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Following a huge resurgence in Principal Fellowship networks, Marita Grimwood, Senior Adviser – Teaching Fellowships at Advance HE, shares recent highlights and exciting future plans.
The growing influence of Principal Fellowship
Since Principal Fellowship was first introduced in 2012, the community has grown to almost 2,500 Principal Fellows (PF) across the world – all of whom demonstrate extensive impact in strategic leadership of high-quality learning. This has never been more important in the higher education sector, at a time when visionary and transformative leadership are key.
A resurgence of Principal Fellow Networks
For around 10 years, regional PF Networks have been running successfully across the UK with groups in Scotland, Wales and all corners of England. Post-pandemic, and particularly in recent months, there has been a surge in interest. Recently, along with Louise Lumsden (Head of Fellowship and Teaching Excellence Awards at Advance HE), I brought together the leaders of established and emerging PF Networks in the UK to explore future support and collaboration.
Collaboration, creativity and shared purpose
Whether supporting knowledge-sharing and project collaborations from established Principal Fellows, or devising creative approaches to supporting newly awarded or aspiring Principal Fellows, there was huge energy and enthusiasm to connect and collaborate.
Gemma Witton, co-lead of the PFHEA West Midlands Network, highlights the value of mixing different kinds of activities:
“The informal online discussions have been particularly useful for shaping the direction and themes of future activity. We’ve also hosted a face-to-face event, which has already led to some promising ideas for future collaboration.
“There’s a strong sense of collegiality – everyone has been incredibly generous in sharing ideas, innovations and advice.”
Spotlight on Scotland
The Scottish Principal Fellow Network (SPFN) has been running in its current form for six years overseen by Dr Alison Nimmo (Lead), and Prof Fiona Smart (Co-ordinator). Alison explains:
“The SPFN operates around a position paper which presents the network as a supportive and collaborative community engaging in debate/dialogue at strategic and operational level, as a reference and advisory group, a lobbying group and a dissemination group to champion professionalism in HE teaching.”
Research and strategic impact in Scotland
Notably, the Scottish network was selected to contribute to the previous QAA Scotland Enhancement Theme exploring the resilient academic leadership practices of PFs in the Network. The final research is published on the QAA ET website.
It is currently engaged in research exploring the personal, professional values of PFs, including where they stem from, how they reflect and/or go beyond the five professional values in the Professional Standards Framework (PSF), and how they manifest in strategic leadership practice.
Reviving momentum in the North West
A network which has enjoyed a recent revival is the North West PF Network. The group’s Chair, Nick Weise, said:
“Our revived network has a flat and delegated leadership structure. Institutions in the region volunteer to host one of three in-person meet ups per academic year, and are free to arrange these how they wish.
“The great thing about working with a network of Principal Fellows is that they are skilled strategic leaders. When I facilitated the relaunch meeting, I got the participants to both set the agenda and design the activities there and then!”
Innovative practice
Like the West Midlands Network, the North West Network likes to develop new approaches. Nick says,
“One of the plans we are most excited about is our online Inaugural PF Lectures. We plan to offer this chance to speak to new PFs in the region and invite a broad audience to celebrate.”
Extending networks beyond the UK
We also support and hear from our Principal Fellows situated across the world and particularly in Australasia where, with the support of one of our Australia-based PSF Consultants, we held an in augural meeting in March to scope out interest in a PF Network in the region.
The outcome was a resounding ‘yes!’ and plans are underway to formally establish an Australasian PF Network, building on learning from UK PF Network colleagues and their support needs. We also plan, in time, to support a much wider and richer network and global peer community that is central to continuing global strategic leadership and high-quality teaching and supporting learning.
Get involved: joining a network near you
If you want to get involved further in any of these networks, you can find most UK regional network groups on our platform Advance HE Connect:
The contact for the Scottish Principal Fellow Network is Dr Alison Nimmo, a.nimmo1@outlook.com
The contact for the North West Principal Fellow Network is Dr Nicholas Weise Nicholas.weise@manchester.ac.uk
The newest UK community for Principal Fellows is being set up in the East of England, with the aim of creating a community of practice for existing and aspiring Principal Fellows, online and in person. Please contact Prof Helena Gillespie h.gillespie@uea.ac.uk or Prof Kay Yeoman K.Yeoman@uea.ac.uk at UEA.
If you are unable to make contact with your chosen group based on this information, or have any further questions, please contact me at fellowships@advance-he.ac.uk .
