Changemakers and change agents: encouraging students as researchers through Changemaker’s programmes

Abstract

This paper examines the role played by a student-organized research conference in the age of research-led teaching and active learning. Drawing on our experiences of organizing two departmental conferences in Geography in March 2016 and March 2017, we begin to outline how institutional support and funding for student-led “Changemakers” projects can not only introduce students to specific aspects of research (in the case of our conference, to disseminating and communicating research findings), but also encourage collaboration and mutual support outside of formal staff-student hierarchies of teaching, learning and marking.

Keywords:

• Research-led teaching
• active learning
• changemakers

Notes

1. See more at http://www.swansea.ac.uk/research/activity/teaching/ and http://edeu.lincoln.ac.uk/student-as-producer/

2. For example, Exeter University’s Students as Change Agents, Winchester University’s Student Fellows, Birmingham City’s Student Academic Partners, Lincoln’s SEED funding and Reading’s PLANT scheme; as well as UCL’s ChangeMakers scheme.

3. More on the San Diego program can be found at https://www.sandiego.edu/changemaker/about/ More on MacChangers is available at https://mi.mcmaster.ca/macchangers/

4. Examples include the dissertation prizes awarded by the Royal Geographical Society’s Research Groups, and individual prizes for academic performance such as the University of Exeter’s “William Ravenhill Prize”.

7. That interview can be viewed here https://www.ucl.ac.uk/you-shape-ucl/shape-news-publication/Geography-students-stage-first-student-staff-academic-conference