Current research projects

Below is a selection of our staff's current research work.

Community-based placements in HE: framework, impact and outlook

In recent years there has been increasing emphasis on the role that universities play within their local community, as well as their civic duty to society, this, in part, influencing the increasing interest in the use of community-based placements (CBPs), here considered as credit-bearing components connecting universities with local communities and which allow students to address community needs while achieving academic goals and engaging in reflective practices.

The relative novelty of such placements, especially in engineering, means that there is currently a lack of research that investigates the opportunities and benefits of their inclusion within higher education (HE) curricula. This project therefore brings together a team from University College London (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) to explore the experiences of undergraduate and postgraduate students engaged in CBPs with the aim of understanding how they influence student development, enrich curricula, and foster university-community partnerships. These experiences are balanced with those of university staff and community partners, to propose enhanced design and delivery approaches that enable sustainable and lasting partnerships.

The research was guided by three questions focused on: the framing and execution of CBPs in UK universities, the relevant teaching and research areas for improved engagement, and the means of strengthening university-community partnerships. The work carried out by the team included a scoping literature review, examination of CBPs at other institutions, and data collection through focus groups and interviews. Participants included community partners, university staff, and students involved in CBPs. Interviews were followed by a wider survey aimed at capturing best practice at national level.

The survey data was used to produce recommendations for universities and programmes offering CBPs, aimed at removing barriers and generating enriching CBP opportunities, through increased access and visibility, improved knowledge sharing and establishment of clear governance and support mechanisms.

Staff
Irina Lazar, Associate Professor (Teaching) in Engineering and Public Policy, FES STEaPP
Anne Preston, Associate Professor (Teaching), IoE and UCL East
Victoria Showunmi, Associate Professor, IoE
Rehan Shah, Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, QMUL
Natalie Wint, Lecturer (Teaching), CEE
Amy Lourenco, UCL Careers
Barnaby Mollett, UCL East Careers

Research Assistants
Kristyna Campbell, PhD student, IoE
Elena Dimova, UG student, BASc Arts and Sciences
Katt Wright, PGT student, MASc Arts and Sciences
Safyiah Suleman, PGT student, MASc Arts and Sciences
Bilge Kacmaz, PhD Student, Faculty of Engineering, QMUL
Sujitha Kunalan, PhD Student, Faculty of Engineering, QMUL

Outputs

Conferences

Elena Dimova, Kristyna Campbell, Irina Lazar, Rehan Shah, Designing Community-Based Placements in Engineering Education: Enabling the Student Voice, EERN
Annual Symposium 2023, Warwick UK
Kristyna Campbell, Safyiah Suleman, Community-based placements in higher education (Engineering), UCL Education Conference, April 2024
Bilge Kacmaz, Safyiah Suleman, Kristyna Campbell, Community-based placements in higher education (Engineering), accepted for presentation at the BERA 2024
Annual Conference, Manchester UK

Presentations
QMUL School of Engineering and Material Science seminar series, Communitybased placements in higher education, October 2023.
CEE Awayday, summer 2023.
UNSW Education-focused Academics Network, March 2024.

Workshops

Elena Dimova, Design Community-based placements in Engineering Education: Enabling the Student Voice, EERN Annual Symposium, Warwick, UK, 2023
Irina Lazar, Developing effective community-based placements: A practical workshop, Sydney Basin Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 2024

Other outputs:

Infographics facilitating the interplay between academic, student and community stakeholders understanding, needs and priorities, aimed at creating powerful visual representations of the synergies and tensions between the various stakeholders’ perspectives.
Recommendations report for placement stakeholders, aimed at supporting staff who embark on designing or implementing community-based placements.
Journal paper (in preparation)

A Study into Engineering Students’ Sense of Belonging at University

Recently there has been a diversification of student profiles across the UK at all taught levels. The student fee freeze for home students, increasing fees for overseas students and other financial considerations have led to many universities announcing that they are considering increasing their student intake, which will undoubtedly impact modes of delivery and our student body representation, which implicates the need for a new approach to instilling a sense of belonging and a review of university provisions and support mechanisms (all of which have been shown to impact student performance). UCL Engineering has seen a sharp increase in student numbers (>40% in 3 years), with a large portion comprising of international students. The sector is often cited as one that actively promotes social mobility, however the Engineering UK briefing Social Mobility in Engineering (2018) argues that there is further work required due to performance outcomes of different student cohorts.

This study investigates the contributing factors towards creating a good holistic student experience for both home and international students with the aim of developing and adapting current university provisions. A combination of surveys, focus groups and interviews were used to capture the student voice. The main outcomes show that the sense of belonging is felt the least by certain populations in the international student body, but also by home students (particularly those who live at home). The results also indicate that the extent of university integration is impacted by factors related to living arrangements, student societies and perceptions of the university’s efforts to address EDI-related issues.

Staff
Dr Chika Nweke, Lecturer (Teaching) UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering
Prof Abel Nyamapfene, Professor in Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCL IOE and Faculty of Engineering Sciences
Dr Irina Lazar, Associate Professor (Teaching) in Engineering and Public Policy, UCL STEaPP
Dr Folashade Akinmolayan Taiwo, Reader in Engineering Education, QMUL

Research Assistants
Miss Yuncong Liu
Miss Obioma Egemonye

Outputs

Chika Nweke and Irina Lazar, CEE Awayday, July 2023.
Abel Nyamapfene, UCL Education Conference, April 2024.
Chika Nweke and Irina Lazar, Centre for Engineering Education Lunchtime Seminar Series. April 2024.
Irina Lazar, Chika Nweke, Abel Nyamaphene and Obioma Egemonye, SEFI, Switzerland, September 2024. https://zenodo.org/records/14254872

Becoming ‘Work-Ready’: The Role of Undergraduate Curriculum and Immaterial Expertise in the Transition to Work

Staff
Dr Rachel J Wilde, Associate Professor in Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCL IOE
Dr Jelena Popov, Lecturer in Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCL IOE
Dr Chika Nweke, Lecturer (Teaching) UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering
Dr Lillian Luk, CEE Honorary Research Fellow

Research Assistant
Dr Erin Bergel

Outputs

Conference Presentations

Lillian Luk, Rachel Wilde, Jelena Popov and Chika Nweke Recontexualising Knowledge: Alumni and Employer Views on the Value of University in Graduate Transitions to Work The European Conference on Education, July 2023, SOAS and UCL, UK
Lillian Luk, Alumni views on the value of university in graduate transitions to work, Department of Psychology Guest Lecture Series, April 2024, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Rachel Wilde, Becoming ‘Work-Ready’: The Role of Undergraduate Curriculum and Immaterial Expertise in the Transition to Work, Centre for Engineering Education Research Seminar, May 2024, UCL, UK
Rachel Wilde (Symposium Lead and presenter) Becoming ‘Work-Ready’: The Role of Undergraduate Curriculum and Immaterial Expertise in the Transition to Work: “Student perspectives on education-to-work transitions Symposium”, Researching Work and Learning Conference, June 2024, University of Linkoping, Sweden
Rachel Wilde Plotting career skills and tracing convoluted journeys: young people’s aspirations on their journeys to work: “Futures in the Making: youth, education and work Symposium”, British Education Research Association Conference, September 2024, University of Manchester, UK
Jelena Popov Work in Progress: navigating transitions and crafting identities: “Futures in the Making: youth, education and work Symposium”, British Education Research Association Conference, September 2024, University of Manchester, UK

Bringing Life to our Engineering Curricula

“Bringing life to engineering curricula” is a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaboration between a number of academic institutions in South Africa and the United Kingdom, funded by a grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering. In this project, the goal is to understand the constraints as well as opportunities around developing integrated curriculum frameworks for engineering education in South Africa.