Professor Paul Trowler

PhD Supervision Interests

Higher education policy-making and policy implementation; The analysis of organisational and professional cultures in universitities, particularly as they relate to change-management processes; The reception and impact in differing social contexts of learning, teaching and assessment policies and practices; Discourse and identities in higher education; ethnographic research methodologies.

Research Interests

Paul is an elected Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education. He is a member of the Higher Education Academy and an active member of international organizations involved in higher education research and evaluation.

Paul was the main organizer for the first three Higher Education Close Up conferences. These are devoted to fine-grained research into higher education. Higher Education Close Up 4 was held in Cape Town in 2008 and Close Up 5 was held at Lancaster University in July 2010.http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/events/hecu5/index.htm. Paul delivered a keynote to the Higher Education Close Up 6 conference, held in Grahamstown, South Africa in July 2012. He is organizing the next Close Up conference, number 7, for July 2014 at Lancaster: www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/hecu7 .

Profile

I engage in research, evaluation and development work with universities and higher education funding and policy bodies across the world, most recently in South Africa, Sweden, Chile, Italy, Norway, Australia and Ireland.

I have Management Team responsibility for research across the Department of Educational Research and chair the Department's Research Committee.

Current Research

Current Research and Writing includes:

• Recently completed four short e-books for doctoral students researching higher education.
• 2012 Completed a jointly edited book on 'Academic Tribes and Territories in the 21st Century' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribes-Territories-21st-Century-Significance-International/dp/0415880629/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324400585&sr=1-3
• Submitted a paper to Studies in Higher Education on Conceptualising Disciplines from Strong and Moderate Essentialist Positions
• Just completed a three-yera evaluation of a strategic development project in an English university
• Research Director of here@lancaster - the Higher Education Research and Evaluation Centre.
• An article on the Research Practices in Art and Design for Higher Education Research, will be published in May 2013 in Higher Education Research and Development

Paul and a colleague have recently completed the reports student engagement, funded by the HEA and the LFHE. These include a literature review, a summary of the evidential base, case studies, briefings for managers and policy makers and an interactive website on student engagement.

The latter can be found here:

https://sakai.lancs.ac.uk

Username: sakai.guest@gmail.com; password: welcome

Paul's Diary

Paul has been helping to launch here@lancaster through a series of national and international keynotes and events in Australia, Hungary, South Africa and the UK. Forthcoming events include:

• Keynote on student engagement to Sheffield Hallam University conference, 22 March 2013.
• Keynote to Ethnographies of higher education: researching and reflecting at home, Prague, May 22-24 2013. http://www.ethe.cz/
• Keynote on Student Engagement to Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre inaugural teaching and learning conference, August 29 2013.
• Organizing the 7th Higher Education Close Up Conference, July 2014: www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/hecu7.

Current Teaching

Policy, Change and Organisational Development module, Doctoral Programme, Educational Research (Convenor)

Technology Enhanced Learning Doctoral Programme methodology module

Supervisor to numerous PhD students

Research Director for the Department

Website for research students

• HEFCE Enhancement Review Project: Future directions for Learning and Teaching Enhancement in England: institutional roles and interventions

  06/05/2013 → 01/11/2013
  This 7-month project (May to December 2013) funded by the Higher Education Academy uses primary and secondary data to review the strategies used by HEFCE to enhance learning and teaching in universiti ... Read more»

• Leadership practices for student engagement

  01/02/2011 →
  This research focuses on developing conceptual and practical tools for leaders, building on that work. At this critical time for UK higher education institutional leaders as well as the NUS (which par ... Read more»

• Student Engagement in Higher Education

  01/03/2010 → 02/08/2010
  Funded by the Higher Education Academy, UK, this was a literature review and evidence summary on student engagement in HE, with case studies ... Read more»

• Evaluating the Strategic Development Programme at Southampton Solent University

  01/01/2010 → 08/01/2013
  The funded evaluative project followed the development of the SDP over three years and investigated some associated case studies in depth ... Read more»

• Enhancing the Teaching-Research Nexus

  01/09/2006 → 31/08/2007
  Universities and departments often characterise their learning, teaching, assessment and curriculum (LTAC) practices in relation to research. Some claim to be research-informed (primary research by ... Read more»

• Article in University World News: 'Rethinking academic tribes and territories'

  20/11/2011
  In advance of the new book on academic cultures and disciplinary differences, edited by Paul Trowler, Murray Saunders and Veronica Bamber, this article discusses the changes in disciplinary cultures o ... Read more»

• North West Doctoral Training Centre - ESRC scholarships

  22/02/2011
  The deadline for applications for a funded place on our pathway, Learning, Technology and Identities in Educational Research: Policy and Practice, is 5pm on the 25th March, 2011. Related story The Nor ... Read more»

• Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)

  20/12/2010
  Professor Paul Trowler has been made a Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). The Fellowship was awarded in recognition of Paul's outstanding contribution, over many years, t ... Read more»

• New Evaluative Research in CSET

  20/11/2008
  New Evaluative Research in CSET: the Scottish Funding Council's Teaching and Learning Enhancement Strategy for Higher Education. A team from CSET (Centre for the Study of Education and Training in the ... Read more»

• Higher Education Close Up 7 Conference

  (Organiser) 21/7/2014 → 23/7/2014
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Ethnographies of Higher Education

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 22/5/2013 → 24/5/2013
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Sheffield Hallam Faculty Forum

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 22/3/2013
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• University College Blackburn Staff Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 7/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Higher Education Close Up 6

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 13/7/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Liverpool John Moores University Learning and Teaching Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 12/6/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• QAA Advisory Group for the Student Engagement chapter of the UK Quality Code

  (Member) 1/11/2011 → 30/6/2012
  Activity: Contribution to the work of national or international committees and working groups
  Read more»

• Oxford University Talk on academic tribes and territories

  (Speaker) 20/10/2011
  Activity: Public lecture/debate/seminar
  Read more»

• European Foundation for Management Develepment Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 5/10/2011 → 11/10/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Educational development colloquium Gothenburg University

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 20/9/2011 → 21/9/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• MasterClass University of Queensland

  (Invited speaker) 13/7/2011
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Masterclass to Griffith University on Researching Higher Education

  (Invited speaker) 12/7/2011
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Gold Coast Educational Development Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 7/7/2011 → 8/7/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Keynote to Higher Education Research and Development Association (HERDSA) Annual Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 4/7/2011 → 7/7/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Masterclasses to the University of the Sunshine Coast

  (Invited speaker) 30/6/2011 → 1/7/2011
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Mobility, Language, Literacy Symposium, Cape Town

  (Invited speaker) 19/1/2011 → 21/1/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Dynamic Content and Language Collaboration in Higher Education: theory, research and reflections

  (Invited speaker) 17/1/2011 → 19/1/2011
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• NUS/HEA conferences Student Engagement: Evidence and Practice

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 15/11/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• NUS/HEA conferences Student Engagement: Evidence and Practice

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 18/11/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Higher Education Close Up 5 Conference.

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 20/7/2010 → 22/7/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Tomorrow's Sustainable Universities Conference.

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 15/7/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• The Higher Council of Education (Consejo Superior de Educación, CSE) and the National Commission for Accreditation (Comisión Nacional de Acreditación, CNA), XIII Annual International Conference. Santiago, Chile. October 21-22, 2009.

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 21/10/2009 → 22/10/2010
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• European Symposium on Evaluative Practices

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 5/6/2009
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• The Re-Organization of Higher Education in Europe.

  (Invited speaker) 14/5/2009
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• University of Galway Symposium on The Teaching-Research Nexus

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 7/4/2009 → 8/4/2009
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• London Institute of Education Centre for Higher Education Studies Seminar Series

  (Invited speaker) 3/3/2009
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Carrick Fellowship Symposium

  (Invited speaker) 4/12/2008 → 11/12/2008
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• University of Central Lancashire Conference Academic Identities in Crisis?

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 4/9/2008 → 6/9/2008
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Nottingham University Institute for Research into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 4/6/2008
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Chester University's annual staff conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 2/4/2008
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Invited series of talks to staff at the University of Oslo

  (Speaker) 4/2/2008 → 8/2/2008
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»

• Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre Inaugural Learning and Teaching Conference

  (Keynote/plenary speaker) 29/9/2013
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Keynote Speech - Raising Aspirations in a Time of Change

  (Speaker) 4/7/2013
  Activity: Invited talk
  Read more»