Top academics at Research Conference

Research that can support the sector’s New Challenges, New Chances agenda is going to examined at this year’s National Research Conference.

Organised by the Learning and Skills improvement Service (LSIS), it is taking place on Tuesday 19 June in London.

Following the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) paper setting out its desired outcomes for the sector, the conference will look at how to address the new freedoms and changes that are taking place. The research will explore how practitioners within the sector can make use of research, and will draw on examples of how research is applied by those working within the sector.

Two keynote speakers will be speaking at the conference, Professor Sandra Nutley and Professor Lorna Unwin. Sandra Nutley is Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of St Andrews and is also Director of the Research Unit for Research Utilisation (www.ruru.ac.uk), which is a cross-university research collaboration that investigates the use of social science research in public policy and service delivery settings. Sandra is a social scientist and her research centres on two core interests; understanding and improving research use in public policy and practice contexts; and  performance management systems, with a particular focus on public service audit and inspection regimes.

Lorna Unwin is Professor of Vocational Education at the Institute of Education University of London and is deputy centre director of the Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES). Her research interests focus on the changing nature and development of vocational expertise and on work as a site for learning and the improvement of life chances. She originally worked in journalism and then taught in further and adult education.

The conference will also illustrate how LSIS’s Research Development Fellowships have helped the sector. Organiser Sheila Kearney, Head of Applied Research at LSIS, said: “The Conference will demonstrate the importance of research within our sector. It will be an opportunity for providers to share research insights and build networks to work together for future research activity.

“We believe it will result in the introduction of new ideas and raise some strategic issues about research in our sector. Last year 14,600 sector professionals were provided with support last year from LSIS and this event is another example of how we are striving to improve the quality of the Further Education and Skills sector.”