Dr Hannah Helm, Dr David Junior Gilbert and Keren Poliah, from the University of Salford, presented posters at last year’s Advance HE’s Teaching and Learning Conference. Here, they share how they are addressing issues relating to widening participation, international postgraduate researchers and inclusive doctoral research within UK higher education, and their experience of presenting.
This joint blog post outlines key equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues within higher education (HE) through case studies at the University of Salford which we presented at Advance HE’s Teaching and Learning Conference 2023. Our joint poster presentation outlined how student experiences relating to widening participation, international learners and inclusive research can be addressed and improved through changes to pedagogical practice and enhanced support systems.
We believe that introducing timely EDI issues – communicated through first-hand, interdisciplinary and collaborative postgraduate perspectives – will help others to reflect on their own practices and implement strategies that can be used to support university students and challenge systemic barriers.
Presenting at the Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference 2023 was a wonderful experience. We felt the conference was very welcoming, well-organised, and accessible to researchers with different needs; in particular, we felt that the feedback from our poster was very positive, with practitioners appreciating our unique researcher perspectives as both postgraduate students and staff at the university. We would be delighted to present at further Advance HE conferences and events in the future!
