Pedagogic Research Conference 2025

Call for proposals and bookings are now open.

The Centre for Innovation in Higher Education is pleased to announce a national Pedagogic Research Conference, on the theme of Developing Pedagogic Research Communities, which will take place on ARU’s Cambridge campus on Friday 4 July 2025.

We welcome proposals on any pedagogic research topic from from PGRs, newer career researchers, experienced pedagogic researchers and Professional Services colleagues.

You may choose from the following formats:

The deadline for proposals is Friday 16 May 2025: complete this session proposal form.

Conference registration is now open.

Our keynote

Headshot of Charlie Davis

Our keynote is Dr Charlie Davis, Assistant Professor in Higher Education, University of Nottingham. The title is (Re)imagining Academic Pathways: Navigating Careers, Community, and Belonging in Higher Education.

Abstract: Idealised notions of being and becoming an academic are often characterized as progress along a mythical pipeline, starting at undergraduate level, transitioning through postgraduate studies and then on to career in research. However, such representations belie the complex career pathways many people travel, and how these impact their sense of fit in academia. In this presentation, Charlie reflects on his experiences working across job families in different disciplinary contexts to consider what it might mean to be part of a community in HE contexts. He draws on his work using co-production of knowledge approaches to illustrate how working with participants can foster generative opportunities to create spaces of belonging.

Biography: Dr Charlie Davis is an Assistant Professor in Higher Education and joined the University of Nottingham in January 2020. He is the current course leader on the Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education (PGCHE). He started his HE career as a Learning Technologist at University of Derby in 2009. In 2015, he moved to Nottingham Trent University where he was Senior Digital Practice Advisor, and then an Academic Developer. Prior to working in Higher Education, Charlie spent eight years as a teacher, teacher educator and deputy director of studies in various EFL/ESOL roles in the Republic of Ireland, Barcelona and England. Charlie’s research focuses on inclusion and epistemic access in HE contexts, particularly by under-represented social groups. Charlie uses a range of creative narrative methods in co-production contexts to generate knowledge which can be accessed by audiences within, and beyond HE contexts. His most recent work used storytelling methods to create a series of composite web-based comics representing transitions into and through academia by academics from working-class backgrounds. He is currently co-authoring a book based on research carried out to understand the affective dimensions of becoming a new teacher in HE contexts. Future work will focus on using educational fiction approaches to understand the complexities of navigating HE cultures as a second-career academic. Charlie is a co-convenor of the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) Newer Researcher Network and a committee member of the Alliance for Working-Class Academics (AWCA).  

Registration fees

Book your tickets online. If you have any queries, please email Centre for Innovation in Higher Education: cihe@aru.ac.uk.