Mastering student-led research in the Maritime domain: a partnership approach to solving industry’s problems

Abstract

We focus on Sustainable Development in our contemporary curriculum and strive to be recognised for capacity building through educational transformation, social mobility and research related to relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

We are seeking formal recognition of this for the first time through the Times Higher Education Impact League Table, which assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We benchmark ourselves against the best-in-class institutions for SDG outcomes such as Plymouth University (SDG 14 – Life Below Water) across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. Our focus on student-centred research is a fundamental part of our aspiration to become a centre of excellence for postgraduate Logistics, Marine and Offshore education and research.

Students as Partners (SaP), is a pedagogical approach that has been embraced within the subject team. Since the revalidation of the programmes in 2019, staff and students have continued working in collaboration, as partners, to improve teaching and learning experiences. Student representation on the programme is very strong, with multiple representatives per course volunteering for this role and they are actively engaged in the students’ union and the process of learning and working together. An example of this is our representation in the Maritime Masters Programme. ‘The programme promotes academic excellence amongst students and their universities, whilst providing valuable research to support the maritime sector’s work’ (Maritime UK, 2022). Two of these partnerships have resulted in peer reviewed publications.

This session showcases the exceptionally high level of student-led research that has been submitted to this national competition since it started in 2018, told through the experiences of students as partners by the student researchers (now alumni) and their supervisors.

Mastering student-led research in the Maritime domain: a partnership approach to solving industry’s problems PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.