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University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
UK, LU1 3JU
To apply for a research degree, please make sure you fulfill the entry requirements and then complete the online research degree application form and upload your supporting documents.
You should have a good honours degree (2:1 or above) or masters degree or equivalent in the relevant subject area.
International applicants should be aware of our research degree English language requirements
Drawing on the work of Ernest Boyer (1990) a broad definition of scholarship is employed throughout this strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to promote scholarship through:
Boyer’s approach permits us to position ‘research’ (the scholarship of discovery) as one form of scholarly activity that has parity of esteem with other forms, such as teaching, integration and application.
Throughout this strategy we will, as a consequence, speak about research and other scholarly activity (ROSA).
An inclusive concept of ROSA is highly appropriate at this stage of the development of IREd, where we have staffs who have varying levels of experience and expertise in carrying our, leading and publishing the results of educational research.
Our mission for IREd for the period 2010-13 is to build the infrastructure and capacity for sustainable programmes of educational research and other scholarly activity (ROSA). The task during this period is to create a vibrant environment that supports high quality ROSA.
We will seek to establish distinctive programmes of ROSA that have a high impact on policy and practice in our specific areas of expertise. Applying the concept of scholarship developed by Ernest Boyer, we will promote an inclusive concept of educational research and other scholarly activity as discovery, integration, application and teaching.
The Strategic Priorities for IREd seek to support the University Research Strategy. Consequently, they are intended to meet the need to facilitate the strongest possible return to relevant Panels within the Research Excellence Framework (REF) while at the same time fostering and facilitating the growth of the culture of educational research within the University of Bedfordshire.
Moreover, our Strategic Priorities recognised that the Institute is in a transitional, re-building phase, with the appointment of new research-active staffs and a new leadership team.
In this context, we have four strategic priorities for this period 2010-2013.
The process of building capacity for ROSA focuses primarily on academic staffs. The process involves the provision of professional development opportunities for staffs to gain the skills and experiences they need to participate in ROSA, including carrying out scholarly projects, writing applications for funding, publishing high quality outputs, supervising research students and leading ROSA teams.
For staffs who are currently not active in scholarship, we will seek to provide opportunities and time for higher degree study and/ or participation in projects led by experienced researchers. For staffs who are already active scholars, we will seek to provide, in negotiation with HODs and Deans, the time and resources to carry out high quality ROSA and to engage in specific and appropriate professional development activity.
We will develop an infrastructure to support ROSA. This will involve a structure consisting of ‘Research Groups’ (shorthand for groups engaged in ROSA) and a number of processes.
The main purpose of Research Groups is to provide a focus for the work of IREd. Research Groups will reflect various themes and topics in which we consider we have a critical mass of expertise within the Institute.
The Research Groups will have a designated leader (‘Head’) and staffs as either primary or secondary affiliates. The groups will form the basic organisational units within IREd.
The Groups will be responsible for a number of processes. These processes form the key activities of the Groups and include:
We will seek to increase ROSA productivity measured both in terms of the number and quality of outputs, such as books, book chapters, journal articles, research reports and other forms of measurable output from educational research.
We will provide, through mentoring, guidance to active scholars on reasonable levels of output in relation to career stage and sub-field of educational ROSA (the ‘reasonable strike-rate’) in relation to the scholarships of discovery, integration, teaching and application.
While we will seek to facilitate an optimum quantity of outputs, we will also provide guidance to staffs on producing high quality outputs, including advice on current thinking on how ‘quality’ is being defined within the national and international educational research communities.
We will also be mindful of, and plan for, the impact of ROSA activities of IREd consistent with the requirements of the REF. We will explore and share methods of documenting and reporting the educational, economic, social, cultural and academic impacts of our outputs as REF definitions of impact become available.
We will seek to develop the expertise of IREd staffs to bid successfully for external funds that enable them to take forward their programmes of research, through professional development activities, sharing information and experience, mentoring, and identifying opportunities for funding (e.g. through the support of the Knowledge Hub).
We will give priority to bids for research funding to projects with the strong potential to have a high impact (in REFable terms), to produce high quality outputs, and to provide the basis for developing sustainable research programmes.
We will support bids to a range of funders, including charities, government agencies, the ESRC, regions/local authorities and European and other international agencies. As a means of building the research culture and supporting high quality research, we will seek externally funded post doctoral fellowships for home and international students.
In pursuit of our Strategic Priorities, and as matters of utmost priority, we will engage in and promote the following activities:
Once Research Groups are established and operational, we will carry out and report on a detailed audit of ROSA activity, and set short, medium and long term targets for the remaining period of time up to the end of 2013. We will monitor progress towards the achievement of targets for the strategic activities listed above, as appropriate.
October 2010
Reference: Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate New York: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
