Robert Averies

Profile

My academic background lies at the intersection of various social sciences, particularly sociology, international development, and education. This has allowed me to explore the complex ways in which formal education as a social instution makes and remakes societies across place and time.

I currently work in the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)/pedagogical research (PedRes) at the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE). My research, described below, is connected with and indeed part of my day-to-day role.

Before entering the world of academia, I worked in teaching and management in ELT (English Language Teaching). My experiences here inspired me to discover new ways of looking at educational structures, practices, and purposes – and I know this is something I will always continue to do.

Research interests

In the first phase of my research, I will empirically explore what it means to ‘be’ in the liminal spaces of SoTL/PedRes in UK research-intensive institutions. This will inform the second phase in which I collaboratively and reflexively develop, introduce, and evaluate a novel approach designed to foreground and support the complex, non-linear task of ‘becoming’.

I expect this to draw upon post-structuralist and post-humanist thought, such as that of Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateus, with the aim of encouraging educators from a variety of backgrounds (disciplinary and otherwise) to critically reflect on the integrative nature of identity in SoTL/PedRes, with multiple entry points and lines of flight. Given the recent literature in this area, such an approach could hold expansive potential for developing the accessibility (and quality) of this kind of educational inquiry.

My aim is not to responsibilise individuals for identity development, but to develop an evidence base for cultural change that is capable of empowering educators to collaboratively navigate the loss of structure inherent in the liminal spaces of SoTL/PedRes. My work, then, will speak not only to questions of identity, but the shape and feel of higher education and the cultures of learning and community that help construct it.

Qualifications

• MA Social Development, University of Sussex
• BA International Studies, Open University