This paper deals with the role of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) among staff on teaching-only contracts in UK higher education, particularly in contrast with the activities of research-active staff. Drawing on the results of a quantitative study carried out during the summer of 2021 among modern foreign language teachers in 64 UK…

The effects of performativity in academic life are widely discussed and debated. Yet most analysis relies on conventional forms of empirical enquiry, notably interviews and questionnaires. The curriculum vitae (CV) is a comparatively neglected source of insight into the changing nature of academic life that offers a fresh insight. Drawing on the…

The current demands on higher education institutions (HEIs) to become more efficient and effective have led to increasing performance pressures on researchers, and consequently on the practices and outcomes of researcher collaborations. In this paper, based on a qualitative study of collaborative experiences of management and organisation studies…

The core themes of research into higher education studies (HES) have previously been identified through quantitative approaches focused on publication patterns, but there is a lack of fine-grained, qualitative analysis about the development of the field. This paper provides an intergenerational analysis of the emergence of HES in the UK since the…

Academic research is increasingly driven by research assessment exercises (in the UK, by the Research Excellence Framework, REF). These aim to compare outputs of researchers in each university with those elsewhere, but evaluation efforts have suffered from widespread criticism. The status of pedagogic research in higher education (HE)--once…

What do attacks on 'unpalatable' research reveal about academic freedom? When academic work is curtailed, this cherished yet misunderstood concept is undermined. Silencing based on moral objection -- rather than wrongdoing -- suggests academic freedom is more constrained than we believe. On paper, academic freedom is rule-bound, yet 'dangerous'…

This study investigates the audiences that scholars imagine encountering online and the ways in which these audiences impact scholars' online participation and presentation of self. Prior research suggests that imagined audiences affect what users share and how they present themselves on social media, but little research has examined this topic in…

Teaching and learning research in higher education, often referred to as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is still relatively novel in many academic contexts compared to the mainstay of disciplinary research. One indication of this is the challenges those who engage in SoTL report in terms of how this work is valued or considered…

Two decades of research into early career researchers has highlighted the interaction of a constellation of influences in making sense of their experiences. Such research largely draws on either quantitative or qualitative traditions. While both traditions explore similar phenomena, research questions are often framed differently and use different…

Recent developments in digital scholarship point out that academic practices supported by technologies may not only be transformed through the obvious process of digitization, but also renovated through distributed knowledge networks that digital technologies enable, and the practices of openness that such networks develop. Yet, this apparent…

This lecture considers how it might be possible to make a career as a university scholar at a time when the university is becoming increasingly corporatised. Consistent with the intent of the Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) Special Interest Group (SIG) Scholar Lecture, I draw on personal experiences from my own career as a university…

This research project investigated how openness and sharing of knowledge are manifested through scholarly blogging. We aimed to identify the academics' and researchers' motivations for starting a blog; the contribution of blogging to their personal and professional development; and any challenges. Twenty-six participants were recruited. A…

There is an extensive literature on the productivity of universities. Little is known, however, about how different types of leaders affect a university's performance. To address this question, this paper blends quantitative and qualitative evidence. First, I establish that the best universities in the world are led by respected scholars. Next, by…

Digital scholarship is becoming a contested area. The huge potential offered by the affordances of the technological possibilities has been illustrated by a range of contributors both in this issue and elsewhere. Other commentators are less convinced about the nature of the changes and the inevitability of changes to the practices of academics.…

In April and May of 2012, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Research conducted a survey of users of archives to learn more about their habits and preferences. In particular, they focused on the roles that social media, recommendations, reviews, and other forms of user-contributed annotation play in archival research. OCLC surveyed faculty,…