Welcome to our 100th BILT Briefing
Ros O’Leary, Head of BILT and Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching
Since launching in 2017, BILT – an academic-led institute instigated by Judith Squires to promote good teaching across the University – has been on quite a journey. When I arrived in January 2020, BILT had just moved from being a very tiny team running educational development projects and working with staff and student fellows to promote innovation and scholarship, to a slightly larger team taking on all the essential teaching development training for the University. What a year 2020 turned out to be, and this repositioning of BILT was especially helpful in working to support colleagues taking their teaching online that year.
In 2020 BILT also took on and launched some other activities – including the Bristol Teaching Awards, support for National Teaching Fellowship candidates, the BILT conference and the Student Research Festival and Student Research Journal. I think this range and breadth of activities is a testament not only to the passionate and fantastic BILT staff and BILT student fellows but also the huge range of BILT collaborators right across the university – some 100+ colleagues we regularly work with to mentor and support staff on our courses, innovate in educational practice and share excellent approaches to teaching. What does the future hold for BILT and the next 100 issues of the BILT briefing? A keen focus on supporting the University’s educational ambitions, a weather eye on the educational landscape and what this means for Bristol, and a continuing open, inclusive and supportive forum for all those who teach at Bristol to celebrate, share and develop their practice.
Celebrating 100 editions of the BILT Briefing
Who better to talk to us about all things BILT than its founder – Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Judith Squires.
Bristol Teaching Awards (BTAs) – shortlist announced
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for this year’s Bristol Teaching Awards (BTAs). Find out further details about this year’s shortlist and why they were selected on our BTA shortlist gallery.
Congratulations again to all this year’s nominees and those shortlisted. The winners of this year’s Bristol Teaching Awards will be announced in June – watch this space for further details!
Student Research Festival
The judges were impressed with the exceptional quality of all presentations featured. It was a great day with students presenting very different research from a range of perspectives. Thank you to everyone involved.
Presentation winners
We are excited to announce the winning presentations from this year’s Student Research Festival! Prizes are awarded for each of the sessions on wellbeing, decolonisation and sustainability, as well as the winning poster.
Poster Showcase
Another chance to view the poster presentations shown during the Student Research Festival highlighting the depth and breadth of the research carried out.
New case study: Research rich interdisciplinary group work for Digital Health
Professor Ian Craddock shares insights into a new multi disciplinary MSc in Digital Health in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol.
One of the first such programmes in the UK, the MSc in Digital Health is motivated by increasing use of digital technologies to address major healthcare challenges. It admits students with degrees such as Medicine and Psychology alongside students from Computer Science and Engineering.
The Bristol Model: How Social Sciences and Law provided an authentic research experience to undergraduates by Domi Duff
Taking place from September 2020 – February 2023,The Bristol Model Programme provides undergraduate students from across the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law with the opportunity to conduct research with external partner organisations.
Our Student Fellow for authentic learning, Domi, provides an insight into the Bristol Model and its impact as an example of authentic learning in practice. She has also created an infographic focusing on the key features and feedback.
Research England Enhancing Research Culture
A team of researchers here at the University of Bristol, led by Dr Jo Rose, is working on a Research England Enhancing Research Culture funded project to develop cross-disciplinary best-practice guidance for supporting PGT students to conduct ethical research. As part of this project, we are looking for colleagues from a wide range of disciplines who have expertise in research ethics, to participate in focus groups to discuss challenges and best practice in teaching research ethics to PGT students. This may be expertise from ethics committees, from teaching methods and ethics to PGT students, from experiences as external examiners, from research interests, from engagement with disciplinary bodies, and so on!
Separate focus groups will be held online via teams, and as on-campus in-person sessions – you would be welcome to join whichever time and location suits. They are likely to take around 90 minutes. For further information, and/or to indicate your willingness to participate in focus groups for this project, please contact the project’s Research Assistant, Anne-Laure Donskoy. The project team is looking for participants from a range of disciplines, so depending on number of responses they may or may not take you up on your offer to help – but will be very grateful for positive interest!
Upcoming events
Visit the full calendar
Click on the image to find out more about the event and book your place. All BILT events are free and open to University of Bristol staff. Show, Tell and Talk are open to all staff (academic and professional service) and students.
