enhancing teaching practice. Most significantly, WIHEA funding has enabled the Student Research Working Group, of which I am part, to create a university-wide resource that will place research at the very heart of a Warwick student’s experience.

WIHEA has achieved so much in such a short space of time. It was an honour and a privilege to be a part of its early years and I look forward to seeing WIHEA go from strength to strength enhancing not only the student but also the staff experience.

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The fantastic thing about being involved with WIHEA was that I was able to get funding for an interprofessional educational project and was able to pay our fantastic student volunteers for being involved.

Our project involved developing new and authentic teaching materials to support students’ professional development. We came up with some great educational materials, and our students got lots of experience in a variety of skills, from making original videos to presenting at educational conferences. The project we worked on increased our students’ enthusiasm for developing teaching materials.

Together we also created a new reflective model to support students to think through different professionalism dilemmas which has now been licensed for free educational use. We are in discussions with the General Medical Council and Medical Schools Council to hopefully get this reflective model published as part of their upcoming ‘Student guide to reflective practice’ due out later this year. Our students have presented our work at both regional and national conferences, and one of our students won the overall poster prize at this year’s Academy of Medical Educators’ Conference in May.

My advice to new fellows is apply for funding, get involved; WIHEA fellows are a great bunch of people!

WIHEA has created a wonderful network of people who are involved and deeply care about teaching. Having that resource available is very valuable. We all work within different environments and with different subject limitations, but we all share similar experiences, which means we can support each other.

The most interesting and useful aspect has been finding the amazing commonalities across disciplines and the possibility of discussing different approaches to teaching using our shared experiences. Being one of the very few scientists in WIHEA at the start, I hope I managed to contribute with a different point of view to many of the early discussions.

I expect WIHEA’s impact on my career will be positive. I will be applying for promotion, if successful, I will have more to share, and even if not, the networking opportunities between the WIHEA members and beyond WIHEA, via seminars and masterclasses are priceless. For my department, WIHEA has been a very useful source of information about the recent developments related to teaching around university. Usually much more informative than memos sent from the centre. Networking and knowing the key contacts in other departments and services is enormously useful.

WIHEA raises the profile of Warwick across the UK and outside via collaborations, seminars, masterclasses etc. Learning Circles, while slow to start will hopefully bring some very useful results, whether it is a pedagogic publication, change of institutional policy (e.g. promotions, feedback) or generally spreading the good practice and excellence in teaching approaches, hopefully positively affecting TEF, student satisfaction, rankings etc.

Through WIHEA, I met like-minded academics whom I would not have met otherwise. I attended so many useful events and got plenty of good advice that has helped me with my career. WIHEA has played an important part in my previous promotions and winning a WATE. In my first year of the Fellowship, WIHEA gave me funding to kickstart a co-creation project on maths e-assessments, which grew and attracted funding from elsewhere in subsequent years. As a result, our department now has a wide range of good-quality, co-created maths e-assessments which have been used thousands of times by our students, and will continue to be used and improved for many years to come. I have given talks showcasing these innovative e-assessments at several conferences. WIHEA is such a unique space. I am very grateful for its support network, career advice, and funding throughout the past three years. Thank you!

The Fellowship has allowed me to connect with likeminded individuals across the University, and to gain insights into areas of learning and teaching that I would not normally have considered. I have enjoyed being part of a truly worthwhile community, and appreciate the space that WIHEA provides to meet, work with, and learn from other people. The most rewarding aspect of my Fellowship has been co-leading the Enhancing the VLE Learning Circle. This has given me valuable experience of leading a university-wide group, and has allowed me to make a real impact at institutional level. The group has been a great opportunity to share ideas and discuss challenges with colleagues, and we are proud that many of our ideas and suggestions have been used to improve the Warwick VLE (Moodle). My advice to others is to make the most of the opportunities, participate fully in Learning Circles, and consider leading one yourself. I would encourage colleagues from professional services to apply for Fellowships: your unique knowledge and expertise is important and will be valued by the academic community.

I was a WIHEA representative on SLEEC and I contributed to two learning circles: peer observation and module evaluations. In addition I have supported bids for WIHEA funding which has enabled pedagogic projects to run in the School which benefit the students and colleagues alike.

The biggest impact has been through the SLEEC membership, as I have been able to dovetail School policy to the emerging University policies and enable effective and timely implementation, for example the recent policy developments on Assessment and Feedback have directly impacted School policy and ultimately student experience. Personally, it has been beneficial to meet and work with colleagues from across the University in sharing approaches and working together on new solutions.

My advice to new Fellows is take the most of every opportunity; 3 years goes incredibly quickly!

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During my WIHEA Fellowship, I worked as Digital Project Manager for the WIHEA-funded project, the Digital Pedagogy Library. Working on the DPL has been an amazing opportunity to find out more about digital innovation in teaching across the University, and I have found it genuinely heartening to see first-hand how much thought and care Warwick teaching staff put into their work. I hope that the Digital Pedagogy Library continues to inspire the use of digital pedagogies, which in turn will benefit students by promoting excellence in teaching. My advice for incoming WIHEA Fellows is to take the time to enjoy being part of a like-minded community of colleagues who are eager to learn and to hear from Student Fellows, in particular. I look forward to remaining a part of that community as a WIHEA Alumna.

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During my Fellowship, I have been an active member of two Learning Circles, and went on to become co-lead of the Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Process Learning Circle. My co-lead, Lanre and I organised a staff-facing conference around AntiRacist Pedagogy and Process. This was the first conference at Warwick dedicated to anti-racism, and it was excellent to see a range of faces from around the University engaging with the topic, with varying levels of familiarity with discussions around anti-racism. Having a range of student speakers in the room provided a rich addition to the discussions. Besides this, I have engaged with as many networking and development opportunities as possible. As a professional services staff member, I was really daunted at becoming a co-lead of a Learning Circle in an area that has traditionally been led by academic colleagues! I had to overcome my nerves about how I would come across, and instead focused on areas where I could most add value. Having a co-lead from the academic side worked very well, as we have been able to bring together considerations from both spheres of University life. My Fellowship has definitely helped increase my confidence and stretch my comfort zone. Courage is key! There are a lot of really supportive people in the network. If you think you might need a bit of help, just ask, as there are lots of people around who can offer a helping hand or encouragement as needed.

WIHEA has provided the opportunity to participate in a community of people who are passionate about the development of education. The academy has made an impact on my department as it has helped to raise the profile of WMS and its participation in teaching and learning across campus. Where there is sometimes a tendency to participate in disciplinary silos, WIHEA helps to integrate departments into campus life as a whole.

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I have been both honoured and energized to contribute to the University of Warwick as a WIHEA Foundation Fellow between September 2015 and July 2018.

One of the most valuable things has been to be an active part of the phenomenal Warwick teaching & learning community. The creativity and commitment of the Warwick staff network, and the practices that are being developed are really inspirational. WIHEA has given a real home and focus for this and it’s been great to be a part of it.

WIHEA Funded Opportunities

• Year 1 - International Visiting Teaching Fellow, Professor Geoff Malleck
• Year 2 - Student Research Digital Hub & Spoke project, Student Research Institutional Audit project
• Year 3 – Developing the strands of the Education Strategy

Career Development & Cross Institutional Contribution

• WIHEA Advisory Board member 2016 - 2018
• Educational Leadership Symposium 2018 (Warwick Monash Alliance)
• Reward & Recognition (R&R) Learning Circle (positioning the interests of the ‘3rd space professional’ in developing institutional R&R infrastructure)
• Warwick Monash Alliance funded project focussed on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (2017)

Key Benefits - Personally and Professionally

• Attendance at Fellows’ briefings and guest speaker series
• Immersion in a cross-institutional network of like-minded individuals (knowledge exchange and collaboration), part of emerging communities of practice
• 1:1 support for developing educational leadership capability, and pedagogical debate
• Confidence and contribution to University developing Strategy for T&L / Student Experience
• Identity and recognition (particularly important for those professional services who contribute significantly to Teaching & Learning excellence but who do not operate within the academic promotion framework)
• Exposure, Visibility & Opportunity to Showcase
• Development of National and International Networks

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Being a WIHEA Fellow has afforded me outstanding opportunities and has enabled me to engage with my teaching in a wonderful way. Through the numerous events run by WIHEA, I have been able to network with likeminded individuals. Having a forum where I could meet Fellows from different departments enabled me to discover how my teaching activities could be enhanced by embracing the best practices across the University. This became particularly useful when the HE sector faced the difficult challenge of converting to online education provision.

In working with current and former Fellows, I took great delight in having colleagues to ‘bounce ideas off’. I developed video lectures using ‘green screen’ technology (at home), and having the support of a group of like-minded individuals ensured that any difficulties in developing these were short-lived. This has culminated in my offering being valued by students, and the feedback has been amazing. Because of this, I have been invited to speak at national events and have been nominated for a Warwick Transforming Education Award. To any new Fellow, I would definitely advocate networking and getting to know other Fellows by attending as many events as possible (whether run virtually or, if possible, face to face). The opportunities to learn and deliver real impact on your work are fantastic.

In an age of higher education where we expect our students to be many things, not least critical and questioning, but also entrepreneurial and agile, comfortable with diversity, values driven, work ready and emotionally resilient, the WHIEA Fellowship has offered me a place and space to (re) consider, reflect and (re) imagine a curriculum fit for purpose.

It has (re) fuelled my commitment to developing a humanising pedagogy underpinned by inclusive practices that stress skilful interaction and foster the imagination. To be invited, and in equal measure encouraged by this community to share and explore ideas, principles and strategies around what, how and why we teach will remain one of the most significant benefits of the Fellowship. I leave with renewed courage and curiosity to share with my students and colleagues how things might be otherwise. I recommend to all incoming Fellows to join in, join up and enjoy the invitations.

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Being a WIHEA Fellow offers a fantastic opportunity to meet and work with colleagues from across the university who are interested in teaching, learning, assessment, student experience, and pedagogy. This was my hope in becoming an WIHEA Fellow, and my expectations were exceeded. WIHEA really does feel like a family. My main work has been in the Teaching Reward and Recognition Learning Circle, which I co-led in 2021/22. It was great to work in a team providing guidance on producing a Teaching Profile of Excellence document to support teaching-focused promotion applications, and evidence to support teaching-focused study leave and Warwick Academic Returners Fellowships (WARF) applications. I now recommend becoming a Fellow to colleagues in Economics and beyond. WIHEA offers great opportunities not only for networking, but also to impact on university-level strategy and policy. The opportunities for CPD are also excellent. My key advice to new Fellows is to avoid the temptation to sign up to too many Learning Circles. When I read and heard about the Learning Circles, I really did feel like ‘a kid in a sweet shop’. Thank you WIHEA for a fantastic three years.

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WIHEA manages to create a sense of belonging to Warwick and offers fantastic opportunities for interdisciplinary networking. Together with Leda Mirbahai (WMS), I co-led the Diverse Assessments Learning Circle and the Opportunities and Risks of AI task and finish group. We created both groups as open communities of practice, making them also open to non-WIHEA Fellows. My first advice to new WIHEA fellows is that while the majority of members should be and will be WIHEA Fellows, you can create ‘open Learning Circles’ to involve other stakeholders. The student voice is also a very important part of WIHEA. In addition to the WIHEA Student Fellowships, WIHEA grants enabled us to recruit students to conduct student-led research. My second piece of advice is not to be disheartened if you are not awarded a grant when applying first time: get feedback and try again! Finally, we organised an online conference, workshops, and regular keynote addresses on assessments and on AI. We also published monthly blogs in the Warwick Journal of Education – Transforming Teaching and other outlets. Thus, my third piece of advice is that co-authoring blogs offers further opportunities to exchange ideas. I reminisce happily on my enjoyable time as a WIHEA Fellow.

I started my WIHEA Fellowship during COVID. It has been an exciting and invigorating experience from the start, and the fantastic dialogue with so many colleagues in the WIHEA community helped sustain me through that dark period. As someone on the research and teaching track, I have found the opportunity to focus more squarely on teaching and pedagogy fruitful, both intellectually and professionally. Participating in the Trans and Queer Pedagogies, Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Process in HE, and Internationalisation Learning Circles (for which I am currently co-lead) has been particularly transformative. It has impacted on my teaching philosophy (co-creation!), my syllabi, and my practice in my role as Director of Graduate Studies for English and Comparative Literary Studies, and as a site director for the Midlands4Cities doctoral training partnership in the Faculty of Arts. It also spurred my successful application for promotion to Reader. My co-leads and I in the Internationalisation Learning Circle have been working on a WIHEAfunded Internationalising the Curriculum project. With our student co-creators, we have launched a survey of people’s experiences of internationalisation and learning and teaching, identifying best practice across the Midlands and comparing thinking across fields as diverse as engineering, sociology, and film and TV. We shall soon be writing up our findings for academic publication and dissemination at Warwick. I was the first person in my department to take up a WIHEA Fellowship, and it has been great to have had the chance to build what I know will be longlasting collaboration between English and WIHEA. I am particularly proud to have shepherded half a dozen of our students into WIHEA: their enormous contributions to the Academy speak for themselves. My advice to new Fellows would be not to miss the networking lunches for the games alone! The cohort training sessions are also a must. Finally, you think you know what the acronym ‘WIHEA’ means, but as much as its official name, I believe WIHEA stands for widening, innovating, happening, excellence, and, above all, acting.

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The variety of events that WIHEA organises are always insightful and I walk away afterwards knowing more about the challenges to teaching and learning at both Warwick and on a national scale. The Academy supports Academic Staff Promotions and each year the influence of the Academy has increased which has resulted in a more pertinent impact. WIHEA offers its members the opportunity to have conversations about teaching and the importance of teaching quality across the University.

My WIHEA Fellowship has provided me with excellent opportunities to network, which I am not very good at, and to work with amazing teaching-focused colleagues. At the start, I joined a few Learning Circles, but the focus of my time has been spent with the Teaching Recognition and Reward Learning Circle, which I have been co-leading this year, and on a WIHEA-funded project exploring how students across the institution perceive and define excellence in learning and teaching. The project is co-designed and delivered with students and staff, and will enable us to enhance the student voice and ensure that we recognise learning and teaching excellence in a meaningful way for students. The outcomes will enable production of a resource that includes students’ perceptions, themes, and examples of excellence for evaluating and developing pedagogic practice, securing teaching awards, and building promotion cases. I have found the WIHEA community very welcoming, supportive, and inspiring, and look forward to staying involved as part of the Alumni network. My advice to new fellows is keep an open mind. Joining different Learning Circles can be a helpful first step in getting involved.

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My aim was to meet colleagues involved in developing their teaching across the University, not simply to carry out administrative tasks on committees. I have not been disappointed! WIHEA has a great breadth and depth of expertise and, above all, enthusiasm for innovation. As part of my Fellowship I started a Director of Education Forum and gained funding for ‘Remotely Practical’, a SEM faculty-wide project to devise an online unit to develop lab work skills outside of the lab. This has already been valuable for our new firstyear students and the whole student–staff co-creation team involved.

I have long been interested in developing technology-enabled teaching materials, and had some experience of doing this on an IATL project. My initial thoughts were that I would mostly continue to pursue this, but to my surprise I have moved in different directions, most notably getting involved in a great Pedagogical Research Learning Circle. Of course, you will find like-minded colleagues with whom to pursue your core interests, but I would recommend new Fellows to join something completely different, since you will find this incredibly refreshing.

Being a WIHEA fellow has been an incredible opportunity and has allowed me to be a part of the Welcome Week Interdisciplinarity project with Dr Rebecca Freeman, Dr Elena Riva and students and staff from various departments.

I was able to speak at the Welcome Week conference which allowed me to represent student views on various plans as well as gather insight to develop our project. The fellowship has allowed me to network with people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to collate perspectives on the peer support programme I lead, BioCafe. Consequently, I have been able to reflect on how to reach a wider audience of students and plan changes for the following year. My advice for incoming fellows is to talk and reach out to as many other WIHEA fellows as possible to get the most out of your experience!

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My WIHEA Fellowship is one of the best experiences I have ever had at Warwick. It has been inspiring for me to learn about colleagues’ work from different departments. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops provided by Women Space and RADA Leadership. I secured funding for the project: Integrating Research Skills into Foreign Language Teaching for SMLC Students. Having joined three Learning Circles, Teaching Recognition and Reward, Pedagogic Research, and Internationalisation, I was engaged in discussing institutional policies on parity of research and teaching, teaching career development and making contributions to decolonising curriculum and module design. I initiated and led the International Virtual Exchange Group (IVEG), which aims to provide a University-wide model for integrating virtual exchange into the curriculum in all departments. This has directly impacted successful telecollaboration between students of Chinese at Warwick and their partners in four Chinese universities. To any new Fellow, I would recommend attending as many events as possible, going out of your comfort zone and taking the valuable opportunities offered by WIHEA – the outcome will be far beyond your expectations.

When I was made a WIHEA Fellow, I joined the Interdisciplinarity Learning Circle (ILC) as my background is in law but I am part of Warwick Medical School; so this Learning Circle (LC) seemed like a natural home for me as I teach across and through disciplines. After joining the ILC I took over as Co-Chair, I now Co-Chair with Jo Wale (IATL, who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise about interdisciplinarity) and we facilitate this LC to network which facilitates the sharing of interesting ideas and experience of interdisciplinarity across campus. Jo and I, with Gavin Bell and Debbi Marais, applied successfully for WIHEA project funding this year and we are generating a new and exciting Staff Interdisciplinary Hub with students: Jenna Nilson (PGR) and Sujaya Shrestha (UG), which will launch for the new academic year. The new Interdisciplinary Hub will include resources to support interdisciplinary teaching and learning and includes: case studies, discussions, resources, a network as well as a training and support section, so please do take a look! Now, I feel much more connected to Warwick and its student and staff community as a whole than I did pre-WIHEA, and being able to share ideas and experiences with people across campus who have the same interest in teaching and learning is such a privilege – thank you WIHEA!

Being a WIHEA Fellow afforded an enormous opportunity to learn about different people and perspectives from across the University. I used my Fellowship primarily to network and engage with others across the institution, to learn from their practice and share my own, and this has enabled building of meaningful relationships and opportunities for ongoing projects beyond the tenure of the Fellowship itself. One of the most personally and professionally rewarding aspects of my Fellowship has been my involvement in the Teaching Recognition and Reward Learning Circle, which I have co-chaired this last year. This has enabled me to have real impact at an institutional level, and I have been able to use the learning from this activity to make impacts within my department as well. My advice for incoming Fellows? Reach out to new, existing and former Fellows to talk about your ideas and interests; my personal experience is that WIHEA is made up of open, creative, interesting and passionate individuals that as a collective have made great impacts – it has been a brilliant community to be a part of.

During my fellowship with WIHEA I met and talked with lots of people that I’d not had the chance to make contact with before - WIHEA lunches were the perfect opportunity for these chance encounters.

I found synergies and discovered whole areas of enquiry that I’d never had cause to think about. I joined the Module Evaluation learning circle, which I now chair, and have become a member of the WIHEA Advisory Committee and the International Steering Group.

I’m proud of the fact that we’re making headway with a cross-University online Module Evaluation system. At department level, WIHEA funding gave us a student intern with whom we have transformed our Year Abroad feedback processes. Thanks to a new survey platform and question set, students are now much more cognitively engaged with the transferable skills afforded by Residence Abroad.

To paraphrase a Peter Ustinov quote, ‘doubt unites people’. I tell students often about the importance of ‘cognitive uncertainty’, but I’m not sure I ever let mine show much outside of my department. Being able to let down your guard and ask speculative questions with likeminded travelers on the pedagogical road has been the great value of WIHEA.

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I have found my time as a WIHEA Fellow to be incredibly rewarding, often in ways I couldn’t have anticipated before I began. I have used my Fellowship to network and to participate in countless Learning Circles, talks and events. I’ve also used it to access exceptional training and rich resources, and to engage with areas of existing interest, as well as cultivate new ones. Like others before me, I joined determined to initiate a new Learning Circle, but the pressures of the pandemic meant that, ultimately, it just wasn’t possible. I don’t feel like I missed out at all though! Being a WIHEA Fellow has been an excellent way to meet motivated and inspiring people from around the University, and I now have a considerable cohort of like-minded friends and colleagues I can reach out to and collaborate with in the future. My department and students have benefitted from this, and from evidence-led policy change and new initiatives that have arisen as a result of my Fellowship. WIHEA is notable for being lively and dynamic (there is always so much going on and so much to learn), but the WIHEA community is also an incredibly supportive one. I’d advise new Fellows, if you’re not sure where to start, just to try things out. Join all the Learning Circles and attend all the talks you can – you’ll always be welcomed, whatever your background or your knowledge level.

I have gained greater awareness of a wide range of issues surrounding education and have greatly benefited from WIHEA’s many and varied opportunities to network and meet others with similar and complementary interests and experiences. I have had the opportunity to propose and participate in projects, Learning Circles, lunches, HEA events, external lectures at Warwick and events with Monash. This has made me a more connected, better informed, more motivated and more capable education-focused academic. My only frustration has been that as a half-time clinical appointment I have not been able to participate as actively as I would like.

I have been invited to participate in University committees and discussions, perhaps as a result of my increasing visibility as a senior education-focused academic. My career has benefited particularly from gaining Principal Fellowship of HEA, which I might never have achieved without the support from WIHEA colleagues. The extremely positive feedback and external validation received, through this and through the many WIHEA events and opportunities, has resulted in greater confidence in myself as an educator (having transitioned from a research-focused career) and awareness of my unique contribution and how it fits with the larger picture. This means that I am much better placed to apply for more senior roles that will extend me further and develop my career.

Within my department, the Foundation Fellows share an informal agenda of increasing the profile of education which is evident in our improved teamwork and consistent approach to departmental direction. We are based in different areas of the department and our shared values, refined from WIHEA exposure, have improved departmental cohesiveness and awareness of educational activity across the department. I have known where to go for help and been able to make contact with colleagues to discuss and compare ideas and to collaborate on educational research project supervision. Through our joint efforts and united approach, the battle of ensuring parity of esteem for education and research endeavour is gaining ground.

The institution has gained most from the WIHEA. WIHEA has become a vital component of the University in very little time, reaching across departments and subject areas, and bringing together the best ideas in a characteristically disruptive Warwick-style movement. Externally, it is now held up as an example of good practice in academic engagement and transformational management in education. It is recognised as a positive and dynamic force for change, providing visible recognition and intellectual rewards for individuals who strive for excellence in their educational activities. This will pay back richly for the University in its approach to TEF and student engagement. The promotions revamp currently under way, is a specific example of where the institution will become stronger as a result of WIHEA activity to ensure the fair reward of educational development and excellence, thus increasing both quality of education and motivation for improvement amongst the education workforce.

It was an honour to be recommended as a Foundation Fellow – WIHEA for me was a long-awaited acknowledgement of the importance of teaching and learning in the institution.

The Academy gave me a brilliant opportunity to meet with like-minded people from a range of departments across the University; a unique mixture of people but all with a passion for pedagogy! These connections have been sustained and developed as I have joined WIHEA Learning Circles, where I felt that I could have a real impact on educational change and development at Warwick. A further example of where I have gained real benefit is through attendance at Masterclasses and workshops, where reputable external speakers have brought insight and perspectives which I have been able to integrate into my own practice, as someone with responsibility to support and mentor PhD students who teach. I have encouraged my own students to attend open WIHEA events, and we have continued the dialogue around themes, such as widening participation and mental health issues in Higher Education, in my own curriculum. In addition, as someone who supports and assesses staff members for HEA Fellowship, it has given me the opportunity to naturally integrate the work of LDC and encourage my peer Fellows to seek professional recognition. In short, working with WIHEA has offered mutual benefits.

I sense that the Academy is gaining momentum now and the increasing number of case studies and other resources online will help to further promote the important and innovative teaching and learning work which is happening here, and I hope, help to better connect practitioners from across the institution in the future. I bow out as a Foundation Fellow, but I will maintain contact as an alumni and look forward to what the Academy does in the future.

Having spent two years working on the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR), I have spent my fellowship this year feeding student voices into the internationalisation strand of the University Education Strategy.

The Internationalisation Learning Circle has really taken some ownership of this strategic priority. I have enjoyed working with them to ensure the delivery is understood as a valuable development for the Warwick community – not as a disconnected or abstract term. In addition, there has been substantial overlap with my work as a course rep. The two roles have provided a great opportunity to join up the conversations being had amongst students and staff to develop the university. A brilliant example of this has been on liberating the curriculum. In the devolved Warwick system, the chance to share best practice across departments in this forum has been invaluable for staff and student representatives pursuing the same objectives.

I took part in network WIHEA meetings, in particular supporting development of the Academic Promotion criteria, with a particular focus on Higher Education teaching and learning.

Similarly, it has been really interesting to make contact with colleagues in respect of academic leadership in Higher Education.

WIHEA has enabled me to continue in my interest in teaching and learning across the whole University rather than just in the Centre for Teacher Education. I continue to take part in PFHEA dialogic and written assessments; and have really enjoyed this aspect of the University. It certainly connects with the work of WIHEA.

WIHEA has enabled many of our colleagues to engage with a wider University of Warwick network. Particularly, in respect of assessment and E-learning developments, the work of WIHEA has been influential in our department’s thinking.

It has been fantastic to meet people from all over the University. Everyone has been collegiate and quite open-minded about learning. The University is in good hands with WIHEA fellows leading the way in Teaching and Learning.

I became a WIHEA Fellow fully intending to develop a Learning Circle ‘of my own’, focused on Community-Engaged Pedagogy. However, it turned out that there was more than enough engaging and impactful work to devote my time to as an active member of the Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Processes (ARPP) in HE Learning Circle. I supported its leaders, convened one of its sub-groups and attended the others, wrestled with ideas and practices, and learned much. I have had the great satisfaction of seeing WIHEA support for that Learning Circle and its outputs enable significant new initiatives (the Decolonise Project, the Tackling Racial Inequality at Warwick staff development programme, and the Anti-Racist Pedagogy Teaching Forum), which are beginning to make real changes across the University. My own understandings of anti-racist pedagogy and of processes for encouraging and developing an engaged learning community of critical pedagogues have developed enormously, and I am very happy to remain an active participant in that community as my Fellowship comes to an end.

Outside of the ARPP Learning Circle, WIHEA has introduced me to many other colleagues whose work and perspectives have been great to find out about, through informal networking around formal events, and through occasional attendance at other Learning Circles when they have focused on areas of particular interest to me. This has always been illuminating, often fun, and sometimes transformative. My advice for incoming Fellows is to pursue what you care about and take your own initiatives, use every opportunity to make new connections and learn from other perspectives, and not underestimate how much can be learned and developed through opportunities to get wholeheartedly behind others’ initiatives.

I was fortunate enough to take up my WIHEA Fellowship and begin at Warwick at almost the same time. This allowed me to widen my understanding of the University, but also to connect with so many wonderful colleagues. I have been fortunate enough to co-lead the Co-Creation Learning Circle, whilst being an active member of several others. This again led to some collaborative relationships which I still benefit from today. During my Fellowship, I obtained funding for two projects, both of which have been rewarding and afforded me opportunities to work with staff and students from across the faculties. One project was based around the transition to university (2018/19) which continues to be used today, and the other was exploring notions of co-creation (2019/20) from a staff and student perspectives. Both of these projects were co-created with students and, I am proud to say, went on to be published in peer reviewed journals. I would advise all incoming Fellows to throw themselves into the opportunities that they will doubtlessly come across during their time in WIHEA – you will learn a lot, and also make connections with colleagues from across the University which will benefit you in the future.

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My WIHEA Fellowship has enabled me to make connections across campus with colleagues committed to developing teaching and the learning experience at Warwick. As a professional services member of staff, one can sometimes feel ‘on the edge’ of things – WIHEA brings everyone interested in having conversations about teaching and learning together, regardless of role or position in the institution. I have met some truly inspirational colleagues and have been able to participate in Learning Circles seeking to develop practice in areas such as co-creation and supporting students’ learning remotely. WIHEA has been a particularly valuable network during the Covid pandemic – enabling connections to continue to grow in very challenging times. I am hugely grateful for the opportunity the Fellowship has given me and I have learned a huge amount from my time in WIHEA.

It’s been a fantastic privilege to be a WIHEA Fellow, and to be welcomed into such a wonderful, friendly and committed group of people. I’ve met and learned from a really wide range of colleagues and new friends across the University, and participated in a number of projects that have helped me develop my teaching practice and interests. It’s given me the confidence to (successfully) apply for promotion, and helped me think about my own career development and academic leadership. I’ve joined Learning Circles on subjects as diverse as learning analytics, wellbeing, co-creation and learning from crisis. I’ve particularly enjoyed being in the Teaching Reward and Recognition Learning Circle, this last year as a Co-Chair. I’m a little sad that my Fellowship is ending, just as I feel I’m starting to get the hang of things. But I’m looking forward to seeing what the next cohort of Fellows do, and I certainly plan to stay involved as part of the Alumni. Thanks so much to Gwen, Leti, Lisa, Michelle and the rest of the team, and to my fellow Fellows – it’s been an absolutely splendid experience.

The WIHEA Fellowship has been one of the highlights of my time at Warwick. It has provided me with the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across different disciplines in various Learning Circles, increasing my knowledge of activities across the University and contributing to my career progression. After joining WIHEA, I was appointed as the representative on the University’s Student Learning Engagement and Experience Committee. My time on this committee has been immensely valuable, allowing me to contribute to decision-making and policies through the lens of academic practices that WIHEA stands for. I have also been able to utilize information from the committee to inform and influence student-friendly and EDI initiatives within the School of Engineering. I strongly encourage colleagues to apply to be WIHEA fellows, as it will be invaluable for their learning, networking, and overall career development.

The main thing that being a Foundation Fellow has done is introduce me to so many people. Although I was always familiar with many names and faces, WIHEA has enabled introductions to colleagues across the University working on similar things, with similar interests and this just wouldn’t have been possible without WIHEA. The gatherings, lunches, seminars etc. provide so many opportunities to catch up with colleagues who you might otherwise have never met or just never see and even the shortest catch up can provide interesting ideas. It’s also been such a useful way to learn about the different things that other Departments are working on. We all share many of the same goals and agendas and different Departments are going about achieving their objectives in lots of different ways, that it’s so easy to share best practice. Before WIHEA, this really wasn’t done – there was no place to do it, so it was by chance that you would find out about someone doing something. Now, it’s so much easier to discover the things that are taking place around the University and in other institutions.

I’ve sat on a few working groups and Learning Circles, including the Module Evaluation one recently and was asked to sit on the Warwick Welcome Week Steering Group, having shared my experiences of induction within the Department of Economics. I have also been sitting on the Assessment and Feedback Group, looking at mitigating circumstances, again because of my experience in that area and have had so many useful conversations with other Fellows. I have also been involved in the academic promotion process and met with other colleagues re mentoring and how I can help them with my experiences. I have participated in the Professorial Teaching Fellow promotion talks, where I’ve given two, as probably the most successful part of being a Foundation Fellow was getting promoted to a Professorial role. Although lots of other things contributed, it was really talking to others within the circle and working out what types of things I was doing and how to share them that gave me the confidence to apply for promotion.

Overall, I think it has been a fantastic success and I have loved being a member of WIHEA.

My WIHEA Fellowship at Warwick has been a catalyst for professional growth, providing opportunities to delve into various aspects of learning and teaching. Participating in a wide array of workshops and meetings has given me valuable insights into numerous educational practices and methodologies. This has not only enriched my understanding, but has also helped to sustain my commitment to improving the learning and teaching experience wherever possible. One of the most rewarding outcomes of the Fellowship has been my role in establishing and co-leading the Enhancing the VLE Learning Circle, along with a recently formed subgroup focusing on ePortfolios. Working on a practical project with colleagues from across the university has been a true highlight. Another valuable aspect of the Fellowship has been the networking opportunities it presents across the university.

This experience, marked by productive dialogues and idea exchanges with colleagues from diverse disciplines, has expanded my understanding of their work and cultivated a network of useful contacts. This wealth of knowledge and connections continues to enrich my professional journey. For this, I am grateful to all those who have supported me and made my WIHEA Fellowship possible.

I was fairly new to Warwick when I first started my Fellowship, so it provided me with an excellent opportunity to meet and work with like-minded members of staff from a teaching-focused background, from across the University, not just within the Psychology Department. In addition to being a member of a couple of Learning Circles, leading the Neurodiversity and the Student Experience Learning Circle has been a key focus for me. Getting started was not without its challenges, with fewer meetings than I had hoped, then Covid placing further pressures on colleagues’ workloads, so initial progress was slow. However, following the award of WIHEA funding over two consecutive years, Staff and Student members of the circle and a newly formed project team successfully collaborated to collate good practice exemplars of inclusive pedagogical approaches from staff at Warwick and captured neurodivergent student voices in pen portraits and infographics. These helped to create practical pedagogical recipes to use when supporting neurodivergent students and provide recommendations for personal tutoring and learning and teaching inclusive approaches. All of which are available from the Neurodiversity Toolkit. The Learning Circle is now in a position to write up our research and findings for publication outside of Warwick.

I am now looking at ways to collaborate with the other Learning Circles such as the Trans & Queer Pedagogies Learning Circle, anti-racist pedagogies, peer mentoring, enabling intersectionality. Work has also led me to form the Inclusive Policy & Practice for Disabled Students Learning Circle with Dr Elena Riva. We were able to successfully bid for IATL Educational Innovation Funding to co-produce content and case studies from the Warwick community and produce guidance for staff by running a number of stakeholder meetings. This work will inform the creation of a code of practice to support disabled students across the University.

Being part of a community raising the profile of teaching-focused members of staff across my department and the wider University has been important to me. Seizing opportunities to lead/ join WIHEA projects/Learning Circles and carry out pedagogical research enables you to collaborate and achieve institution-wide impact, all of which have helped me with my promotion. I continue to encourage other psychologists to join the Learning Circles and continue the work. The WIHEA Fellowship also provides many opportunities for networking and getting your work out there. For any incoming WIHEA Fellow, don’t waste the opportunities available and I cannot emphasise enough the importance of collaborating within and across Learning Circles (find those natural links). WIHEA funding can enable you to employ students as researchers and project officers and facilitate co-production – giving students across the University a voice has been so powerful and really drove the projects.

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Against the backdrop of an unimaginably difficult academic year, for personal and work reasons, WIHEA has provided a welcoming forum for ongoing learning that has set me up for the rest of my career. I am very pleased that I am staying at Warwick for the next few years so I can continue to learn from this community!

Being a WIHEA Fellow has offered many opportunities for networking and professional learning. I have been very privileged to be able to attend workshops, masterclasses and networking events, both before the pandemic and during, which have enriched my understanding and contributed to my feeling part of a community. Being involved in the Pedagogic Research in Higher Education Learning Circle has been a particular highlight. The community that I have found in this group and the opportunities to work together, share our ideas and stories, and grow through this experience have been fantastic. Co-leading this Learning Circle with Professor Richard Smith has also been great – I have learned so much from Richard and our collaboration and am grateful to him. Being able to take all I have learned, including ways of nurturing community, and apply to my work as an academic developer is perhaps where the major impact has been. My main bit of advice for incoming Fellows is to keep an open mind about how your time as a Fellow will unfold – look out for opportunities and be prepared to try new things!

In my time as a WIHEA fellow I formed new networks and collaborations, joined several learning circles (one of which I co-lead) and have had three projects funded. I am very grateful for the opportunities, support and the platform that WIHEA has provided.

Institutional impacts I am particularly proud of are:

• The creation of a Warwick Inventory of Interdisciplinarity and the related MyWarwick Hub page, feeding into the 3 strands of the Warwick Education Strategy to promote interdisciplinary opportunities to students as a Warwick USP (with Jo Wale, Bo Kelestyn, Vasanthi Subramonia Pillai and the learning circle).
• The employability skills badge initiative that has now been included in the Warwick Employability Strategy (with Tina Overton and Chris Thompson [Monash] and Pat Tissington and the learning circle) to raise students’ awareness of their skills and enhance their employability.

I would advise incoming Fellows to take full advantage of the networking and funding opportunities that WIHEA offer and highlight that it can provide a platform to make a real impact at departmental and institutional levels.

Being a WIHEA Fellow has been a privilege and a pleasure; my understanding of the whole Learning and Teaching Ecosystem has grown, and these new insights and perspectives have given me increased confidence in my approach, as well as an abiding sense of the richness and diversity of excellent practice flourishing at Warwick.

I have transformed my pedagogical practices to the great benefit of my own students; their growth and achievements never cease to amaze me, and it is humbling to be part of that. Even more rewarding has been working within WMG to create a team of learning designers and educational researchers (The Education Innovation Group) focused on helping staff reach their potential as educators and, in turn, deliver a transformational experience for their own students.

My advice to new Fellows would be to grasp every opportunity with both hands, and to share their learning and enthusiasm as broadly as possible with colleagues and students; that way we can increase the impact and value of WIHEA – and let everyone join in the fun.

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During my time as a WIHEA Fellow, I joined the Wellbeing Pedagogies Learning Circle and led a sub-group that produced guidance on use of content warnings in teaching. This was informed by existing pedagogic scholarship and psychological research, and aimed to balance academic freedom with compassionate pedagogies, emphasising dignity for all and respect for the person. The guidance has helped support colleagues in my department when considering how to promote open dialogue, academic debate, and critical discussion in a way that is both compassionate and respectful. My main advice for incoming Fellows would be to attend events in person rather than online whenever possible, as one of the best things about WIHEA is being part of a community of like-minded colleagues who share a passion for learning and teaching. For me, this has led to new projects and collaborations, interdisciplinary modules, and, most importantly, great friendships.

Being a Student Fellow at WIHEA has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. I had the opportunity to partake in a student fellows panel wherein I shared my insights into the barriers and enablers to staff and student partnerships, including how WIHEA itself can better facilitate student contribution. I believe the results of this panel will help to shape WIHEA for future student fellows, so that they might get even more out of their experience. I have also been the co-lead on a project which builds upon previous WIHEA projects to create a resource for both students and staff exploring the intersection between neurodiversity and queerness, as I believe that acknowledging the nuances brought about by these intersections is integral to supporting students. This is a rich and yet underdeveloped field of study, and so our project additionally established a proof of concept in order tofacilitate further research. My advice to incoming Student Fellows would be to speak up – there will be times when you do not understand what is being discussed or how you can contribute, and you will always benefit from asking.

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I was proud to be invited to be a Foundation Fellow of WIHEA. I was involved in early conversations about its needs and what it would look like and was pleased to be included. I was conscious of the fact that as an institution, we needed to focus on the quality of our teaching and on issues around parity of esteem with our academic and research roles.

In terms of my career, WIHEA has provided me with access to a broad network of teaching professionals. The regular meetings and discussions with other Fellows from across the institution have been invaluable in helping me to understand the picture outside my own department. Since becoming a Foundation Fellow, I have been promoted to Professorial Teaching Fellow. My involvement in WIHEA no doubt had some influence on that. But I think the network has been the most valuable outcome.

Within my department, a number of colleagues have engaged with WIHEA in pedagogical developments, in having an input into policy and process development. It is important for all departments to have a view of what is going on institutionally as well as having the opportunity to influence change. WIHEA has provided this.

In terms of the impact upon the institution, the move towards parity of teaching and research has been influenced by WIHEA. It is also working hard to help improve and innovate in teaching across the institution and its work should have a direct and positive impact on our TEF rating.

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During my WIHEA Fellowship, I enjoyed connecting with the Warwick teaching community through the Learning Circles and the fantastic development events. The networking events provide excellent opportunities to hear what had happened in each Learning Circle, catch up with other Fellows, and share teaching practice. The most impactful event was a Leadership in Action Masterclass led by RADA, from which I gained much confidence and still use many of the tips offered. My fellowship started during the pandemic, and I eagerly joined a lot of Learning Circles, keen to expand my interests. As I reach the end of my Fellowship, I have reduced my membership to a couple of Circles, allowing me to better focus my time. My advice to incoming Fellows is still to just get involved. You have some tremendous research projects and development events to get involved with, so get stuck in!

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The one word I would use to describe WIHEA’s impact is “massive”. It has given me the opportunity to interact with others who are also interested in teaching and pedagogy. For the department, it has allowed us to share and practice our ideas on a wider scale and reinforce our own beliefs whilst also being able to consider and evaluate our practices. WIHEA offers people an output for their ideas and allows them to be shared. An important aspect for me personally is teaching recognition. Many of us arrived in academia to pursue both academic and teaching careers, often employed for our research potential. However, many like myself enjoyed and indeed have been considered to excel at their teaching. There was not however, until recently, an obvious career track for us to follow. Now we have visibility and I am really excited with the opportunities and importance that WIHEA now provides the institution, to enable a diverse array of academics to share, test and promote our teaching abilities.

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My WIHEA Fellowship provided me with access to a diverse community of peers who are actively exploring and addressing issues related to learning and student experience. WIHEA has been intrinsic to my role at Warwick. I have been involved in Learning Circles, Workshops and led two WIHEA-funded projects in trauma-informed learning and teaching, an area intrinsic to inclusive education. These projects saw the creation of online educator guidance on adopting trauma-informed pedagogies, available to all Warwick colleagues. The second phase involves cross-institutional collaboration with Harvard Medical School creating resources for learners. Undertaking these projects with student co-creators offers mutual benefits in harnessing student perspectives and skills, and enables them to participate in novel partnerships. I participated in leadership RADA workshops and a programme for female leaders led by Professor Christina Hughes, working with inspirational women to consider the particular experiences of female leaders. I thoroughly enjoyed this and have gained valuable new perspectives. As my Fellowship draws to a close, I move forward having learnt lots and developed new connections in the WIHEA community and across the University.

I have been working on two major projects, and in both cases WIHEA’s support has proved to be invaluable.

Within the Academic Technology Team, we have developed an approach called The Extended Classroom. This has repositioned technologyenhanced learning as integral to enabling highquality education across the university. Our approach has been informed by quality research (through the Pedagogic Journal Club) and our emerging institutional priorities (especially interdisciplinarity, student engagement, internationalisation, undergraduate research). I use my work with WIHEA to ensure that our suite of technologies and techniques fits well with sound pedagogic principles and values.

WIHEA has also played an important part in helping me to develop and apply my PhD research, concerning the methods we collectively use to systematically and creatively [re]design practice and the university as a shared platform. Working with my teaching and research partner, Dr Bo Kelestyn (WIHEA fellow), we ran a popular and very energetic WIHEA masterclass. This has evolved into the Design Thinkers Network, an increasingly widespread awareness and use of designerly approaches across the university, and an IATL interdisciplinary module.

The WIHEA Fellowship has afforded me the opportunity to learn and collaborate across and beyond the boundaries of the University with local and international communities. As we have worked to deal with the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the global climate crisis over the last few years, my WIHEA colleagues have helped to inspire and provide a supportive, empowering environment to reimagine, re-envisage, and help shape the future of education. These experiences have also re-ignited my appreciation of the impact that we, as learners, leaders, and educators, can have on the world around us. During my Fellowship I have contributed to and benefited from Leadership Development Masterclasses, Workshops and networking events, and have been fortunate to work with colleagues in the Pedagogic Research in HE, Internationalisation, Restorative Justice and Sustainability in HE Learning Circles. I have had support through WIHEA grant funding and project partnerships such as the 2022 Warwick Sustainability Challenge, and have collaborated on developing wider initiatives on Sustainability and Transformative Pedagogy, and Critical Reflexivity and Leadership. I have also had opportunities to develop new perspectives and approaches to learning, to co-create new workshops, modules, and courses for HE and industry, and to co-author and publish several papers. The benefits of these initiatives have impacted positively on my practices, and on my collaborations and interactions with students, colleagues, and the wider professional network. I would like to say ‘thank you’ to my WIHEA colleagues for the opportunities. I am looking forward to becoming an active Alumna and contributing to the support, learning, and development of other WIHEA Fellows as we continue the journey over the years to come.

When I applied to become a WIHEA Fellow, I didn’t really know what I was getting into- it has been so much more than I expected, much more than a title, a wealth of opportunity. At that time I had very few links outside my department and thought medical education was different and didn’t lend itself to interdisciplinary working - I was wrong! I was also low in confidence, trying to be innovative but lacking in courage to tackle challenging projects or apply for funding.

The lunches soon helped open my eyes to the similar challenges that teachers in other disciplines were also having, and became a source of good ideas to bring back to the medical school. The masterclasses have been intellectually stimulating- some of the best have been on areas which I wasn’t sure would be relevant but thought l would take a punt at. I applied successfully for one of the first round of WIHEA grants and developed the mystery shopper program with students which we have now had published. I have also set up an Authentic Learning Circle and am a keen proponent of interdisciplinary.

I was struggling to get to the Pedagogical Journal Club - so started one of my own for MBChB teachers which has been well attended and helped improve morale. I now have good networks across the university and am on two university committees. I am involved in interdisciplinary projects and have successfully applied for other funding streams for educational projects. My perspective is much broader and I frequently bring new ideas back to the medical school. I am MUCH more confident!

What about the students? We have a mystery shopper scheme involving students in evaluation. Staff are more engaged with their own development and have increased enthusiasm. We are trying out new pedagogical ideas in lectures. We are developing a better understanding of what makes a good student experience.

WIHEA has been a highlight of my academic career. The opportunity to grow my crossuniversity connections and collaborate with colleagues has inspired me to learn and try new initiatives. I had the chance to join and work with colleagues in several Learning Circles: AI, Curriculum Review, Learning Analytics, Learning from Crisis, Lecture Capture, Pedagogic Research in HE, and Teaching Recognition and Reward which I had the privilege to co-lead with Claudie Fox. Some highlights include working with WIHEA Fellows and Alumni on The Meaning of Excellence in Learning and Teaching to Students project to create resources to support teachingfocused promotion and career pathways to professor, and new principles for ‘online assessment ethics’. Working with others, throughout the University and externally, led to diverse opportunities, such as drawing together thoughts on the emergence of AI and the future of lecture capture, and helping to develop new policy recommendations. In addition, annual WIHEA opportunities for Fellows, including Strength Profiling, Leadership Skills and Engaging Others and Creating a Powerful Vision, were invaluable in my self-development. My WIHEA Fellowship has resulted in several critical, department-level changes, including the confidence and drive to adopt new student-co-created educational approaches. I would say that everyone’s WIHEA Fellow journey is different, but WIHEA will give you fantastic opportunities, so take them and watch yourself develop and bring about positive educational change.

Fellowship gave me the opportunity to establish a Queer & Trans Pedagogies Learning Circle, and ultimately to launch the Queering University programme at Warwick. As a result, we have grown a network of students and staff supporting one another’s work embedding and centring queer perspectives; we have also created resources to support our peers such as the guide to challenging incorrect pronouns and misgendering, and issue-specific guidance for people supporting LGBTQUIA+ individuals coming out, experiencing conversion therapy etc. Most importantly, we have gained a greater understanding of LGBTQUIA+ students’ experiences through research, and delivered cultural interventions like the Pronouns Pledge. For me, the best part of being a Fellow has been the feeling of support with this work for the first time; further highlights have included discovering others with a similar passion and working together with WIHEA’s genuine support to bring about change.

I used my WHEA Fellowship as an opportunity to engage with colleagues beyond my department and found it a useful experience to discuss connected issues from different perspectives. I found the internalisation learning circle especially useful in discussing ways to support international students and hearing about innovative ways to embed internationalisation into the curriculum. Using this, and insights from a variety of other learning circles, enabled me to work with colleagues in Chemistry to develop the first iteration of an EDI Teaching Toolkit designed to support educators in STEM to adopt accessible teaching practices. I think the most useful aspect of the WIHEA Fellowship for me personally, was the opportunity to be part of the Women-Space Leadership programme; this has been challenging, motivating and inspiring in equal measure and I am very grateful for this opportunity. I would advocate for any incoming Fellow to engage with learning circles which are of interest and to use this to make connections beyond your home department, as you never know what that connection might lead to!

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It was a privilege to be accepted into WIHEA. Although I contributed formally to the Academy’s activities (for example, speaking at a workshop to help others with their promotion applications), it was the informal meetings over lunch which have left a lasting impression. Before the disruption of Covid, they enabled me to forge connections and share ideas with academics and professional services staff from across the University, which will continue to influence me and my department in the future. WIHEA was an important background to my promotion to an associate professorship, and to my receipt of a Warwick Award for Personal Tutoring Excellence. A three-year Fellowship will pass by very quickly, and so my advice to incoming Fellows is to not waste this time. If you submit a bid for project funding which is not successful, do internalise the feedback you will receive and consider putting in another bid.

Foundation Fellowship of WIHEA has been an immensely positive experience in that it enabled me to engage with a University-wide educator community of practice, explore a range of educational innovations through the Learning Circles, and WIHEA lunches, and also lead on my own areas of interest.

I led an ‘International Study Group: China’ Learning Circle through which I was able to develop a partnership with Hong Kong University, collaborating on areas of pedagogical practice, and am now planning study trips for Warwick/Hong Kong University educators to work together on mini case studies, joint reflections and scholarly conversations. I have learnt a lot from the experience of gradually building up international institutional relationships and this has, without doubt, been the highlight of my fellowship experience.

One of the most exciting aspects of being a WIHEA fellow is having the opportunity to contribute to some major policy-changing innovations across the University; for example, driving institutional change in how we engage in the implementation of peer review of teaching, and developing the ‘game-changing’ new promotion criteria that now recognises and values teaching activity. These are just two examples of Learning Circle and WIHEA Fellows changing academic practice at Warwick, and impacting, positively, on the University-wide community of educators and students.

There have been so many ‘best bits’ over the years of being a Fellow, the learning from and with other fellows, having access to excellent guest speakers, the fantastic opportunities to design projects and bid for funding to support them, but perhaps the real ‘best bit’ was that every time I walked into a WIHEA Fellows Lunch or seminar, the genuine warmth of welcome from Gwen, Lisa, Michelle and the Fellows felt like receiving a big hug. I ‘found my tribe’ in the WIHEA Fellowship community and it was a delight and a privilege to be part of it.

In my capacity as a student sabbatical officer and WIHEA fellow, I have had the privilege of actively engaging with the organisation, taking on the co-chair role for the 'Understanding and Overcoming Barriers to using AI' subgroup within the AI in Education Learning Circle. The experience has proven invaluable in enriching my abilities as a student representative, fostering a broader perspective, and strengthening my leadership and communication skills. The networking events have been particularly enlightening, offering a platform to learn from the diverse array of projects and insights shared by fellow participants. To upcoming Student Fellows, I strongly recommend fully embracing these networking opportunities to cultivate a richer understanding, explore diverse viewpoints, and establish meaningful collaborations that can significantly benefit both personal growth and professional development within the WIHEA community.

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During my time as a WIHEA Fellow, I have enjoyed the space and time to discuss key strategic teaching and learning issues with a group of interdisciplinary experts. I’m not sure it has had tangible effects on my career but during the time I have been a fellow I have been accredited as a Principal Fellow of the HEA. I will be starting a role as Deputy Head of the History Department in charge of teaching excellence in May.

On behalf of my department, I received funding to diversify the History curriculum and I am pleased to say that process was started last year with a full scale curriculum review in progress. I am planning a funding bid on intercultural competencies to incorporate that into the History curriculum. As well as achieving PFHEA status during my time as a fellow I have worked on a number of strategically important working groups such as Plagiarism, Lecture Capture and Reward and Recognition. The R&R Learning Circle are planning to capture their collective achievements as these do not depend on one individual.

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My time as a WIHEA Fellow has been one to treasure, enabling me to connect and work with incredible colleagues. In my first month as a Fellow, I collaborated on a project aimed at offering interdisciplinary learning experiences during Welcome Week, and I have not stopped since then. Importantly, WIHEA has given me space (and funding) to pursue my vision of bringing wellbeing to the centre of the educational environment, promoting its embedding into the curriculum across campus. I have organised and delivered three Masterclasses on this topic, and have established and co-led with Martin Mik the Wellbeing Pedagogies Learning Circle. The outcomes of this work on how to impact positively on students’ wellbeing in L&T settings have been embedded in the Warwick Wellbeing Strategy 2020/24. With colleagues, I received WIHEA funding to create the Wellbeing Pedagogies Library, a repository of over 80 practical pedagogies for delivering wellbeing-positive learning experiences, and for exploring how to support staff wellbeing. My suggestion would be to get involved right from the start, and to dare to present your ideas and your wildest pedagogic dreams!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a WIHEA Fellow! It has been a fantastic opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals across the University and to gain insights into their truly impressive work.

I received funding to work with Rachel Cuddihy (Undergraduate Programme Manager – International) together with Monash Faculty, Professor Michaela Rankin (Deputy Dean – International) and Professor Robert Brooks (Deputy Dean, Education). The project has co-created a joint, credit-bearing and short-term undergraduate overseas module, ‘Strategic Luxury Management’, an elective that will now form part of our exciting Alliance Intensive Study Programme (AISP) offer in Venice. Much institutional learning has been generated from this enjoyable project, and we very much look forward to seeing its impact on our learners.

I encourage incoming Fellows to participate fully in their preferred Learning Circles, and also to enjoy the many conversations outside of these with the great community. Thank you to the WIHEA team for their excellent work, and here’s to the Academy going from strength to strength in the future!

The Fellowship was a fabulous opportunity to connect with people across the University and make an impact in my department. During my Fellowship I was involved with the Wellbeing Learning Circle, and tried to promote wellbeing within the Computer Science department, together with other colleagues. I was the first Fellow from this department, and it was great to be a leading force in encouraging others to join this network. Within WIHEA, I focused on things I felt might have a bigger impact on students and to which I could contribute through my own work. I got involved with the Neurodiversity Learning Circle and the funded project this year, also involving students from my department to help us in the process and to spread awareness. I will continue to be involved in these initiatives and encourage others from the department to get involved with WIHEA.

The work done through WIHEA also played an important role in my promotion last year, and I hope to contribute to this network’s growing visibility.

My advice to incoming Fellows is to come without expectations, and not to hurry to find your place, since it can be difficult initially. Spend the first year finding your interests, and don’t worry if you don’t instantly find your niche – maybe you don’t have to. Just enjoy all the ways in which you can contribute.

While I did not get as directly involved with Learning Circles as I would have liked due to time constraints and workload of my job at the SU, whenever I went to WIHEA networking events I found them very insightful, and I felt very welcomed. WIHEA is one of the Student Union's key allies. At the beginning of my time in my role I was informed that WIHEA would be an excellent tool for research for any campaigns I may want to run, and I owe a lot to the former Lecture Capture Learning Circle that my predecessor was involved in, as this work laid the foundation for my own campaign this year, and led onto further discussions surrounding timetabling at Warwick. WIHEA is a great place to be if you have ideas that you don't know what do with, or how to get them heard – it is an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere that will listen to you no matter whether you are a student, SU officer, professional services staff member, or academic staff. It has been a pleasure to be involved in WIHEA this year.

By joining WIHEA I feel that I was given a voice in the educational direction of the university, have been able to start fostering long term collaborations with colleagues, and understand the broader UK educational landscape much better. I have also picked up some great teaching ideas/ practice. It was through the Academy that I became a HEA fellow, and became acquainted with the UK educational frameworks and as a result I feel more confident and inspired as a teacher.

I was also able to organise a visit from a WIHEA Visiting Fellow, Dr Matthew Nicholls from Reading University, to further develop the digital competencies and confidence of staff and students across the university. This opened up a new way of teaching for one of our modules (virtual reality, architectural modelling software). I feel the academy can, and has, provided leadership for the educational future of the university. With so many great minds together in one room so many ideas and problems can be solved!

I am hugely grateful for the WIHEA Fellowship, which has made my research and teaching experience at Warwick extremely rewarding. During my year as a WIHEA Student Fellow, I got the opportunity to work with passionate individuals and collaborate on innovative projects that relate to my research niche. The flexibility and openness in the Learning Circles, and generally in WIHEA, made transitions and participation in different projects a very enjoyable experience. With my colleagues, I designed a student-led actionresearch project (Designing for Inclusion) that will support interdisciplinary teams of staff and students through a design thinking process to co-create innovative solutions to EDI problems they have identified. This will empower all Warwick students to solve problems relating to equality, diversity, and inclusion at Warwick and beyond. This was an invaluable experience, as I got to work alongside a fantastic team and produce relevant interactive resources that are now available to the student community. It has been a privilege to interact with such an inspiring learning community. Thanks to all those who I have worked with in WIHEA: you have set great examples for the new members. My advice for new Fellows would be to savour every experience and not be afraid to voice your ideas.

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I really enjoyed making use of the networking and training opportunities offered by my WIHEA Fellowship. I particularly enjoyed working with the Education for Sustainable Development Learning Circle, and learning more about the valuable work of colleagues in other departments where it is often so difficult to get the time to discuss and collaborate.

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To anyone interested in joining WIHEA: go for it! WIHEA was a great opportunity to connect with individuals who share a similar passion for transforming education. As a member of the Wellbeing Pedagogies Learning Circle, I gained a deeper appreciation of teaching techniques that support student wellbeing, and shared my practice in the Warwick Wellbeing Pedagogies Library. I also had the pleasure of leading the Interdisciplinarity Learning Circle, which enabled colleagues to share their interdisciplinary learning and teaching practices and scholarship, and in the creation of the Interdisciplinary Staff Hub, a WIHEA-funded project. My advice for incoming Fellows is to find a Learning Circle and dive into it! Learning Circles are a great way to find support and build friendships across the University.

While a Foundation Fellow, I have been actively involved in communicating new teaching ideas across the University, as well as across Classics departments within Universities across the UK.

At the same time, I have been committed to increasing exchange between Universities and Schools to promote widening participation and engagement. As a result my students have benefitted from new and exciting modules covering topics never before taught at Warwick, new diverse assessments, and the opportunity to reach out and engage school students and the wider public. It was an honour to win an NTF in 2017, be re-created as a Lego figure, and, following my promotion to Professor, to give one of the WIHEA Inaugural Lectures in February 2019 (which was also streamed live on Facebook!). My advice for Fellows: students love innovation, but are also often inherently nervous of it. Invest the time to ensure they are familiar with the innovation you offer them - and they will amaze you with how far they will run with it!

My time as a Fellow with WIHEA has been wonderful. I have learnt so much from colleagues across the University, have gained many friends and have eaten lots of mini-cakes along the way. WIHEA has helped shape my teaching practice and vision for teaching in HE, and my understanding of how the University works. I have been so proud to be part of the various Learning Circles, particularly helping to design the questions for module evaluation, leading the sub-group on designing modules for employability and working with David Lees on peer mentoring. When I joined WIHEA, I had lots of ideas for enhancing the student experience and changes I wanted to make, but lacked the knowledge and experience necessary to make them happen. WIHEA helped me to gain confidence in my ideas, and through support from the other amazing Fellows, as well as Gwen Van der Velden, I now have a clearer idea of my values and how to work with others across the University to make change happen.

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My time as a WIHEA Fellow began just before ‘the pandemic’ and ended as we came out of it – a pandemic sandwich! I began by sampling different Learning Circles, started to form a Learning Circle on multilingual pedagogy (still a good idea!) but, as the pandemic took hold, found there were more urgent things to be done with the Pedagogic Research in Higher Education Learning Circle, which I began to co-lead with Dr John Kirkman. Together, we gave it more of a focus than hitherto on practitioner research. The ideas and activities I’d developed to help secondary school English teachers address ‘difficult circumstances’ (large-class, low-resource settings) in Latin America and South Asia gained a good reception among other WIHEA Fellows, who saw their value in the (different kind of) difficult circumstances we all now found ourselves in. John and I developed an ‘Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry’ procedure based on a set of four weekly online meetings interleaved with peer-coaching sessions, and we repeated this three times with different groups of participants. All of us gained a deeper understanding of aspects of the situation we were in, benefitting our students’ experience as well as our own wellbeing. Increased empathy for colleagues and for our students was a major outcome, informing improved pedagogy. I personally gained an enhanced appreciation of colleagues’ commitment to student learning across the University and a greater sense of pride in belonging to Warwick. Countering the isolation of the pandemic in this way, through WIHEA, enabled me to meet likeminded colleagues across departments in a way I hadn’t experienced before, in all my twenty years at Warwick.

One of the most wonderful things about WIHEA is the community. During my Fellowship, I have met truly amazing people at WIHEA events and had the opportunity to work closely and network with people from all parts of the University. This is a treasured experience.

As a WIHEA Fellow, I have pushed the inclusive agenda at both departmental and faculty level. As Chair of WMS Attainment Gap Group and chair of Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine EDI Forum, I have pulled together a community of academic and professional service colleagues dedicated to sharing best practices on inclusive education, tackling ethnic minority student experiences and attainment gaps. The University Institutional Attainment Gap dashboard is testament of progress made in this area.

As Lead of the WIHEA Anti-racist Pedagogy and Process in HE Learning Circle, I have focused on advancing the anti-racism agenda at Warwick and continued the invaluable work of previous chairs. However, I have extended this to regional and national levels. Regionally, through a new WIHEA initiative, (WIHEA External Collaboration Fund), we successfully bid to form The Midlands Racial Equality in Medicine Network. The network launched in February 2022 is aimed at building connections between regional medical schools, providing staff and students with a platform to share initiatives, and create joint ventures to improve outcomes and racial equality in medicine. At a national level, we now have a Medical Schools Council EDI Board of which I’m a member.

My advice to incoming Fellows is to make the most of it, follow your passion and use this platform to develop that work by actively engaging with other Fellows.

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I used the Fellowship mainly to try to connect with like-minded colleagues at the University. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and workload, I was unable to do as much as I would have liked, but I still found WIHEA a useful and supportive network. In particular, I joined meetings held by the Anti-Racist Pedagogy Group, which gave me lots of useful and important ideas to bring into my teaching, and meant I was more aware of how these issues were being addressed. I was able to bring some of what I learnt from this Group into my teaching, and could share news about WIHEA and colleagues’ work in the department. There are so many opportunities available through WIHEA, many of which I really wanted but unfortunately was unable to join in with. Participate in the groups and make the most of your mentor!

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One of the things I enjoy most about WIHEA is that it gives you the space to indulge yourself in thinking about teaching, learning and assessment with other equally enthusiastic colleagues – it is such a tonic in a busy schedule! During my Fellowship, I had the opportunity to co-chair the Designing and Assessing Groupwork Learning Circle with Dot Powell (WBS) and then Thomas Greenaway (Warwick Skills). This was a highlight for me as it has been great to meet new people from across the university and to learn together. I have also contributed to other circles e.g. on AI and assessment design and work on the VLE. As a Fellow I supported and co-led on two WIHEA funded projects, one of which I co-led with a student and has been nominated for a WATE collaborative award – a testimony to the work and leadership of the student co-lead (Youn Affejee) and a reminder of how amazing our student body are.

My time in WIHEA has been a truly rewarding and enjoyable experience. It also directly contributed both to my promotion to Associate Professor and to becoming a Senior Fellow of the HEA. I have contributed to several Learning Circles over the years, including most recently AI in Education, a prospect I had no concept of when I first joined WIHEA. I have had three WIHEA grants, one of which funded the creation of the Digital Pedagogy Library. This project grew into a far larger research endeavour, which my colleague, Jess Humphreys and I are currently professionalising. I also co-led on a COVID-era project that provided support to staff and students engaged in digital assessments, and I am proud to say that this resource is still proving useful today. This year, I have been lucky enough to join the Women-Space Leadership Programme, which has been an incredible opportunity. The best advice I can give to incoming Fellows is to make the most of your time and to throw yourself in feet first. The Fellowship goes by quickly, but the opportunities along the way are transformative.

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Despite a number of challenges that have impacted on my levels of engagement, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a fellow. The WIHEA team are highly approachable and supportive, always with your best interests at heart. The range of professional development opportunities that are open to fellows are excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed co-leading the Peer Mentoring Learning Circle and the WIHEA-funded project on peer learning, resulting in the co-construction of resources to support colleagues and students involved with peer mentoring. During my fellowship, I have taken on the Head of Primary ITE role in my department, gained promotion to Associate Professor, was nominated again for the WAPTE award (after winning the award in 2020) and have also recently been awarded an Ambassador of Character award by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues for my pioneering work on character and moral development within teacher education. Being a Fellow has certainly increased my confidence in promoting and celebrating my own achievements so thank you so much to the WIHEA team for such a fabulous opportunity.

I have found two aspects of being a Fellow of WIHEA to be useful. First, I attended sessions of the Pedagogic Journal Club. Reading and then discussing with other Fellows recent articles on innovative pedagogy practices and policies was very stimulating. It encouraged me to reflect upon and refine my own practice. Second, I also attended events arranged under the WIHEA Seminar Series. These again providing valuable insights and ideas, often in terms of what other universities are doing.

More generally, WIHEA provides a valuable forum and set of opportunities for Warwick staff to engage in purposeful conversations, to learn from what others are doing, and to think deeply about their practice. It is a valuable asset to support and promote teaching and learning within this research intensive university. I am sure this was an important factor in Warwick’s performance in the recent TEF assessment.

I have very much valued the opportunity to connect and share good practice with like-minded staff across the institution who, like me, give considerable emphasis to the teaching and learning side of academic life. WIHEA has given me access to opportunities beyond departmental boundaries and the confidence to engage in these. Highlights include my WATE commendation in 2016/17, my recent appointment as Faculty of Science Student Engagement Coordinator and the WIHEA funding for an electronic workbook for international student teams which I presented with my collaborators at the HEA annual conference.

I have used the ideas, support and motivation gained from being a WIHEA Foundation Fellow both in my own teaching activities as well as to inform departmental policy making. For example, I used WIHEA funding to support a group of students to produce assessment & feedback videos to help with the secondary-tertiary transition. My involvement in the TR&R Learning Circle has helped me to try to influence the role of teaching focussed staff within my department. Overall, I found the WIHEA Learning Circles very useful and as a result, will attempt to establish a departmental Learning Circle, in particular to support early career staff on the teaching-focussed route.

WIHEA Learning Circles, such as the Module Evaluation and the TR&R Learning Circle, are feeding into institutional processes and policy and I am very pleased that I was able to play a part in this.

My term as a Foundation Fellow of WIHEA has, I believe, provided quite a profound change in my experience of working in teaching at Warwick. I think across the institution – but in some of the larger, more autonomous departments such as WMG especially, it is all too easy to become increasingly isolated in your practice, ‘working in silos’ is a term much used but sadly, too often all too true. The networking opportunities provided by WIHEA Fellowship have been excellent, but the fact that this has been specifically targeted to include the people at Warwick who have demonstrated a passion and interest in improving our pedagogical practises and are enthusiastic about such matters as the Student Experience has made the Fellowship a very powerful and useful forum.

A second point would be the excellent work of the ‘Pedagogical Learning Club’ Learning Circle, led by Kate Mawson, which has encouraged me to get more actively involved not just in reading about pedagogical developments but also actively engaging in the writing of journal publications on my teaching experience. That is no small change to bring about in an Engineer!

The networking opportunities described above have been hugely important in providing the opportunity to gain valuable experience and exposure across the institution and even more widely. I have also been given the opportunity to lead a Learning Circle and this has increased my profile with people at the most senior level at Warwick. I have high hopes that this will manifest in the near future as a tangible addition to my personal credentials and prospects for promotion.

In terms of the impact that being a Foundation Fellow has had on my department; this is an aspect that I believe would benefit from more consistency across the various departments and services at Warwick. In some Schools and Departments I believe there is still quite a low level of understanding what WIHEA does and the benefits that it is able to provide, especially for colleagues on the Teaching Pathway but also more widely for enhancing the institutional pedagogical credentials. I would hope that this will improve rapidly in the near future and that this exercise of asking the outgoing Foundation Fellows to reflect upon their experience will help in this regard.

A significant aspect of my tenure with WIHEA has been my leading of the ‘Teaching Recognition and Reward’ (TR&R) Learning Circle. This group can justifiably claim to have played a significant role in shaping the recent review of academic promotional criteria, which I believe has been very well received especially by those whose careers lie on the Teaching Pathway. Hopefully, this will have started the process of improving the institutional recognition of teaching as a profession and we are now working on journal articles recounting our experiences in bringing about these changes to disseminate this work nationally or even internationally.

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My time as a WIHEA Fellow has afforded several opportunities to contribute to the advancement of Warwick’s teaching and learning landscape. I have led (with Jane Bryan and Imogen Davies) the RJ in HE Learning Circle which, over the years, has developed into a thriving Circle whose work and activities have achieved both national and international attention. Being a WIHEA Fellow has additionally contributed to my professional development in a myriad of ways, be it through developing leadership skills or broadening networks and cultivating productive working relationships with other institutions both in the UK and abroad. I have also thoroughly enjoyed meeting and learning from other Fellows who I would otherwise not crossed paths with. My one piece of advice for incoming Fellows, especially those in in full-time research and teaching posts, would be to formalise support from your department by way of allocation so that you can make the most of your limited time as a Fellow. I was surprised that there was no arrangement between WIHEA and departments to have Fellows’ time formally recognised in this way.

My involvement in WIHEA has supported me in achieving Senior HEA Fellowship as I met my mentor, Dr Deborah Outhwaite, through the WIHEA group.

I was able to present, with a fellow ‘Sprint’ Trainer and ‘Sprint’ students at an Education conference, about the positive impact the female personal and professional programme, designed to tackle gender inequality, has had on participants.

I have contributed to WIHEA Learning Circles on Employability, Authentic Learning and Anti-Racism. I will continue to contribute to the latter through supporting staff training delivery.

I have found it invaluable to network with academic and professional services staff who I may not have met other than through WIHEA and as a result will continue to work with some of my contacts on projects that will be of benefit to WP and BME students in particular.

In some sense I regret having been involved at the start of WIHEA, as it means that we will miss out on WIHEA membership as it gets bigger and better, but it has been a privilege to be able to help shape its direction. The networking element has been without doubt stimulating and enjoyable: there are many of the “same old faces” from the teaching scene, but those same old faces I normally only manage to catch a quick chat with after some meeting or other. So to have the space to discuss what matters to us most (teaching) has been invaluable.

These discussions (and learning circles) have helped question my own practice, and seek ways in which to improve both my teaching and that of those around me. I think with my current, and recent, involvement within the university the Fellowship has complemented my existing interactions within the University and kept me sane.

I hope that future fellows will be encouraged, or given guidance on how they can make an impact in their home departments. I wish I’d done more of this. Or it might just be that I’m so overworked there hasn’t been the opportunity!

There has been a definite improvement in how teaching fellows are regarded within the University (including the new promotion pathways), and although a long way still to go, it is without doubt the influence of WIHEA and its fellows and, of course, Gwen van der Velden that has helped to bring this about.

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WIHEA brought me in contact with the fantastic, superb, driven and incredible Kate Mawson. Through Kate’s contacts we have implemented a West Midlands poster competition as part of the Royal Society of Biology’s “Biology Week”.

We have developed a lesson plan for new trainee Biology teachers (from Kate’s department), who are placed in West Midlands secondary school. The plan means they can teach the students to make a poster (transferable skills) on a topic they have covered during their current year of study- it means the students can submit a poster that consolidates their knowledge and the trainee teachers have a focused “in” with the class (that builds their confidenceimportant as this is run within the first month of their placement). It the superb merger of pedagogy, WP impact and outreach.