Please review the award applications below for three awards and vote for your favourite by Thursday 23 April 2026.
ALDinHE Award
Name of nominee: Emily Pennington (Nomination 1)
I am pleased to nominate Emily Pennington for their outstanding contribution to Learning Development and clear alignment with the values of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education.
In their role as Academic Skills Advisor, they demonstrate a strong commitment to working in partnership with students and staff. Through close collaboration with the Widening Access and Student Success team, Emily designed and delivered targeted transitional support that responded directly to student needs using the voices from the Student Advisory Panel to shape the content and to enable first-year Sports and Physical Activity undergraduate students to actively engage in their learning and development.
Emily is committed to inclusivity and widening participation, recognising the diverse backgrounds of students entering higher education and the challenges and opportunities they face. Emily provides volunteer support as a Student Success Champion, supporting underrepresented students as part of the Thrive programme during their first year. With a sustained focus on nurturing autonomy and signposting students to access support, she ensures an equitable student experience and fosters a sense of belonging for students experiencing unique challenges.
Emily’s practice reflects innovation and adaptability. Notably, Emily has enhanced and will shortly deliver a “Thinking Like a Second-Year Student” session, which supports transition between years by helping students anticipate and navigate the increasing academic demands of higher levels of study. This proactive approach promotes confidence, independence, and long-term student success.
Emily’s work is underpinned by a scholarly, evidence-informed approach, drawing on sector knowledge around transition pedagogy and student success. Emily seeks out opportunities to benchmark Academic Skills practice against the work of other HEIs as demonstrated by her involvement in the NW CoP meetings.
Finally, Emily demonstrates strong critical self-reflection and commitment to professional development. By responding to student feedback and refining their approach, they continuously enhance the support they provide.
Overall, this colleague makes a significant contribution to student success and exemplifies the core values of ALDinHE.
Name of nominee: Emily Pennington (Nomination 2)
Emily Pennington is a brilliant Academic Skills Advisor working within the UniSkills team at Edge Hill University.
Emily supports students across all disciplines to develop their academic literacy and confidence through one-to-one appointments, group workshops and the creation of accessible digital learning resources. Alongside this, she volunteers as a THRIVE coach, supporting students with widening participation characteristics navigate their transition into higher education. Through this work Emily demonstrates a deep commitment to working in partnership with students and colleagues to ensure learners can make sense of, and succeed within, HE.
In 2025–26 Emily played a key role in a collaborative university project involving colleagues from the Centre for Teaching and Learning, Widening Participation team, and academic staff in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity. The project supported first year students from BTEC pathways, recognising that these students may encounter distinct academic transition challenges. Emily designed and delivered bespoke UniSkills sessions for this cohort including Time Management and Think Like a Second Year. These sessions were embedded across modules and strongly supported by module tutors, ensuring students saw them as an integral part of their curriculum.
Emily’s work exemplifies inclusive learning development practice. The sessions were carefully designed to acknowledge diverse learner experiences and Emily extended the reach of this work by developing the content into digital resources that students can revisit independently. Emily is also actively involved in the evaluation of this project, contributing to a scholarly and reflective approach to practice.
I am delighted to nominate her for the 2026 ALDHE Award.
Name of nominee: Katie Woodhouse-Skinner
“Dr Katie Woodhouse-Skinner has made a significant contribution to learning development at NTU through the research-informed design of the university’s first compulsory Open Research (OR) training module for PGR students. To the nominee’s knowledge, it is the first co-designed OR module developed with both PGRs and PGR supervisors across disciplines. This cross-disciplinary pedagogical resource is being made available to more than 950 postgraduate researchers at NTU.
OR is now a critical skill for PGRs. Doctoral education is often overlooked within higher education learning development, yet Katie recognised a significant gap in OR skills training and so built a module to address learner needs. She designed baseline surveys with PGR students and supervisors, facilitated co-design workshops, and led iterative user testing to refine content, language, and activities. This ensured the module reflected PGRs needs.
Inclusion shaped every stage of development. Katie applied universal design for learning principles throughout, consulting accessibility specialists and colleagues across NTU to ensure the module was accessible, flexible, and relevant to diverse learner needs and prior experience. As a result, this compulsory training was designed not simply as compliance, but as an inclusive intervention supporting all PGRs to engage critically with skill development from the start of their doctoral journey.
Katie also embedded longitudinal follow-up to explore whether participation leads to sustained changes in practice, using insights to plan future enhancements. Her engagement with theories of change approaches has strengthened understanding of how this learning intervention contributes to wider institutional development. Beneficiaries stated that “the research community at NTU have hugely benefitted” from Katie’s initiatives, and that she “has been instrumental for developing a strong open research culture at NTU” and that “without her novel ideas [on the project] and hard working nature, I don’t think NTU would be as successful at Open Research and in promoting vigorous and transparent research culture”. Her work demonstrates inclusive learning development with lasting institutional impact.
Name of nominee: Lyn Gardner
Lyn Gardner is profoundly deserving of recognition due to her exceptional dedication, consistency, and impact on the students at Anglia Ruskin University. Lyn has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to ensuring that every student who engages with her receives tailored, practical, and compassionate academic guidance. Her support extends across a wide range of subjects, modules and learning needs, and she has consistently adapted her approach to meet students exactly where they are.
What sets Lyn apart is not only the depth of her subject expertise, but her ability to translate that expertise into meaningful, confidence building support for students and apprentices who are often balancing complex professional and academic commitments. Many of these students have faced challenging workloads, clinical placement, and demanding technical modules, yet Lyn has remained a constant source of clarity, structure, and reassurance. Her interventions have enabled students to better understand difficult concepts, manage assessments effectively, and develop the academic skills required to succeed.
Lyn has consistently worked hard to provide Maths support for students from across our university through embedded sessions, bookable workshops, online guides, drop-in sessions and online guidance. Each of these methods provides students with support in ways that meet their needs and Lyn is always looking for new ways to improve her own practice through training and development.
Her contributions have been nothing short of transformative: she has helped at risk students regain momentum, supported entire year groups, and provided the kind of sustained guidance that directly influences retention and achievement. Lyn’s work is vital, impactful, and deeply appreciated. Her commitment to student success goes far beyond what is expected, and her influence on our students’ academic journeys makes her truly deserving of nomination.
Lyn truly is an inspiration and it is an honour to have her as part of our team.
Name of nominee: Sam Skipp (Nomination 1)
As an academic colleague working closely with Sam Skipp, I have seen first-hand the significant contribution he has made to the University of Leicester’s learning development landscape since the establishment of the Academic Skills Centre, now the Centre for Academic Achievement. Sam’s practice is deeply collaborative; he consistently partners with students, academics, and professional services to enhance the learning experience. His coordination and delivery of online transition webinars exemplify this approach—he integrates student voice and lived experience to demystify higher education and address the real barriers faced by our diverse learners.
Sam brings a critical pedagogical lens to his one‑to‑one and small‑group teaching, ensuring inclusive and student‑centred support. His work with the School of Healthcare is a particularly strong example: he collaborated with colleagues to embed academic literacies within modules designed to support learners balancing study with demanding short clinical placements. His focus on resilience as a core academic skill reflects his nuanced understanding of their shifting professional and academic identities.
Sam has also led impactful institutional work on Academic Integrity. Drawing on scholarship and practice, he developed a resource that promotes ethical academic practice and reflective learning. His emphasis on situating integrity within disciplinary contexts has led several Schools to adopt embedded delivery models, resulting in higher engagement and completion. His continued dialogue with academic leaders, including presenting to Education Leaders, ensures the resource remains relevant and influential.
Sam’s work is grounded in scholarly inquiry and ongoing professional development, evidenced by his PGCAP, HEA Fellowship, coaching practice, and emerging exploration of AI‑enhanced learning design.
Across all aspects of his role, he consistently embodies ALDinHE values and would be an outstanding candidate for the ALDinHE Award.
Name of nominee: Sam Skipp (Nomination 2)
Sam Skipp is a key part of the University of Leicester’s academic support provision since the creation of the Academic Skills Centre, now the Centre for Academic Achievement. His practice is rooted in collaboration and partnership with students, academic colleagues and professional services staff. His delivery and coordination of online webinars supporting students transitioning into HE exemplifies this point. By embedding student voice and lived experience, Sam ensures these sessions demystify HE and address real barriers faced by diverse learners.
Sam applies critical pedagogy to his work and adopts inclusive approaches in his one-to-ones and small group teaching. His collaboration with School of Healthcare demonstrates this: he worked with academics to embed academic literacies provision in modules aimed at supporting students with their learning. In particular, Sam’s awareness of the complexities of studying alongside short clinical placements resulted in his emphasis of resilience as a core academic skill to reflect the challenges these students face when shifting between work and learning environments.
One the key projects Sam led focused on Academic Integrity. Drawing upon scholarship and real-world examples, he created a learning resource promoting ethical academic practice and reflective learning. His idea on situating integrity within disciplinary cultures led several Schools to adopt embedded delivery models, increasing engagement and completion rates. His ongoing engagement with academics, such as his delivery of a talk to Education Leaders on the resource, further strengthens the resource’s relevance and impact.
Sam’s work is informed by research and reflective evaluation. He regularly engages with continuing professional development, evidenced by his completion of a PGCAP (resulting in a Fellowships in the HEA) and engagement with coaching (now a member of the Coaching Academy at the University). More recently Sam has begun to explore the intersection between technology and learning, notably linked to AI, to further improve his and the service’s ability to deliver student-centred approaches to resource design and academic support.
Across all aspects of his role, Sam demonstrates the ALDinHE values: partnership, critical pedagogy, scholarly practice, and continuous professional development. His work makes a significant contribution to learning development at the University and would be an ideal candidate for the ALDinHE Award.
Name of nominee: Sam Skipp (Nomination 3)
Sam Skipp is a key part of the University of Leicester’s academic support provision since the creation of the Academic Skills Centre, now the Centre for Academic Achievement. His practice is rooted in collaboration and partnership with students, academic colleagues and professional services staff. His delivery and coordination of online webinars supporting students transitioning into HE exemplifies this point. By embedding student voice and lived experience, Sam ensures these sessions demystify HE and address real barriers faced by diverse learners.
Sam applies critical pedagogy to his work and adopts inclusive approaches in his one-to-ones and small group teaching. His collaboration with School of Healthcare demonstrates this: he worked with academics to embed academic literacies provision in modules aimed at supporting students with their learning. In particular, Sam’s awareness of the complexities of studying alongside short clinical placements resulted in his emphasis of resilience as a core academic skill to reflect the challenges these students face when shifting between work and learning environments.
One the key projects Sam led focused on Academic Integrity. Drawing upon scholarship and real-world examples, he created a learning resource promoting ethical academic practice and reflective learning. His idea on situating integrity within disciplinary cultures led several Schools to adopt embedded delivery models, increasing engagement and completion rates. His ongoing engagement with academics, such as his delivery of a talk to Education Leaders on the resource, further strengthens the resource’s relevance and impact.
Sam’s work is informed by research and reflective evaluation. He regularly engages with continuing professional development, evidenced by his completion of a PGCAP (resulting in a Fellowships in the HEA) and engagement with coaching (now a member of the Coaching Academy at the University). More recently Sam has begun to explore the intersection between technology and learning, notably linked to AI, to further improve his and the service’s ability to deliver student-centred approaches to resource design and academic support.
Across all aspects of his role, Sam demonstrates the ALDinHE values: partnership, critical pedagogy, scholarly practice, and continuous professional development. His work makes a significant contribution to learning development at the University and would be an ideal candidate for the ALDinHE Award.
Name of nominee: Sandra Abegglen
I am pleased to nominate Dr. Sandra Abegglen for recognition of her exceptional contributions to the field of Learning Development (LD). Her work embodies collaborative, inclusive, and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, consistently positioning students as active partners in their educational journeys. Sandra creates opportunities for learners to engage critically with knowledge, technology, and with one another, strengthening both confidence and community.
As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education, Sandra works at the intersection of LD, online education, and inclusion. Her research examines how students experience and use AI in their studies, with a focus on co‑creating ethical, student‑informed approaches to higher education. Through initiatives such as the AI in Higher Education Innovation Exchange and TALON—the Teaching and Learning Online Network—she brings together students, educators, and researchers to explore how emerging technologies can support meaningful learning rather than simply automate academic tasks.
Sandra’s practice is deeply student‑centred. She creates spaces where learners can share their experiences, reflect on their academic practices, and contribute to shaping educational environments that foster belonging and participation. Through workshops, collaborative research, and co‑authored publications, she supports students in developing their identities as thinkers, writers, and knowledge producers.
Her contributions have been recognised through several collaborative teaching and community‑building initiatives. She has been part of teams receiving the AdvanceHE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE, 2022) and the University of Calgary Team Teaching Award (2020), both celebrating innovative and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. She also contributes actively to international LD communities through conference presentations, open education initiatives, and collaborative scholarship.
Name of nominee: Sandra Sinfield
Sandra Sinfield has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to the field of Learning Development (LD) through her scholarship, leadership, and unwavering commitment to inclusive and transformative education. An Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Centre for Professional and Educational Development (CPED) at London Metropolitan University, Sandra is also a co-founder of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE), playing a pivotal role in shaping and nurturing the LD community.
Sandra’s work has consistently foregrounded student voice, belonging, and participation in higher education. She has championed approaches that position students as partners in learning, developing pedagogies that make academic spaces more accessible, dialogic, and empowering—particularly for students who feel marginalised within traditional academic environments.
Her influence extends far beyond her institution. Sandra has been deeply involved in building collaborative LD communities and has contributed to initiatives recognised with an AdvanceHE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE, 2022) for fostering creativity in higher education. Through conference presentations, collaborative scholarship, and generous mentoring, she has supported and inspired countless educators across the sector.
Sandra is also a prolific and influential author. She has co-authored internationally recognised texts such as Teaching, Learning and Study Skills (2004) and Essential Study Skills (2022, 5th ed.), alongside many other publications exploring creative teaching, student engagement, and LD practice. Her scholarship encourages educators to see LD not as remedial skills support, but as a transformative, collaborative, and creative educational approach.
Sandra’s work consistently demonstrates how imagination, collaboration, and care can open new possibilities for students and educators alike. Through her scholarship, community-building, and generous mentorship, she has had a lasting impact on the LD community and on the many students whose educational experiences her work has helped to transform. Sandra’s vision, creativity, and leadership make her a truly deserving recipient of the ALDinHE Award.
ALDinHE Team Award
Name of nominee: Academic Support, Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of Arts (CCW), University of the Arts London (UAL)
I am pleased to nominate CCW Academic Support (CCW AS), UAL, for the LD Team Award. Led by Cath Hawes, the multidisciplinary team of academics and practitioners in art, design and English for Academic Purposes prioritise creativity and criticality in their practice. Working in partnership with a very diverse student body (Level 4-8) the team supports students from pre-arrival to post-graduation, covering academic literacies and study skills, resilience and wellbeing, and creative research and practice. Drawing on scholarship in compassionate pedagogy, critical pedagogy, and art and design practice, the team has taken a proactive approach by implementing innovative interventions. These include the OFF Curriculum (off-site visits and off-topic reading sessions), Writers’ Collective, Future Communities, Academic Skills Marathon, Creative Collaboration through Drawing, Superpowers Framework, and Unscripted Podcast. As research-active staff, the team consistently shares research and practice through publications and conferences, while driving excellence through dedicated AS Staff Development days and engagement with ALDinHE.
The team’s influence extends to course curricula through close collaboration with subject lecturers. They actively shape course development by reviewing briefs and revalidation documents and delivering embedded facilitation and co-teaching. Aligning with university priority on climate, social and racial justice (CSRJ), the team has integrated these themes into their teaching and engage in CPD and initiatives like Carbon Literacy Training, CCW Intent Competition, and the ‘Carb your enthusiasm’ project. The impact of CCW AS is evidenced by remarkable engagement, with 11,039 total attendances in 2024/5. The contribution to student success is substantial: attainment, continuation and completion rates increased by 8%, 14% and 13% respectively within the year. These gains are especially pronounced amongst BAME, First Generation and International students, demonstrating the team’s vital role in narrowing the awarding gap and fostering an inclusive creative community.
Name of nominee: Critical Thinking in a Changing World Module Team, Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, University of Westminster
Critical Thinking in a Changing World Module Team, Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, University of Westminster
Our Critical Thinking in a Changing World, multidisciplinary team develops learning for foundation students, whilst rejecting the premise that students need fixing. Our work is rooted in awarding gap research that locates the problem in the system, not the student. We actively engage in critical scholarship to dismantle exclusionary structures through democratic and relational student partnerships.
Our university-wide module is grounded in UN SDG-10 ‘Reducing Inequalities’, spanning Business, Law, Architecture, Life Sciences, Computer Sciences, Arts, and Social Sciences. The curriculum, marking criteria and assessments were co-designed with students, leading to innovative and inclusive practices, including a community-engaged podcast assessment. Partnership is also enacted through co-enquiry of ‘big-ideas’ to evoke critical consciousness, co-creation of anti-racist curricula and principled spaces where lived experience is valued.
Inspired by Freire and bell hooks, our education is a practice of freedom. Subject Leads develop discipline-specific case studies such as AI bias, media representation, and social housing injustice, to ensure critical thinking is rooted in students’ own fields. Students prepare not merely to enter their discipline, but to challenge it. Transdisciplinary learning between Architecture and Life Sciences students investigating health and housing, further enriches this.
Running for six-years, reaching 5,000+ students, we delivered compelling outcomes. First-generation students completing the module outperformed our benchmark for first and 2:1 degrees by 4.5% in 2024/25 — while those entering without foundation provision fell 2.9% below benchmark. 7 students published their podcast assessment in a mini-series with the Pedagogies for Social Justice Podcast. Students co-authored a peer-reviewed paper on our anti-racist curriculum in Social Sciences journal, and presented at national conferences including Decolonising DMU. Advocating for effective learning development practices, we disseminated our approach at Warwick’s Cultivate Workshops and internationally at the Critical University Studies Conference, Hong Kong.
Our teamwork is creating a legacy – it’s not just staff that embody the ALDHE values – our students embody them too as critical scholars, co-authors, and agents of change.
Name of nominee: Learning Enhancement Team, University of East Anglia
The Learning Enhancement Team at UEA is a small, dedicated and hardworking group of learning development professionals. I feel privileged to work alongside such supportive, wise and committed colleagues, ably led by Head of the team, Jeremy Schildt. His calm demeanour draws on a wealth of experience to expertly guide the different elements of support the team delivers in accordance with the ALDinHE values.
The different strands of our team cover support for academic writing and studying effectively, mathematics and statistics and studying with a Specific Learning Difference. Alongside this, we have tutors who run a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Scheme and a tutor and staff who help to develop inclusive practice for teaching staff which aligns with the University’s Inclusive Education Policy. This fairly unique combination of expertise ensure that our evidence-based work empowers students and staff from across the disciplines (Health Sciences and Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences) and levels of study from Foundation to post-graduate research navigate HE with compassion, self-awareness and purpose. Partnership working with students is most evident in our successful PAL scheme, but also in the co-creation of resources and the non-hierarchical relationships we foster in our tutorial and drop-in work. With staff, the creation of the University’s Inclusivity Network for staff and post-graduate researchers, co-creation of workshops in many disciplines and conference presentations with staff in Schools are testament to our commitment to effective partnerships and contributing to scholarship. We use our position in the University as a springboard to advocate for equity of opportunity for all students. This is evidenced through informal conversations behind the scenes, and more formally through our presence in working groups, boards and committees. Our forthcoming presentation at the ALDinHE conference speaks to the importance of the role of the Learning Developer as an advocate for inclusion.
Tom Burns Memorial Award
Name of nominee: Blessing Maregere
I wish to nominate myself for the Tom Burns Memorial Award for my contribution to advancing Professional Discussions as a dialogic learning development practice in higher education. My work centres students’ interpretations of their learning experiences and uses these insights to inform more inclusive, reflective, and meaningful approaches to assessment and development, particularly in degree apprenticeships.
Through my doctoral research, I have examined how apprentices, tutors, and quality staff experience Professional Discussions in degree apprenticeships as spaces where learning is articulated, challenged, and developed. Using interviews, focus groups, and transcript analysis, I have foregrounded students’ own accounts of reflection, confidence, belonging, and professional growth. This work has enabled learner voice to shape both scholarly understanding and practical intervention.
I have translated this research into staff and student-facing practice through workshops, tutor development sessions, learner guidance resources, and conference presentations. These outputs support students to express what and how they have learned in ways that traditional written assessment can overlook. In doing so, my work promotes approaches that recognise diverse learners, professional identities, and work-based forms of knowledge.
I have also published and presented on dialogic assessment and Professional Discussions, contributing to wider sector discussions about inclusion, authenticity, and the future of assessment in higher education. Across this work, I have sought to represent students not as passive recipients of learning development but as active interpreters of their educational experiences whose voices should shape pedagogy and practice.
My contribution lies in building a research-informed and practice-focused approach that elevates student voice, strengthens belonging, and supports more equitable forms of learning development.
Publications:
Maregere, B (2026). Professional Discussions as Dialogic Assessment: A framework for Inclusive, AI-Resilient Online Learning and Assessment. In Exploring Effective Online Teaching and Learning Strategies (pp. 443- 461).
https://doi.org/10.59668/2124.24746
Wonkhe article: Dialogic assessments are the missing piece in contemporary assessment debates https://wonkhe.com/blogs/dialogic-assessments-are-the-missing-piece-in-contemporary-assessment-debates/
Name of nominee: Kathleen Normandin, Abbie Allan, Allison Hodge, Katie Campbell
To enhance inclusivity and engagement with academic support at Abertay University, Kathleen Normandin has effectively utilised student work-placement projects within Learner Development Services (LDS). These projects, set by Kathleen, position students as collaborators to investigate best practices and propose lived-experience improvements for LDS service delivery. To date, Kathleen has supervised seven projects for 12 placement students across four academic programmes.
Most recently, Allison, Abbie and Katie joined the LDS team for a fourth-year Psychology placement project. They were tasked with researching learning modality in its widest sense, interpreting their findings, applying their lived-experiences, and creating a student-facing resource, as part of the LDS self-study guidance. As with previous projects, the students were positioned as contributors, researchers, co-designers, and interpreters of their own learning realities in higher education.
The students’ lived experiences were translated into practical strategies relevant to the student population at Abertay, adding a richness to their research-informed booklet designed to help learners create personalised study plans. The booklet utilises scholarly frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning, goal-setting, gamification, multimodal learning, emotional regulation, and technology-enhanced environments, with the students’ interpretations shaping the booklet’s tone. This ensured that student perspectives were authentically represented.
Beyond the placement project, Kathleen has supported the students in presenting their work, coaching them to articulate the rationale for the resource, demonstrate its application, and advocate for inclusive learning approaches from a learner’s perspective. Kathleen and the students have, to date, co-presented internally at an academic staff-focused CPD session and externally at the 2026 City of Glasgow College Learning and Teaching with UCAT and ALDinHE conference presentations to come. As such, Kathleen and this team of students have contributed to wider learning and development practice by modelling a collaborative way of working in which student research and voices are systematically gathered, theorised, and transformed into practical guidance and changes to service delivery.
Name of nominee: Nahid Huda
We nominate NAHID HUDA for the Tom Burns Award, in particular the liberatory work she has done transforming student approaches and attitudes to academic reading. Nahid initiated the academic reading circles (ARC) project in 2021 – and has published on the outcomes: Towards the Setting Up and Evaluation of Academic Reading Circles (Huda, 2022) and shared resources on her: Padlet. ARC introduces students to a structured reading approach where they undertake different roles in the reading circle. In each role the students realise their own agency in this tricky part of academic practice and start to see themselves as readers:
“It has become the project where you can hand over the reins to the students. They discover that there can be joy in reading academic texts and learning from them. Students quickly learn that they can achieve this through reading as a social act, where collaborating and engaging in dialogue with each other facilitates analysis and meaning making as well as a sense of accomplishment and autonomy. For me and the module tutor, witnessing students engage with the various tasks, was the equivalent of fairylights switching on, shining brightly. There is something beautiful in seeing them twinkle. I have witnessed students skipping out of the room with joy or excited at the prospect of completing an assignment.”
Having run the ARC project over the last five years, the legacy of this LD project has been that students are prepared to engage with reading. They know it forms a strong foundation of their studies, and they do well in their assignments because it has become a natural part of their learning process. This is all the more meaningful as focussing on reading practices seems to be the “”uncool”” academic literacy as we are increasingly distracted by GenAI and efficiency.”
Name of nominee: Elora Baishnab, Heather Cockayne, Adam Danquah, Sadia Habib, Katie Newton, Emmanuel Oladipo, Christopher Sutton
The Reframing Stopford Project at the University of Manchester offers a situated example of how the learning development values of belonging, voice, community, criticality and opposing inequity can be enacted through interdisciplinary, arts-based practice. Emerging from collaboration between the School of Environment, Education and Development and the School of Medical Sciences, the project operates at the intersection of pedagogy, representation, and institutional culture.
Central to its contribution is a commitment to partnership as a mode of inquiry. In addition to working with various student partners throughout, The planned creative workshops extend the exhibition’s intervention by positioning students and staff as co-producers of knowledge and culture, engaging them in processes of eliciting and interpreting their own experiences of belonging. In this sense, partnership is not simply participatory but epistemic: it reshapes how meaning is made within higher education contexts.
The project’s engagement with diversity is underpinned by a critical pedagogical stance. By disrupting the visual orthodoxy of medical art—historically dominated by narrow and exclusionary representations—it foregrounds the partiality of disciplinary knowledge and creates space for alternative narratives of the body. This aligns with an understanding of learning development as attentive to power, voice, and the conditions under which learners are recognised.
At the same time, Reframing Stopford demonstrates how learning development practices can be adapted and mobilised beyond traditional settings. The use of public exhibition and creative methods functions as both a pedagogical tool and an advocacy mechanism, making visible the relationship between representation and student and staff experience across institutional spaces.
The project is also grounded in a scholarly orientation, supported through institutional funding and informed by arts-based research methodologies that explore belonging and inclusion. Such approaches invite ongoing critical reflection among participants and facilitators alike, positioning professional learning as iterative and relational.
Taken together, the project illustrates how learning development values are not discrete principles but are enacted through practice—through collaboration, criticality, and a sustained commitment to rethinking how students experience and interpret higher education.
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/cross-faculty-team-combine-art-and-education-to-promote-diversity-and-inclusion/
Name of nominee: Lesley Black & Glenn Fosbraey
Sunny Side Up: Positive Affect Journaling for University Students and Staff
I wish to nominate the ‘Sunny Side Up’ project led by Dr Lesley Black and Dr Glenn Fosbraey at the University of Winchester.
The ‘Sunny Side Up’ project is rooted in the principles of critical pedagogy, conscious positivity, equity, belonging and mattering. In this project students were supported to engage in positive affect journaling (PAJ) through a series of structured writing prompts embedded within teaching sessions (e.g., as a warm-up activity, or aligned with weekly content / themes). Unlike traditional journaling, PAJ focuses on events, thoughts or interactions that evoke positive emotion. The key benefit of PAJ is that it directs writers towards observing their strengths, successes and moments of joy, thus, over time, leading to improved mental wellbeing and an increased sense of belonging.
In keeping with the spirit of the Tom Burns Memorial Award, the ‘Sunny Side Up’ project embodies the importance of students’ interpretations of their own learning experiences. Furthermore, this project continues the legacy of Tom’s work with its focus on engaging with writing as a creative practice and method of enquiry. These imperatives are reflected in student feedback on the project, with one student describing their experience of PAJ as: ‘the first time writing stopped being about fixing myself and became about noticing what makes me feel alive.’
Finally, the project fulfils ALDinHE’s values through its commitment to partnership, respect for diverse learners, rigorous research-led approach, and robust outputs advocating effective learning development practice (including an online presentation to AMOSSHE, and publications via HEPI and THE). The institutional impact of the project includes the implementation of PAJ as part of transition work for prospective and new students.
Further information about the project may be found here:
Times Higher Education – https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/benefits-positive-affect-journaling-university-students-and-staff