Karen Smith

I am Principal Lecturer in Collaborative Research and Development. My role focusses on supporting collaborative research with external partners (local authorities, public services, and other organisations). The research projects are designed to impact directly on policy and practice. My work involves drawing on research approaches and innovative research methods and methodologies which are appropriate for sensitive subjects and vulnerable groups. Research is designed collaboratively between the University and the sponsor and seeks to provide evidence that organisations can use, contribute to the personal development of the people involved, and be responsive to complex and changing contexts.

My personal research is centred around how higher education policies and practices impact on those who work and study within the university system. My work has focused specifically on transnational educators, international students, educational developers and innovative practitioners and has demonstrated how their experience of university is shaped by its policies, procedures and initiatives.

My work draws on a range of research methods (e.g. in-depth interviewing, activity-based focus groups, questionnaires) but I am particularly interested in drawing on relatively underused methods within higher education research (i.e. the biographical narrative interpretive method (BNIM) and critical discourse analysis (CDA)) and exploring their potential for this field.

• Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) and its impact on personal and professional development; flying faculty teachers' expectations, experiences and motivations for TNHE; the design and delivery of courses for TNHE.
• The interplay of higher education policy and practice; the representation of higher education policy in higher education research; interpretations of higher education policy (specifically: the QAA's Quality Code; SCQF; and institutional learning and teaching strategies); the development of higher education policy.
• The experiences of undergraduate dissertation supervisors and students; support for dissertation students.
• Transitions into and through university; new arrival, induction and first year experiences; experiences of postgraduate taught and international students.
• The impact of collaborative practitioner research on professional learning and professional development. 
• Research student supervision, including: transnational education and international student experiences.

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (or equivalent) - courses on: learning, teaching and assessing; curriculum design and evaluation; continuing professional development in higher education.
• Qualitative research methods, including: in-depth interviewing; discourse analysis; ethnography; narrative interviewing; action research
• Educational development workshops on: research-teaching linkages; dissertation supervision; induction and transition; small group teaching; pedagogic research.
• National researcher development workshops (for the SRHE) on getting published in academic journals.

• Trustee of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) and member of their Governing Council and Publications committees.
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and HEA Associate.
• Editorial Board member of Teaching in Higher Education; Higher Education Teaching and Learning; Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences.
• Reviewer for Studies in Higher Education and International Journal for Academic Development.
• External examiner for the University of Chester's MA in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.