Funding recognition for student-staff collaborations

Projects to raise awareness of plastic pollution among local schoolchildren through art education, tackle loneliness in students, and decolonise modules at the University are among the student-staff collaborations to receive awards of up to £500 each.  

Eight collaborative projects have been recognised by the Partnerships in Learning and Teaching (PLanT) projects scheme, which is overseen by the Centre for Quality Support and Development in partnership with Reading University Students' Union.

The PLanT scheme supports small-scale collaborative projects involving students and staff working as partners to identify problems, find solutions, and enhance teaching and learning at the University. This year, the scheme was supported by additional funding through the Diversity & Inclusion fund. 

Congratulations to the successful projects.

Funded projects

Building Confidence in Maths and Communication (Lead applicants: Dr Fangya Xu and Muran Yan, School of Politics, Economics and International Relations)

This project aims to boost maths and communication confidence in Part 1 Economics students and Part 3 NUIST students and to build a stronger sense of belonging and community through paired peer learning activities.

Fangya and Muran said: “We are so happy to be awarded the funding! We will recruit economics students from part 1 and part 3 (3+1) NUIST in the project. Through peer assisted learning across different parts and inter-cultural communications, students are to share their maths learning experience, reflect on their learning journey and sharpen their maths and communications skills in a friendly and helpful learning community.”

Left Behind (Lead applicants: Melanie Jay, Suzy Tutchell and Cydni Akbar, Institute of Education)

This project will bring together students, staff and local partnership schools to explore and transform found materials to re-use, recycle and transform into an eco-sculptural installation. The project seeks to develop and explore action-based art and design curriculum opportunities for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in relation to climate justice and environmental issues.

The Absolutely Art fabulous! team said: “We are delighted that we have been awarded PLanT funding for our project. We hope that the project will draw people together from within the university, and our partners in local schools. Our aim is that the work, and the visual outcomes will raise awareness of plastic pollution and sustainable issues within our local area.”

Exploring and evaluating the decolonisation of mathematics and meteorology modules (Lead applicants: Joy Singarayer and Joan Badebye, School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences)

This project will produce a report with recommendations for adaptations to two modules – one MSc module on Climate Change and a Part 1 Calculus module – and a good practice guide which will feed into broader developments across a number of programmes in the School.

Joy said: “Our project will bring staff and students together to work in partnership to reflect on the current curriculum in selected STEM modules in the School and consider priorities and approaches for decolonisation. In STEM subjects there is often a perception that either this is not so relevant or is difficult to achieve, because of the focus on technical knowledge. Here, we want to challenge this, and hopefully form a basis of models of good practice in STEM, in which staff-student partnerships are vital for success.”

Students and staff partnership to decolonise a Geography and Environmental Science module and develop a decolonising curriculum toolkit (Lead applicants: Hong Yang and Adelana Oyenuga, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science)

This project aims to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science (and beyond) through a collaborative approach to decolonising an Air Pollution module.

Hong and Adelana said: “Based on the staff and student partnership, this project will collaboratively decolonise one Environmental Science/Physical Geography module. The decolonising process will be summarized and developed into a decolonising curriculum toolkit which can be used in other modules in our school or other schools.”

Evaluating ‘ABC’ and Designing for ‘D’ in MSc Data Science and Advanced Computing for Portfolio Review (Lead applicants: Carmen Lam and Ajay Chavda, School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences)

This project aims to evaluate whether a number of additional elements recently incorporated in two modules on the MSc Data Science and Advanced Computing are working well and to make recommendations for how to enhance diversity and inclusion and, in particular, how to decolonise the curriculum across the programme.

Carmen said: "Our team is happy and excited to receiving the funding! We are looking forward to carrying out the survey, having the focus group meeting, and designing practices to make our programme even better."

Making it OUR Year Abroad: A student-staff collaboration to support the year abroad experience for languages students (Lead applicants: Chiara Ciarlo and Jess Mant, School of Literature and Languages)

As part of the project, students will work with staff to build a support network via Facebook to foster communication and share their experience of the Year Abroad across year groups in the department, as well as to create an accessible online video guide, with the aim of helping students in the preceding years feel more confident about life in a foreign country

Chiara and Jess said: “Due to recent political and economic changes in the UK, students in the Department of Languages and Cultures who prepare to go abroad on a work or study placement in their third year have been experiencing difficulties that increasingly lead to undue stress and anxiety, both during the preparation to leave and during the Year Abroad. We believe that creating effective opportunities for peer communication and collaboration can be key to improving the wellbeing of students in such an important year of their personal and academic life.”

Exploring Experiences of Loneliness in Politics and International Relations Students (Lead applicants: Dr Dawn Clarke, Vicki Matthews and Robert Hogge, School of Politics, Economics and International Relations)

The project aims to enhance the learning experience of those groups who may be at greater risk of social isolation by enabling connectivity with the academic community and to raise awareness among staff and students of social loneliness and how it can be overcome.

Dawn, Vicki and Robert said: “We are both delighted and excited to have received the PLanT award for our project on loneliness in university students. We will use it to draw on the success of a previous project and run focus groups which will enable us to get a better understanding of whether there are any particular groups of students who are more prone to social loneliness than others. Our improved understanding will inform the production of a short video providing guidance to students of how to feel part of a supportive academic community, regardless of their individual circumstances.”

Decolonising the Law: A Programme of Staff-Student Workshops (Lead applicant: Elizabeth Conaghan, School of Law)

This project aims to support a programme of discipline-specific staff-student workshops on decolonisation, building on work recently done in the Law School and wider University. The workshops will lead to the development of a discipline-specific toolkit and act as a first step in the development of new or amended modules.

Liz said: “We are really delighted to receive this funding. It will allow us to build on other relevant projects at the School of Law and to host some discipline-specific workshops with staff and student-partners which explore the process of decolonizing our curriculum.”