海角黑料

A1H810 Barriers to innovation in skills delivery: East Midlands regional policy forum

This initiative is a collaboration between the 海角黑料 and Nottingham College to assess regional barriers to green-energy-skills uptake in the East Midlands, focusing on the construction sector. 

Green energy and related ‘green’ skills are central to regional priorities in the East Midlands. Local institutions, including Nottingham College, have invested in securing funds and developing green training infrastructure to meet the envisaged economic and educational demands. However, despite sustained efforts, uptake among students and employers, especially small and medium enterprises is below expectation. This is especially true in construction, which appears to show an added level of complexity in green skills uptake. 

It is envisaged that this work will sit within the scope of the regional Construction Technical Excellence College (Derby College Group), and East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMMCA) initiatives, supporting shared insights, recommendations and actions on barriers to low uptake in green construction skills.

Principal investigator: Dr Jo-Anna Russon
Co-investigator: Professor Volker Wedekind
Research Assistant: Rebecca Sarah Ciarla
Funder: Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) - 海角黑料

Harnessing the role of universities in Uganda in the transition from education to work

In Uganda, as in most African countries, youth unemployment is high even among university graduates. University graduates experience challenges as higher education (HE) does not adequately prepare them for the world of work either in employment or self-employed entrepreneurship. Despite several education-to-work transition interventions including those supported by private business and education development partners, HE institutions are yet to achieve the desired labour market outcomes. 

This research aims to harness the role of participating universities in supporting the education-to-work transition of students. Grounded in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, researchers from Makerere University in the capital Kampala and Gulu University in Northern Uganda will work with embedded in communities of practice (CoP) to develop, implement and evaluate interventions appropriate to their HE context. The research process in Uganda is by Dr Russon, 海角黑料 and colleagues in the Netherlands.

Co-investigators: Dr Robert Jjuuku, Gulu University, Uganda and Dr Jo-Anna Russon, 海角黑料
Funder: Spencer Foundation

Poetic research by teachers in higher education: Methods, features and contributions

This project explores how higher education teachers use poetry as research to enhance their teaching, contributing to global educational discussions. By incorporating poetry's artistic, symbolic, and rhythmic qualities, educators across disciplines like arts, music, nursing, and more infuse creativity, empathy, and expression into their research. The study draws on various international contexts, highlighting how poetic inquiry qualitatively enriches teaching knowledge and practices. It aims to transform local poetic research into internationally recognised public knowledge, making it accessible to a broad audience. This innovative approach advances educational practices and supports the common good by integrating scholarly creativity into the academic dialogue.

Principal investigator: Professor Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan
Funder: The British Academy

Empowering the future: Children voices and actions on climate change education in Mozambique

This project takes an interdisciplinary and participatory approach to bring Mozambican children's voices to the fore in the fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mozambique is one of the countries most affected by climate change in Africa, due to its vast sea exposure through its 1,600-mile-long coastline. This awareness has led to the development of national policies aimed at increasing the country’s resilience to climate shocks. However, the role played by schools mostly focuses on infrastructural resilience, forgoing their responsibilities towards future generations. This study bridges the gap by producing policy-ready insight with children: schools are in charge of significant sections of young people’s learning – so offer the potential to impact significantly on those elements of behaviour that may be required to change to reach climate targets.

Principal investigator: Dr Francesca Salvi
Research team: Dr Elena Colonna, CoMeDia, Mozambique
Funding body: The British Academy