Staff group discussion

ICE Fellowships

The Institute for Curriculum Enhancement has established a new Fellowships scheme to extend the reach and innovation of the Institute. These are catalyst roles for education and curriculum enhancement, supported to undertake projects, activities and initiatives that give visibility and value to educational scholarship.

2021-22 ICE Fellows

The Institute for Curriculum Enhancement is delighted to introduce the inaugural cohort of ICE Fellows. Learn more about the Fellows and the educational enhancement projects they are undertaking.

2021-22 ICE Fellows

Tab Content: About ICE Fellowships

The role of ICE Fellow is to engage in progressive and innovative initiatives that improve education and student experience at Lancaster and its partnerships. ICE Fellowships are prestigious and valuable roles that the University holds in high regard.

Fellowships are likely to be of interest to colleagues with a vision or research idea for educational enhancement that will significantly move the institution forward, or that will deal with an intractable / long-standing institutional issue. ICE Fellows are agents of transformational change.

Colleagues from academic departments, Lancaster’s strategic teaching partnerships, and academic-related professional services can apply to become an ICE Fellow. The inaugural cohort of ICE Fellows will commence after the Easter break in April 2021, for a period of 12 months. Fellows will be required to commit half a day per week, including engagement in regular peer networking activity, and periodic project management meetings, and an expectation to disseminate project outputs at the annual Education Conference.

ICE Fellows may become involved in variety of enhancement activities, for example to:

  • Engage in, and disseminate, scholarship of teaching and learning;
  • Act as advocates for education and curriculum excellence at Lancaster and beyond;
  • Act as a broker to connect together colleagues from across faculties, departments, or academic-related services to engage with educational strategic priorities;
  • Foster opportunities for departmental colleagues to exchange practice within and beyond the department. e.g. enabling sharing practice events, TeachMeets, etc;
  • Input into the review and redesign of educational processes and practices;
  • Support the university in embedding identified effective practices;
  • Help to drive and develop the effectiveness of educational initiatives by working across departmental boundaries;
  • Contribute to and inform the development of university education policy and practice.

Tab Content: Benefits of ICE Fellowship

ICE Fellowships afford a variety of potential opportunities and benefits for both those directly involved, and the colleagues and students in their spheres of influence.

For individuals

  • The scope for staff inhabiting ICE Fellowships to influence change, and be recognised for their efforts both through ICE, for example as an indicator in academic promotions criteria for teaching;
  • An outstanding opportunity to collaborate with Lancaster’s global education community, including staff and students from across LU and its strategic partnerships;
  • A platform of collegial support and legitimised time to engage in research and scholarship into educational practices;
  • Opportunity to develop experience and activity relating to educational leadership, with the potential to generates evidence for future career progression, making HEA Senior or Principal Fellowship applications, or for national awards such as NTFS and CATE;
  • Ability for Fellows to act as educational advocates, e.g. by membership of formal governance processes of institution;
  • The potential to bid into / access seed funding for certain initiatives.

For departments and the wider university

  • Provides a platform for achieving increase in cross-department / faculty joint enhancement initiatives, with institutional support and advocacy;
  • As a community of educational expertise and advocacy, to have the scope to directly influence and contribute to educational policy, strategy and practice.
  • Networking and capacity-building for the University to drive educational enhancement in strategic areas (e.g. assessment and feedback, curriculum reform, digital education, etc);
  • A foundation for developing stronger and more prominent culture of scholarship of teaching and learning, ultimately leading to an improved reputation for education excellence;
  • Scope to achieve efficiencies in implementing educational and curriculum change;
  • Improved channels of communication for exchange and cascade of effective practice.