We are delighted to share the news that one of our PhD alums, Afiqah Ab Rahman, has been awarded the status of Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, which she successfully applied for whilst undertaking her PhD study.

Afiqah has a background in teaching English in Malaysia, and used this experience and the experience she gained whilst at Warwick, to be able to apply for Fellowship status through the experienced teaching staff route, rather than Associate Fellowship status through the Postgraduate Research student route.

Afiqah studied her PhD under the supervision of Dr Michael Hammond, investigating vocabulary learning strategies among Malaysians in the UK. She also successfully passed her PhD with no corrections.

Afiqah is currently working for Brunel University London as an Academic Skills Advisor, where she is able to use the skills that she learnt in her PhD, and also empathise with the students that she supports, as she has been in the same position as them. She would like to be able to give the same excellent support to students that she received from Dr Hammond.

Afiqah now plant to gain senior Fellowship status, using her understanding of pedagogy and teaching philosophy to deliver more effective and interactive sessions to her students.

"The Fellowship is about understanding and developing my own knowledge of the subject I teach, learning effective approaches to teaching learning in terms of how to assess students and how to give feedback to students; and showing my commitment to me as a professional. Understanding the diversity that students bring and how I have been developing myself professionally, and how I intend to further develop myself in the future. My teaching is based on research- I need to understand why I do this, why I do things that way. The PhD and FHEA marry together- how do I deliver what I have learnt in my PhD in my teaching? The FHEA teaches me about transferable skills in teaching and how to upgrade my skills as a teacher, and upgrade my teaching to students."

We are pleased to note the new publication from Dr Emma Langley:

Langley, E., Totsika, V., Hastings, R.P., Bailey, T. (2021). Family relationships and their associations with perceptions of family functioning in mothers of children with Intellectual Disability (ID). American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Dr Abdullah Sahin has been invited to deliver a lecture entitled 'Islamic Education within the Muslim Minority Context of Europe: Pedagogy, Politics, and Future Directions'. The lecture will mark the launch of 'Islamic Religious Education in Europe book (Routledge 2021) coedited by our late colleague Dr. Bill Gent who was an Associate Fellow at the Department of Education Studies and Dr. Leny Frankn, University of Antwerp.

Colleagues interested in joining this online seminar on 18th May 2021 please register here.

Professor Paul Warmington will be presenting an online seminar on his current research, hosted by the Centre for Research in Race & Education, University of Birmingham. The seminar will give an insight into some of the ideas that have informed University of Warwick’s Tackling Racial Inequality staff development programme.

Critical Race Theory Revisited: Brit-crit’s histories and futures.

Thursday 29^th April, 4-5pm via ZOOM

Registration is essential. To register and for more information, please click here.

This is a forum for discussion of issues relevant to current higher education and research policy. The Group draws on expertise from within the Academy’s Fellowship and more broadly across the UK higher education sector, to explore developments in policy and society which relate to universities, researchers, students and staff, with particular reference to SHAPE disciplines (Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy).

The Group’s discussions inform the development of the policy positions the Academy takes in its role as the voice of the humanities and social sciences, and guide the projects and activities the Academy carries out to build its evidence base and stimulate debate on topics which affect the health of our disciplines.