For the last 6 years we have run our Student Research Journal – a completely student-led and authored journal aimed at developing and publishing undergraduate and taught-PG research. You can see previous journal editions here. The role holders will be Co-Editors-in-Chief, tasked with completing the 7^th Edition of the Journal – from recruiting students to submit abstracts, recruiting subject review boards and editors, organising full submissions, the editing process and finally publish.

These Student Fellows will also be delivering our Student Research Conference, again aimed at UG and PGT students, giving them the opportunity to present their research to a wider audience.

Students applying to these roles should have very strong organisation and project management skills, experienced in organising large groups of people and ideally with some event management experience.This is not a role for people looking to start research careers (if that’s you – get involved in the Journal or Conference!)

We are looking to recruit a second sub-team, with three students working across the above themes. Although each student will be appointed ‘lead’ for a theme, we expect that the students will work together running events and developing resources, as our themes next year are highly interlinked. Student Fellows in this sub-team will be working both across the institution and reflecting on practice in their own context, as well as discovering more about the practices of others relating to these three key themes.

The Student Fellows in this role will work alongside BILT’s Education Development Project fund-holders, supporting them and advising them where necessary. The skills we believe are required for this role would suit someone who was confident to approach and speak to fellow students, enjoys working on their own and as part of a team, listens to others ideas, has strong written and communication skills, is self-motivated, can be flexible in their approach, is open to learning and trying new skills, confident at presenting their ideas in front of others. Student Fellows will regularly contribute to our blog and so must be confident in writing for the web.

Reparative Futures – Developing and delivering student engagement and comms
The Programme is looking for a student fellow to develop and deliver a suite of effective comms and engagement activities and materials for student audiences; that will also improve engagement amongst students of African and Caribbean descent, and raise the profile of the Programme amongst wider student groups, promoting understanding & allyship. This opportunity comes in response to student feedback to Reparative Futures on the potential of and for this space. This role would suit someone who is creative, enjoys writing for audiences, and wants to gain experience collaborating on turning ideas from feedback into engaging material and activities.

Reparative Futures – Research into the student experience as a first year UG.
The Programme is looking for a student fellow to research and develop proposals that can be taken forward to enhance the first year student experience at university for students of African and Caribbean descent (home and international). The role holder will conduct research and use their learned insights to design at least two different proposals that could be trialed as new initiatives and potentially implemented if successful. This role would suit someone who is interested in user research and experience, reparative justice and wants to gain experience in process development and stakeholder management.

“Active learning engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class, as opposed to passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order thinking and often involves group work” (Freeman et al., 2014).

Research has shown the value of active learning for student engagement, improving achievement especially of under-represented groups (Inside Higher Ed, 2022), prompting student agency (Harris et al, 2020), and providing the conditions for sense of belonging.

Active learning can also promote the development of skills for life, work and citizenship, and in the classroom can involve working in diverse groups on community and global issues (Pasquerella 2022).

All of these elements of active learning, strongly reflect the University’s vision for education through helping develop inclusive learning environments which: support all students to reach their potential; make students feel known, valued and belonging to a community; engage students in developing skills for a changing world.

Inclusive assessment ensures all students have an equal opportunity to engage with and demonstrate their learning and reach their full potential regardless of their characteristics or background (bristol.ac.uk/bilt). We want to design assessments so that all students can engage with and demonstrate their learning, minimising the use of individual reasonable adjustments, through providing a supportive experience, and a good range of equivalent ways of demonstrating learning. Visit our Principle of Inclusive Assessment to read more about this.

A.I. and Assessment refers to the use of Generative-AI tools and their use, or lack of use, with assessments at the University. This project will explore the ways in which A.I. has been integrated within some assessments and seek to understand the experiences of students in taking these. The Student Fellow will interview academics, professional services staff and students to gain understanding of the challenges and opportunities generative A.I. is bringing when it comes to assessing students across a range of disciplines and study levels.

If you've not already come across it, we have been publishing a completely student-run journal for the past six years! The journal is run exactly like a traditional academic journal, with abstracts submitted, subject editorial boards and peer reviewing of journal articles. 

For the last two years we've also published a 'Best of' print magazine of the top-voted article in each subject. This sub-team will work as co-Editors in Chief of the journal and magazine - organising everything from advertising for submission of abstracts to distributing the printed copy and everything in-between!

The sub-team will also be planning and running the Student Research Conference in January.

Skills

• Ability to use own initiative and work independently.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to engage with a wide range of people.
• An interest in educational practices across the sector.
• Ability to write for a number of audiences and media.
• Strong research and evaluation skills.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Strong communication skills.
• Good attention to detail.
• Good Microsoft Office skills, including Outlook and Teams.

Experience

• Proven ability to work independently on a project.
• Experience conducting case studies, interviews and/ or focus groups.

• Experience with multimedia and social media.
• Experience writing for the web.
• Experience presenting research (or similar) at events.
• Understanding of the Higher Education Sector.
• Understanding of the theme area(s) you are applying for.
• Understanding of communication channels available to disseminate information.