Research and Scholarship

I have worked in inclusive learning support and development contexts since 1993, initially in primary and secondary school settings before entering higher education in 2008 working with neurodiverse learners at the University of Glasgow. In 2012, I was involved with creation of a study skills service at the University of Strathclyde (now Learner Development Services), where I current deliver 1-2-1 appointments, induction and widening participation activities, workshops, and create online resources as well as working collaboratively with academic and university services colleagues to facilitate the development of academic literacies.

Steering Group Member
Co-chair of the Events Group

Alistair joined the steering group member in 2020 as co-lead for Events, after having been previously a member of the LearnHigher, Regional Events and Research Funding working groups. He has worked in learning development for 12 years, following previous higher education roles teaching history and politics and in educational research. He is currently Head of Skills Development at King’s College, London.
His particular focus is on the intersection between learning development and academic/educational development.

Since completing my PhD in 2018, I have been a lecturer in Learning Development at Bournemouth University, working within a small academic team to provide faculty level support to students. I am a member of the ALDinHE Research Community of Practice. I have 20 years experience within the HE sector. Much of this time has been spent in research roles within the Widening Participation field, working within national schemes such as Aimhigher.

Finley is the Education Development Lead at Canterbury Christ Church University. Combining research and outreach experience, his work focuses on an evidence-led approach to innovative engagement and CPD strategies, and researching HE student access and success. Prior to this Finley was a Lead Research Fellow at the LASAR educational Research Centre. He passed his PhD viva in March 2023, and worked in a collaboration with the schools’ and college engagement team and Kent UniConnect Hub (KMPF) to develop award winning research-engaged widening participation practice. He has experience of developing strong research partnerships with stakeholders and undertaking desk and field-based research.

Steering Group Member
Chair of the Research and Scholarship Group

Ian has been active in ALDinHE since 2015 and a member of the peer mentoring working group since Spring 2020. He set up ALDinHE’s research community of practice at the same time, as the first CoP under the peer mentoring group umbrella, and continues to run it. The CoP provides informal peer support, critical friendship etc for research-active learning developers, and has co-authored a journal article, book chapter and several conference presentations around collaboration between learning developers. Ian is in the late stages of a professional doctorate on the framing and value of Learning Development work and also has research interests in feedback on student work and the teaching of reflective writing practices.

Bio coming soon

Silvina Bishopp-Martin has been a Learning Developer at Canterbury Christ Church University since joining the institution in 2012. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an ALDinHE Certified Leading Practitioner. She has worked on the development of online learning materials, peer-mentoring schemes and embedding academic literacies in academic courses. She has research experience in academic literacies, critical EAP, critical pedagogies, collaborative writing and Learning Development scholarship, professionalism and identity.

Bio coming soon.