Warwick Education Academy Launch
Warwick Education Academy Launch
Warwick Education Academy brings together expertise, partnership and innovation to support outstanding education across the University.
The University of Warwick is delighted to announce the launch of the Warwick Education Academy - a landmark development in the University's commitment to educational excellence, innovation and sector leadership.
The Education Academy brings together three highly regarded units - the Academic Development Centre (ADC), the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL), and the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) within a single, connected framework for educational leadership, development and innovation.
This is not a fresh start, but a powerful evolution: building on the outstanding contributions each entity has made to Warwick's reputation for transformative learning, pedagogic innovation, and student partnership.
A strategic framework for educational excellence
The Education Academy has been established at a time of significant change across higher education. Shifting student expectations, rapid technological development, increasing interest in AI-enabled learning, and continued focus on inclusion, flexibility and quality all demand a coordinated institutional response.
'At a time when higher education is being reshaped by changing student expectations, the rapid rise of AI, and growing demand for inclusive and flexible learning, the Academy positions Warwick to lead. It creates the critical mass, visibility, and collaborative capacity to translate our existing educational strengths into impact at scale.’
Prof Letizia Gramaglia, Academic Director, Warwick Education Academy
The Education Academy has been designed to strengthen Warwick’s capacity to respond to these challenges and opportunities in a coordinated way, ensuring that educational enhancement, scholarship, innovation and external engagement are better connected across the institution.
Value for Warwick’s teaching departments
A core purpose of the Education Academy is to deliver tangible value to Warwick’s teaching departments. The Education Academy will work alongside departments, course teams and individual educators to:
Strengthen teaching excellence...
through specialist support for curriculum design, assessment, feedback, inclusive education and pedagogic practice;
Support innovation and responsiveness...
by helping colleagues design, test and scale new approaches to learning and teaching, including digital and AI-enabled models;
Build staff capability and confidence...
through professional development, recognition and leadership opportunities at all career stages;
Enhance the student learning experience...
by embedding student voice, partnership and co-creation more systematically in educational practice;
Connect practice to evidence...
by drawing on educational research, evaluation and sector insight to inform decision-making and enhancement activity;
Enable cross-institutional collaboration...
by connecting departments with expertise, partners and examples of effective practice from across Warwick;
Increase external visibility and influence...
by connecting departments with expertise, partners and examples of effective practice from across Warwick;
In practice...
In practice, this means departments will have a stronger institutional partner to help them address immediate priorities while also contributing to longer-term educational strategy. The Education Academy’s role is not to duplicate existing departmental strengths, but to add value through specialist expertise, convening capacity, strategic coordination and practical support.
Looking ahead
Further detail on the Warwick Education Academy’s priorities, activity and opportunities for engagement will be shared in the coming weeks.
Lead
Sara Hattersley
SFHEA
Educational development and practice
'As educators, we need to build pedagogical knowledge, skills and experiences, whether learning through courses and programmes, engaging with the literature or finding opportunities to test our practice and ideas with our peers and students. Educational Development and Practice supports education-focussed colleagues to develop their teaching expertise and gain recognition, whether via our Advance HE accredited pathways; thematic postgraduate awards; or through online self-access short courses and learning resources. From early career teachers, through to those with more experience, we will support colleagues to access meaningful, timely development opportunities. In addition, we will also partner with colleagues from across the University as mentors and assessors, and work with small teams in departments on specific pedagogical work. Warwick colleagues have strong disciplinary knowledge: we’ll help educators to connect this to pedagogy and practice.'
Lead
Professor
Elena Riva
PFHEA, NTF
Lead
Dr Kerry Dobbins
SFHEA
Educational research and scholarship
Lead
Dr John Kirkman
PFHEA
Educational leadership and recognition
'Through the 'Educational Leadership and Recognition' work we partner with colleagues across Warwick to develop, support and recognise educational leadership. Our vision is for a thriving culture of educational leadership, where colleagues are connected through interdisciplinary communities, supported through mentoring and coaching, and empowered to share practice and lead educational change. Furthermore, educational leadership contributions are recognised, valued and sustained through transparent pathways that inspire future leaders. To bring this vision alive we will be building on existing activity to support aspiring Advance HE Principal Fellows through resources, mentoring and networks. We are also convening educational communities of practice, including the Directors of Studies (UG and PGT) Network, and are developing support for other leadership roles initially focusing on Directors of Education.'
Lead
Dr Jennie Mills
SFHEA, NTF
AI and digital education futures
'Artificial Intelligence continues fill our field of vision. The work of AI and digital education futures supports educators across Warwick to make sound decisions about teaching with, through, and against technology. A primary focus will be developing staff AI fluency and supporting Warwick's educators to integrate AI into curricula in meaningful and responsible ways - protecting what we value. We continue to work with departments and colleagues across Warwick, including the AI Action Group and WIHEA AI learning circles to develop local approaches and solutions, and to share knowledge and practice.'
Lead
Emma Barker SFHEA
Student research and co-creation
'Student Research and Co-creation supports students to develop as researchers and creative thinkers, from first idea to public output. Through conference platforms such as ICUR, Posters in Parliament, and BCUR, as well as Reinvention, our peer-reviewed undergraduate research journal, students share their work with audiences well beyond their own discipline and institution. We help departments showcase and build on this research, connecting it to their own teaching and priorities.
Building on Warwick’s commitment to student-staff partnership, we also help departments work with students as partners in enhancing their education, whether co-creating modules and curriculum, rethinking assessment, or employing students in roles such as Co-creation Officers. We work alongside course teams to bring this expertise and these opportunities into their own contexts.'
Lead
Caroline Gibson
SFHEA
Sector engagement
'Building on the strong relationships, partnerships and collaborations already established by colleagues across the University, the Education Academy will collaborate with departments and faculties to connect and amplify Warwick's educational engagement with higher education institutions, employers, professional bodies, policy organisations, charities, cultural institutions and international networks. Our aim is to connect Warwick's community with the wider education sector and beyond, fostering partnerships and networks that support educational innovation, knowledge exchange and opportunities for students.'
Lead
Dr Heather Meyer
SFHEA
Lead
Dr Peter Fossey
SFHEA
Innovation catalyst
The ‘Innovation Catalyst’ is a group that ignites, supports and hypes educational innovation at Warwick. With a rapidly changing landscape in higher education comes great opportunity to not only develop and amplify existing innovations already happening across our University, but to offer a space for our community to bring ideas to the table and receive support to bring them to life. The Innovation Catalyst aims to facilitate the reimagining of teaching and learning provision across all facets of our educational ecosystem – from small-scale innovation interventions that help simplify process to ease heavy workloads in a single department, to large-scale and radical innovations at faculty or institutional-level that transform and reshape educational experiences in ways that have never been seen before. The Innovation Catalyst is dedicated to piloting exciting new ideas, accelerating educational change, and scaling innovative practice.
Lead
Jess Humphreys
PFHEA
WIHEA Connected education community
'The Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) is the UK's first institutional academy of educators for staff and students engaged in advancing learning and teaching excellence. Made up of Fellows, Alumni and Members, WIHEA is the collective institutional voice on learning and teaching. WIHEA works across disciplines and services, through projects, events and Learning Circles to develop, recognise and embed outstanding academic practice. The community is now over 1,000 members strong (staff and students), with more than 100 Fellows and 170 Alumni.
As we enter a new phase as part of the wider Warwick Education Academy, WIHEA continues to build direct links with the institution's new Action Groups and to grow its international reach. Through it all, the community itself remains the constant, staff and students working together to help Warwick's education "learn beyond boundaries."